What to cite:

• Exact quotes
• Data items, particularly if quantitative
• Models, hypotheses, and comments not original to the paper
• Definitions (note: it is never a good idea to cite a standard-type English dictionary definition for a scientific paper. The definitions used should be cited from a scientific work.)

How often to cite:

• Whenever an exact quote is given
• If all information items in a paragraph come from a single source, than just cite it once that paragraph. (If the same source is the cited in the next paragraph, you should cite it again there)
• Anytime you switch from one source to another source in a paragraph

Format:

• For exact quotes, you must cite the page number(s) as well as the author(s) and year of publication
• For anything else, including quantitative data, you should not cite the page numbers, just the author(s) and year of publication
• For a single author, use the form (Author's last name, year)
• For two authors, use the form (Author A and Author B, year)
• For three or more authors, use the form (Author A et al., year) ["et al." is an abbreviation for the Latin et alii, 'and others']
• Always cite the author(s) of a work, not the editor (unless you are simply referring to the edited volume as a whole unit)
• Examples:
  • "It is regrettable that we cannot study the effects of scaling by building super-sized elephants" p. 7 (Schmidt-Nielsen, 1984). [Exact quote]
  • The bending strength of canines of hyenas is greater than that of wolves (Van Valkenburgh and Ruff, 1987). [Information not generally known]
  • Carpenter and McIntosh (1994) report the discovery of a baby Apatosaurus humerus only 227 mm long. [Numerical data]
  • Tyrannosaurid forelimbs are greatly reduced relative to body size (Osborn, 1906, 1916; Russell, 1970; Molnar et al., 1990). [Multiple sources for the same information in the same sentence; list in order of publication date. Also, two different references for Osborn]
  • Recent lines of evidence, including ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages (Kowallis et al., 1998), magnetostratigraphy (Steiner, 1998), spores and pollen (Litwin et al., 1998), and charophytes and ostracods (Schudack et al, 1998), agree the Morrison Formation is predominantly of Kimmeridgian age, although the lowermost units may be latest Oxfordian and the uppermost earliest Tithonian. [Multiple sources for different data in the same sentence]
  • There have been many recent advances in the study of dinosaur eggs and babies (Carpenter et al., 1994). [Citing an edited volume rather than individual contributions]

Bibliographical style:

• Always list bibliographic sources alphabetically by last name of first author
• Any source cited in the text must be in the bibliography; anything in the bibliography must be cited in the text
• Exact styles vary (some sources use abbreviations for journal names, others don't; some sources use italics or bold for book and journal titles and volume numbers, others don't); be consistent in your own paper!
• For websites, cite the exact URL for that site: that is, someone should be able to take your text, go to another computer, type that URL into their webbrowser, and come up with that particular page. Try this yourself to make certain that you have the correct URL!!
• Examples (using the sources cited above):

  Carpenter, K. and J. McIntosh. 1994. Upper Jurassic sauropod babies from the Morrison Formation, pp. 265-278. In, Carpenter, K., K.F. Hirsch, and J.R. Horner (Eds.), Dinosaur Eggs and Babies. Cambridge Univ. Press. [an individual article within an edited, multi-authored volume]

  Carpenter, K., K.F. Hirsch, and J.R. Horner (Eds.) 1994. Dinosaur Eggs and Babies. Cambridge Univ. Press, 372 pp. [a book with multiple authors cited as a single unit, so that the editors rather than the individual authors are cited]

  Kowallis, B.J., E.H. Christiansen, A.L. Deino, F. Peterson, C.E. Turner, M.J. Kunk, and J.D. Obradovich. 1998. The age of the Morrison Formation. Modern Geology 22:235-260. [a multi-authored paper in a standard technical journal]

  Litwin, R.J., C.E. Turner, and F. Peterson. 1998. Palynological evidence on the age of the Morrison Formation, Western Interior U.S. Modern Geology 22:297-319.

  Molnar, R.E., S.M. Kurzanov, and Dong Z.-M. 1990. Carnosauria, pp. 169-209. In, Weishampel, D.B., P. Dodson, and H. Osmólska (Eds.), The Dinosauria. Univ. California Press. [Note that the last author in this chapter writes his name (Dong Zhiming) in the traditional Chinese style, family name first]

  Osborn, H.F. 1906. Tyrannosaurus, Upper Cretaceous carnivorous dinosaur (second communication). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 22:281-296.

  Osborn, H.F. 1916. Skeletal adaptations of Ornitholestes, Struthiomimus, Tyrannosaurus. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 35:733-771.

  Russell, D.A. 1970. Tyrannosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of western Canada. National Museum Natural Sciences Publications in Palaeontology 1:1-34.

  Schmidt-Nielsen, K. 1984. Scaling: Why is Animal Size So Important? Cambridge Univ. Press, 241 pp. [a single-authored book]

  Schudack, M.E., C.E. Turner, and F. Peterson. 1998. Biostratigraphy, paleoecology and biogeography of charophytes and ostracodes from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, Western Interior, USA. Modern Geology 22:379-414.

  Steiner, M.B. 1998. Age, correlation, and tectonic implications of Morrison Formation paleomagnetic data, including rotation of the Colorado Plateau. Modern Geology 22:261-281.

  Van Valkenburgh, B. and C. Ruff. 1987. Canine tooth strength and killing behavior in large carnivores. Journal of Zoology 212:379-397.

Your final paper should have at least five (5) different sources in the bibliography as a minimum; depending on the topic, however, you may have only five or you could have more than twenty.

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