Citations

Citations are a very important part of any significant scientific work. The inclusion of citations in writing establishes credibility within various works by providing independent sources that can be used to verify and support claims that the author makes. In addition, citations can make a piece of writing more helpful to others, as it refers them to other information sources that may prove helpful. In the type of writing that we plan to do, citations allow arguments to be built upon by taking multiple sources and implementing them into a single work. These sources make an argument exponentially stronger, because the information does not only come from our brains, but also the brains of other accomplished writers and scholars. As a standalone group of bloggers, one of our goals is to maintain a high level of credibility; to do this, a standard format that we can use in citing other sources will be vital.

For our blog, we will use the Council of Science Editors (CSE) Style of citation. As a blog that is science-based, CSE format was a logical choice that will convey information in the best way to our readers. Though we debated upon using MLA style, Chicago style, and others, the CSE style seemed to be the best choice and does not require the use of a bibliography. Not only is it simple to use, but it also is the favored citation style among many scientific scholars. Most sources we cite will be online articles and books, so the following example shows what to be expected from the citations we will use.

Example citation:

Last Name Initial . Publication Year. Article Title. Journal Name (Edition) [Internet]. [Last updated, cited Date Retrieved] Vol(Issue): Location. Available from: URL


Give the last name and initials of the author (example:  Yaniero W).  Multiple authors are separated by a comma.

Year the source was published

Give the article title using sentence capitalization (example:  Introduction to environmental science)

Name of the journal or work followed by the edition, if applicable

Date the article, document, or website was last updated

Date the work was retrieved

For an article, give the volume, issue number, and where in the publication it is located, such as page numbers (example: 42(234): 46-73)

Give the full URL