McGovern Library: Citing Sources: ACS Citations

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Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index Search Tool

The CAS Source Index (CASSI) Search Tool is an online resource intended to support researchers and librarians who need accurate bibliographic information. Use this complimentary tool to quickly identify or confirm journal titles and abbreviations for publications indexed by CAS since 1907, including serial and non-serial scientific and technical publications.

About ACS Style

The ACS citation style was developed by the American Chemical Society. This style is used for research papers in the field of chemistry.

Always check with your professor to determine which citation style you should use before beginning your paper or project.

Formatting Examples

Before you start creating your citations, you will need to identify:

Author(s) or Editor(s)
Title of the Work
Publisher Information
Date of Publication or Creation

Rules for the Reference Page

Start a new page for the references list.
Center or left-justify the word "References" on the page.
Use a hanging indent to correctly format your references list.
- Indent all lines in a reference entry except for the first line.
If you used numerical (parenthetical or superscript) in-text citations, put your references in numerical order.
If you used author-date in-text citations, order references in alphabetical order by last name of the first author.

General Formatting Rules

Author

Invert the names of all authors (the last name followed by initials).
Keep author names in the order they appear on the document.
Put semicolons between the names.

Publication Date

For scholarly journals, put the year the work was published or produced in bold.
For non-scientific magazines and newspapers, give the exact date of publication.
- Abbreviate the month, followed by the day, year, and pagination (with a comma between the month, year, and pagination).
For books, do not bold the year of publication.

Titles

Journals

Capitalize the main words of titles and subtitles.
- Do not use quotation marks or italics.
Finish the component with a period.
Italicize journal titles and abbreviate the journal title according to the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index.

Books

Put titles and subtitles of books in italics.
Finish the component with a semicolon.

Publication Information

Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers

Put the volume number in italics, followed by a comma and pagination.
If the periodical has issues as well as volumes, put the issue number in parentheses after the volume number, before the comma, and not in italics.
Where possible, indicate the complete page range in the pagination. Do not put commas or spaces in paginations.

Books

Include the name of the publisher and the place and year of publication in book references.
- Put publisher names in normal typeface (not bolded, italicized, or abbreviated). Follow with a colon.
- For items published in the US, give the city and state of publication. Follow with a comma.
- For items published outside of the US, give the city and country. Follow with a comma.
Put the year of publication in normal typeface, after the place of publication. Finish the component with a period at the end of a reference, or a semicolon if more information follows.

There are three methods available when creating in-text citations.

Superscript Numbers
- At the end of the cited information:
  Fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization.¹
- Within the cited information:
  Rakita¹ states that fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization.
Italic Numbers
- At the end of the cited information:
  Fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization (1).
- Within the cited information:
  Rakita (1) states that fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization.
Author Name and Year of Publication
- At the end of the cited information:
  Fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization (Rakita, 2004).
- Within the cited information:
  Rakita states that fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization (2004).

General Guidelines

List authors by their last name, then a comma, then their first initial(s).
Provide all the information you can find on a given item. Omit any pieces of a citation that do not apply to a particular item.

Basic Form

Author 1; Author 2. Title of Book, Edition Number; Series Information If Applicable; Publisher, Year.

Chang, R. General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts, 12th ed.; McGraw-Hill, 2016.

eBook

Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Book Title, edition information; Series Information If Applicable; Publisher, Year.
DOI or URL

Lo, K. K. Luminescent and Photoactive Transition Metal Complexes as Biomolecular Probes and Cellular Reagents;
Springer, 2015. https://librarysearch.williams.edu/permalink/f/s1eqoc/01WIL_ALMA51121331050002786

Chapter in Book

Author 1; Author 2; etc. Title of Chapter. In Title of Book, Edition Number; Series Information, Volume Number;
Publisher, Year; pp Pages Used. DOI or URL

Gbalint-Kurti, G. G. Wavepacket Theory of Photodissociation and Reactive Scattering. In Advances in Chemical Physics,
Vol. 128; Rice, S. A., Ed.; Wiley, 2004; pp 257.

Edited Book

Book Title, Edition Number; Editor 1, Editor 2, etc., Eds.; Series Information (if any); