CSE Citation Guide: In-Text Citations

The CSE Manual describes three (3) different systems for citing within the text of the document:

• citation-sequence
• name-year, and
• citation-name.

See the Manual for a description each system.

The examples below show only the name-year system.

• BEWARE! The Manual favors the citation-name system, so examples in the book usually follow it and will need to be translated into the name-year style by using the rules in the book section 29.2.1.2.
• In the name-year system, in-text references use the author's surname and the publication year.
• In the examples below, you will first see an example of an in-text citation. It is followed by the citation that would appear in the bibliography (end references).

EXAMPLE 1

In-text reference:

Learning to use scientific databases is key to finding the literature of biology (McMillan 2006).

End reference:

McMillan VE. 2006. Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

EXAMPLE 2

In-text reference:

Human interleukin-12/23 monoclonal antibody has been shown to be effective in treating psoriasis. (Krueger et al. 2007).

End reference:

Krueger GG, Langley RG, Leonardi C, Yeilding N, Guzzo C, Wang Y, Dooley LT, Lebwohl PH, Lebwohl M. 2007. A human interleukin-12/23 monoclonal antibody for the treatment of psoriasis. N Engl J Med. 356:580-592.

EXAMPLE 3

In-text reference:

       Knothe (2006) uses a unique approach to citation analysis.   

End reference:

        Knothe G. 2006. Comparative citation analysis of duplicate or highly related publications. JASIST. 57:1830-1839.

These additional examples of in-text references show how to treat special circumstances.

• If the in-text citation is citing two works by the same author:

    (Olson 1992, 1998)

• Citing two works by the same author in the same year:

    (Bradford 2001a, 2001b)

• Citing two works published in the same year by different authors with the same last name:

    (Rhodes D 2000; Rhodes E 2000)

• Citing a work with two authors:

    (McStay and Gordon 2007)

• Citing a work with three or more authors:

    (Brown et al. 1999)

• Citing authors that are corporations or organizations:

    (NIH 1988)       or     (National Institutes of Health 1988)

• Citing a work with no author (use the first few words of the title and an ellipsis):

    (The spinal ...1975)

• Citing an undated work:

    (Grassey [date unknown])