Citation Style Guides: Articles

CSE is designed largely around referencing journal articles. Many, if not most or all, of the scientific journals can be abbreviated using CSE.  In order to know how to use the abbreviated form of the journal, check the National Library of Medicine (NLM) catalog. 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=journals

Search for the journal.  The results will show you the correct CSE abbreviation.  Appendix 29.2 in the CSE style manual will also list common English words and their abbreviations. 

CSE has two alternative ways to cite (Citation-Sequence and Name-Year or Harvard Style).  The difference is the placement of the Date of Publication.  In Citation-Sequence, the date goes after the author(s).  In Name-Year, it goes after the abbreviated journal name.  See the CSE Style homepage for more information.

The General Form (Name-Year) Sec. 29.3.7.1:

Author(s). Date. Article Title. Abbreviated Journal name.

Volume(issue): page numbers.

Print - Scholarly Sec. 29.3.7.1:

Smart N, Fang ZY, Marwick TH. 2003. A practical guide to exercise

training for heart failure patients. J Card Fail. 9(1):49-58.

• For journal articles, you only give the year.  Do not include month, season, day, etc.
• There is no spacing between the volume, issue, semi-colon, and pages numbers.
• Only the first word in the article's title is capitalized.  There are exceptions for proper nouns.

Print - non-scholarly Sec. :

McEvoy D. 2006 Oct 30. Little books, big success. Publishers

Weekly: 26-28.

• When citing newspapers or magazines, abbreviate the month with the first three letters.
• When citing newspapers, identify the section with Sect after the semi-colon.
• You may include place of publication in parenthesis after the title of a newspaper or magazine to distinguish it from other titles.

Print - article from a database Sec. 29.3.7.12 and 29.3.7.1.7:

Young DB, Perkins MD, Duncan K, Barry CE. 2008. Confronting the

scientific obstacles to global control of tuberculosis. J Clin Invest

[Internet]. [cited 2008 Nov 4]; 118(4):1255-1265. Available from

Academic Search Complete by subscription.

• Usually, when referring to an internet resource, you need to list a URL.  However, URLs for databases are not always permanent. The URL for the above example, cited in 2008, is no longer active.
• The notes field of the entry (after the page numbers) essentially allows you to include anything you want to help others locate the information.  
• You must indicate in the notes field that a database is by subscription.  If free, list a URL, and look at following examples.
• Some databases exist only on CD-ROM or similar medium not accessible via the Internet.  Include the medium in brackets after the abbreviated title of the journal.

Web - article from publisher's website Sec. 29.3.7.13.1:

Penman B, Gupta S. 2008. Evolution of virulence in malaria. J Biol

[Internet]. [cited 2008 Nov 4]; 7(22). Available from:

http://jbiol.com/content/7/6/22/

• You can use this format in lieu of a database, because most publisher websites will sell articles.

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