Use the activity below to learn about CASSI abbreviations, the standard ACS formula to cite a journal article, and some tips about citing authors.
ACS Style is unique in that most journal titles are abbreviated in some way. ACS uses an official CASSI list of journal abbreviations for consistency.
Print Citation Manuals located in the Reserve Area.
ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information (3rd ed 2006)
Reserve QD 8.5 .A25 2006
While it is best to refer directly to the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communications (2020) for information on how to cite in the ACS style, the following websites provide additional information when citing your sources.
Note: These websites utilize the 2006 ACS style in which hanging indents were common practice. The 2020 style does NOT use hanging indents in the reference list.
As you transition to using the latest 2020 ACS Guide for Scholarly Communication, the links below to the 2006 edition may be helpful to also reference:
When to Use It: Parenthetical numbering is the preferred method of in-text citations in the 2020 ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication. It is used for ACS Style submissions (journals/books) and for the HTML versions of ACS publications because the parenthetical numbers make it easier to click from the an article's full text HTML content to view the full references.
Ex: The mineralization of TCE by a pure culture of a methane-oxidizing organism has been reported (6).
Ex: Equations have been derived to extract kinetic parameters from these voltammomagrams (2,3).
Ex: Other groups have also devised clever ways to utilize this reaction (18-20).
Citation examples are from ACS 4.3.2 Creating References and Chapter 14 of the ACS Style Guide. More examples and specific citation scenarios are also addressed in the ACS 4.3.2 Creating References.
When to Use It: Superscript numbering used to be the most commonly used form of in-text ACS citation so you will still see a lot of articles and examples that use superscript. You may be asked to use superscript numbering to demonstrate that you understand it. It is very similar to parenthetical numbering with a few exceptions.
Crick8 hypothesized ...
Ex: Equations have been derived to extract kinetic parameters from these voltammomagrams.2,3
Ex: Other groups have also devised clever ways to utilize this reaction.18-20
All citation examples are from ACS 4.3.2 Creating References. More examples and specific citation scenarios are also addressed in that section.
Elements Needed:
Author Last, I. I.; Author 2 Last, I. I. Title of Article. Abbrev. Journ. YEAR, Volume (Issue), Page numbers. DOI: ##.####
Foster, J. C.; Varlas, S.; Couturaud, B.; Coe, J.; O’Reilly, R. K. Getting into Shape: Reflections on a New Generation of Cylindrical Nanostructures’ Self-Assembly Using Polymer Building Block. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141 (7), 2742−2753. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b08648
References
1. Brus, L. E. Electron−Electron and Electron−Hole Interactions in Small Semiconductor Crystallites: The Size Dependence of the Lowest Excited Electronic State. J. Chem. Phys. 1984, 80 (9), 4403−4409. DOI: 10.1063/1.447218
2. Empedocles, S. A.; Bawendi, M. G. Quantum-Confined Stark Effect in Single CdSe Nanocrystallite Quantum Dots. Science 1997, 278, 2114−2117. DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5346.2114
3. Bennett, A. J.; Patel, R. B.; Skiba-Szymanska, J.; Nicoll, C. A.; Farrer, I.; Ritchie, D. A.; Shields, A. J. Giant Stark Effect in the Emission of Single Semiconductor Quantum Dots. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2010, 97 (3), 031104. DOI: 10.1063/1.3460912