The ACS (American Chemical Society) Referencing Style

Contents

• In-text Citations
  • Author name and year
  • Numbering
• The list of references/bibliography
  • Books
    • Whole book
    • Book which is part of a series
    • An article (chapter) in an edited book
    • Book with a corporate author
  • Journal articles
  • Conference papers
  • Theses
  • Patents
  • Standards
  • Technical reports
  • Websites

When preparing an assignment or research paper, it is vital that you acknowledge the resources you have used:

• Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism.
• Readers need to be able to retrieve the source information you have used.

Your sources must be cited

• in the text of your assignment or research paper (in-text citations) where you have referred to information obtained from a particular source.
• in the list of references at the end of your assignment or research paper.

In-text Citations

Short citations included in the text of a research paper or assignment will enable your readers to find the full details of the source in the reference list.

Page numbers may or may not be included, depending on how specifically you have referred to the source. If you are using an electronic source that has no page numbers, you may use a paragraph number (abbreviation para.) to indicate to which part of the document you are referring.

When using the ACS Referencing Style, you may cite references within the text of your document in one of three ways:

• By author name and year of publication in parentheses.
  • Example:
    • .... shown by the evidence (Black, 1997).
  • If there are two authors, join them with the word "and" e.g. (Smith and Green, 1996).
  • If there are more than two authors of a cited reference, use et al. e.g. (Platt et al., 2004).
• By numbering.
  • With superscript numbers.
    • Example:
      • .... shown by the evidence²
  • With italic numbers on the line and in parentheses.
    • Example:
      • .... shown by the evidence (3)

Author name and year

Indirect quotations

If you paraphrase another author's ideas or research findings, integrate them as part of your text in your own words. When paraphrasing or referring to an idea contained in another work, you are not required to provide a location reference (page number), but may do so if appropriate.

Examples:

Hydrogen bonding can deactivate certain thiolates in these complexes (Maret, 2004).

Markham and Reczkowski (2003) stated that three signals were shown by the resulting complex.

Direct quotations

Use double quotation marks to enclose another author's words. A location reference (page numbers or paragraph numbers) must be provided. If your direct quotation is more than 40 words, indent the quoted section without quotation marks.

Example:

According to Maret (2004), this interaction is "a partnership in which sulfur imparts mobility on zinc and zinc modulates the chemical properties of sulphur" (p. 3306).

Citations from a secondary source

If you use an idea from an author cited by another author, use "as cited in". In the reference list at the end of your paper, list only the secondary source.

Examples:

Wilkar and Lippard (as cited in Maret, 2004, p. 3302) stated that these results indicate that the dissociated ligand is a nucleophile.

These results indicate that the dissociated ligand is a nucleophile (Wilkar and Lippard, as cited in Maret, 2004, p. 3302).

Citing more than one reference

You may cite more than one reference at the same place within the text of your document.

List the references alphabetically, according to the first author's name, followed by a comma and the year. Use a semi-colon to separate individual references.

Example:

.... the chemical compounds concerned (Adams, 1998; Dobbs and Steele, 2000; Mallard et al., 1995).

Numbering

In-text citations are represented either by superscript numbers or italicised numbers in parentheses.

Numbers in the text of your document will correspond with the appropriate reference in your list of references at the end of your document.

Examples:

Hydrogen bonding can deactivate certain thiolates in these complexes¹

Hydrogen bonding can deactivate certain thiolates in these complexes (1).

Markham and Reczkowski² stated that three signals were shown by the resulting complex.

Markham and Reczkowski (2) stated that three signals were shown by the resulting complex.

When using one of the numbering systems, footnotes would be used for any extra information. Specific page numbers could be included in the full reference at the end of the document.

Citing more than one reference

When citing more than one reference at the same place within your document:

• Using the superscript number system:
  • List the numbers in ascending order and separate them by commas without spaces.
    • Example: .... as reported in the literature^3,6,8
  • If the citations are part of a consecutive range of references, use a dash to indicate a consecutive range of three or more.
    • Example: .... indicated by the experimental evidence^5-9,12
• Using the italic number in parentheses system:
  • List the numbers in ascending order and separate them by commas with spaces.
    • Example: .... as reported in the literature (3, 6, 8).
  • If the citations are part of a consecutive range of references, use a dash to indicate a consecutive range of three or more.
    • Example: .... indicated by experimental evidence (5-9, 12).

The List of References/Bibliography

The list of references or bibliography will be at the end of your assignment or research paper, and will usually have the heading References.

References must be in alphabetical order if cited by author or in numerical order if cited by number.

Ensure that each resource you have used in the text of your assignment appears on your reference list.

The following elements must be included in a reference:

• Author's or editor's name/s.
• Title of the item.
• Publication information:
  • For books, this will include place of publication and publisher's name - if two or more publisher locations are given, give the location listed first in the book.
  • For journal articles, this will include journal title, volume (or issue number if there is no volume) and page numbers.
  • For websites, give the full Web address (URL).
• Publication year.

Works by the same author and published in the same year are distinguished by letters appended to the year. Example: If you are using two references by R. M. Smith, and both were published in 1998, one will bear the date 1998a and the other 1998b, and in-text citations will reflect this.

Books

Whole book

Author (surname, then comma and initials, use semi-colons between multiple authors).
        Book title, Edition number if available; Publisher: Place of Publication, Year.

Examples:

Schwarzenbach, R. P.; Gschwend, P. M.; Imboden, D. M. Environmental Organic
        Chemistry, 2nd ed.; Wiley: Hoboken, N. J., 2003.

