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BIO150: Introduction to Biology

Information and resources for BIO 150 students.

Citation Examples

References Examples

Journal article with One author :

Format:

Last name, First initial. Second initial. Date. Title. Journal title volume number: inclusive page numbers.

Example

Smith, V. H. 1986. Light and nutrient effects on the relative biomass of blue-green algae in lake phytoplankton. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 43:148–153.

Journal article with two or more authors:

Format:

Last name and initial(s) of author, followed by Initials and then Last name of additional authors. Year of publication. Title of article. Title of journal Volume number: Inclusive page numbers.

Example

Elser, J. J., and J. Urabe. 1999. The stoichiometry of consumerdriven nutrient recycling: theory, observations, and consequences. Ecology 80:735–751.

Book

Format:

Last name and Initial(s) of author, [followed by Initials and Last name of additional authors if any]. Year of publication. Title of book. Edition number if any. Name of publisher, City, State, Country of publisher.

Example

Sterner, R. W., and J. J. Elser. 2002. Ecological stoichiometry: the biology of elements from molecules to the biosphere. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

In-Text Citations

  • Papers with one author: Spell out surname and provide year (Jones 2004)
  • Papers with two authors: Spell out both authors’ surnames and provide year (Jones and Smith 2004)
  • Papers with three or more authors: Spell out surname of first author only and use “et al.” to indicate the list of other authors (Jones et al. 2003)

Citation Tools

It is a good idea to use a citation tool to help you with your citations. You can use either a citation generator or a citation management tool. Citation generators are great for quick projects like short papers with just a few resources. However, you should always check generated citations for errors (tip: there are almost always errors, especially with capitalization and use of italics).

A good citation generator is Zbib. Watch this quick tutorial video about how to use it.

For large projects like research papers or capstone projects, you should use a citation management tool. A good, free citation management tool is Zotero. More information can be found in this Zotero guide.