How to Write References of Papers

Your research project relies in part upon the work others. Therefore, you must cite their sources of information. It means you not only to give credit where it is due, but also to provide the reader with access to these sources. In addition to, the reference must be documented systematically and unobtrusively.

In general, cite only significant published references. Follow the journal’s instructions for documentation, which will be some version of the author-date system, the number system, or a combination of the two.

Some basic rules applicable to all formats indexed by author name(s):

  • All citation entries are listed in alphabetical order based the first author’s last name;
  • If the same author(s) are cited for more than one paper having the same order of authors’ names, the papers should be listed in chronological sequence by year of publication.
  • Authors’ names MUST be listed in the citation in the same order as in the article.

Bugjuice, B., Timm, T. and R. Cratchet. 1990. The role of estrogen in mouse  courtship behavior changes as mice age. J Physiol 62(6):1130-1142.

Cratchet, R., Bugjuice, B.and T. Timm. 1994. Estrogen, schmestrogen: Mouse (Mus musculus) as a dietary alternative for humans. J Nutrition 33(6):113 -114.

  • If the same author(s) are cited for two or more papers published within the same year, place a small case letter after the year to denote the sequence in which you referred to them. For example:

Bugjuice, B. 1970a. Physiological effects of estrogen on mouse courtship behavior.
….x.J Physiol 40(2):140-145.

Bugjuice, B. 1970b. Physiological effects of estrogen analogs: Insincere courtship
xxxxbehavior in female mice. J Physiol 40(8):1240-1247.

  • If no author is listed, use the word Anonymous in place of the author name(s).

Anonymous. 1992. …..give rest of citation using appropriate format.

Under the number system of documentation, the reference list is arranged in order of the first citation of each source in the text. The sources are numbered sequentially, starting with 1, and are cited in the text by number. The citation appears in parentheses (1), bracket [2-5], or superscript.

Here is the example:

The history of optical activity goes back almost two centuries to the pioneer research of J.B. Biot and A.J.Fresnel (1). Biot was the first to observe two types of optical rotary dispersion. He also gave us the definition of specific rotation (2).

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