The CSE style originated in the 1960s, when it was known as the Council of Biology Editors (CBE) style. It was intended to provide style and format guidelines for editors of peer-reviewed biology journals. Over the decades, its scope grew to include many fields of scientific research in both the life sciences and physical sciences. In 2000, the organization became known as the Council of Science Editors (CSE). The style then became known as the CSE style.
The Name-Year system is recommended by many professors in the Dalhousie Department of Biology, but if you're not sure which system to use, be sure to check.
Author's Last Name, Publication Year
(McToad 2010)
All of these pieces must match the corresponding reference list entry exactly!
Research has shown that the demographic of the fly is a key determining factor in the robustness of its flavour (Frog 1998).
As mentioned in Frog's seminal article (1998), the demographic of the fly is a key determining factor in the robustness of its flavour.
In this example, the author's name is mentioned in the text itself; therefore the name need not be repeated in the bracketed citation.
Each in-text citation must be associated with an item in a comprehensive list of references at the end of your paper. Pay attention to your formatting when constructing your reference list. While CSE is not as particular as other citation styles, losing points on an assignment for poorly formatted citations is easily avoided.
Documents using the CSE style of citation must contain a "References" page at the end of the text. The following are some examples of how to cite commonly used references:
Frog RA. 1998. Expert's guide to artisanal fly cuisine. 2nd ed. Halifax (NS): Imaginary Publishing Inc.
Book, journal and website titles are in sentence case!
Frog RA. 1997. The biology of delicious fly cuisine: enzymes and their mechanisms of actions. Eur J Biochem. 130:(4)435-445.
Journal names are abbreviated!
Ribbit TF. 1998. The life and legacy of Ribbit Frog: a culinary biography. New London (CT): Frog and Toad's Center for Special Collections and Archives; [accessed 2015 Aug 18]. http://www.frogtoadsc.org/Biography.aspx#.UE8foVF76So.
Make sure to include the date accessed!