Cobb, C.; Goldwhite, H. Creations of Fire: Chemistry's Lively History from Alchemy
        to the Atomic Age; Plenum Press: New York, 1995.

If you wish to include pagination or a volume number, this would follow the year in the full reference ( .... Year; Volume number, Pagination).

Example:

Shore, B. W. The Theory of Coherent Atomic Excitation: Multilevel Atoms and
        Incoherence; Wiley & Sons: New York, 1990; Vol. 2, pp. 126-141.

Book which is part of a series

Author/s. Book title; Series information; Publisher: Place of Publication, Year.

Example:

Hudlicky, M. Oxidations in Organic Chemistry; ACS Monograph 186; American
        Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1990.

An article (chapter) in an edited book

Author/s of article/chapter. Title of article/chapter. In Title of book; Name/s of editor/s,
        Ed/s.; Publisher: Place of Publication, Year; Pagination.

Example:

Birch, N. J. Biomedical uses of lithium. In Uses of Inorganic Chemistry in Medicine;
        Farrell, N. P., Ed.; Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, 1999; pp 11-25.

Book with a corporate author (written by an organization or committee)

Corporate author. Title; Publisher: Place of publication, Year.

Example:

National Academy of Sciences. Technical Issues Related to the Comprehensive
        Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; National Academy Press: Washington, DC, 2002.

If the corporate author and publisher are the same, it is not necessary to repeat the name - it can be in either the author or the publisher field.

Examples:

American Chemical Society. Reagent Chemicals: American Chemical Society
        Specifications; Washington, DC, 1999.

Reagent Chemicals: American Chemical Society Specifications; American Chemical
        Society: Washington, DC, 1999.

Journal articles

Author/s. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title Year, Volume, Inclusive pagination.

Note that the year must be in bold script.

Examples:

Morris, C. R.; Scott, J. T.; Chang, H.; Sederoff, R. R.; O'Malley, D.; Kadla, J. F.
        Metabolic profiling: A new tool in the study of wood formation. J. Agric. Food
        Chem. 2004, 52, 1427-1434.

Hu, S.; Neckers, D. C. Photochemically active polymers containing pendant ethyl
        phenylglyoxylate. Macromolecules 1998, 31, 322-327.

Conference papers

Conference paper from published proceedings

If a paper is from the proceedings of a conference which is held regularly (e.g. annually), and each conference is given its own title, the following format is used:

Author/s of presentation/paper. Title of presentation/paper. In Title of the collected
        work/name of conference, Proceedings of the Name of the meeting, Location of
        conference/meeting, Date of conference/meeting; Name/s of editor/s, Ed/s.;
        Publisher: Place of publication, Year.

Example:

Neidleman, S. L. Aspects of enzyme catalysis. In Catalysis of Organic Reactions,
        Proceedings of the Ninth Conference on the Catalysis of Organic Reactions,
        Charleston, SC, Apr 26-28, 1982; Kosak, J. R., Ed.; Marcel Dekker: New York,
        1984.

If a paper is from the proceedings of a conference which is not given a specific name, the following format is used:

Author/s of presentation/paper. Title of presentation/paper. In Proceedings of the Name
        of meeting, Location of conference/meeting, Date of conference/meeting; Editor/s,
        Ed/s.; Publisher: Place of publication, Year.

Example:

Yordanaov, N. D.; Shopov, D. EPR spectra and electronic structure of copper (II)
        dithiocarbamate complexes. In Proceedings of the Sixteenth International
        Conference on Coordination Chemistry, Dublin, Ireland, Aug 19-24, 1974;
        Institute of Chemistry of Ireland: Dublin, Ireland, 1974.

Paper presented at a conference - proceedings unpublished or unavailable

Author/s of presentation/paper. Title of presentation/paper. Presented at Conference title,
        Place, Date (this may be month and year or only year).

Example:

Mucalo, M. R. Chemistry and the role it plays in adding value to useful materials derived
        from abattoir bone and whey permeates. Presented at CHEM ED 99 Conference,
        Hamilton, 1999.

Theses

Author. Title of thesis. Level of thesis, Degree-granting university, Location of university,
        Date of completion.

Example:

Lay, M. Continuous radial flow chromatography. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Waikato,
        Hamilton, N.Z., 1998.

Patents

Patent owner/s. Title of patent. Patent Number, Date.

Example:

Bernson, S. W. Conversion of methane. U.S. Patent 4,199,533, April 22, 1980.

Standards

Provider and Number. Title of Standard. Title of Source Year, Volume number.

Example:

ASTM D790. Standard test method for tensile properties of plastics. Plastics(1) 1982,
        Vol 08.01.

Technical reports

Author/s. Title of report; Report number; Publisher: Place of publication, Date.

Example:

Hadfield, J. C. Groundwater Chemistry of the Piako Catchment, Hauraki Plains;
        Environment Waikato Technical Report 1993/7; Environment Waikato Regional
        Council: Hamilton, N.Z., 1993.

Websites

Author (if any). Title of site. URL (access date).

Examples:

International Society for Infectious Diseases. Saxitoxin poisoning, puffer fish - USA (02).
         http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/praise/news/puffer2.html (accessed March 2004).

ACS Publications Division Home Page.http://pubs.acs.org (accessed March 2004)

Note: Use web sites mainly to find references in the primary literature, not as sources in themselves (because they are usually not peer-reviewed and not permanent).

Further reading

For more information about the ACS Referencing Style, refer to the following book:

Dodd, J. S., Ed. The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors; American
        Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1997.

(Located in Quick Reference on Level 2 in the Central Library at call number QD8.5.A25 1997)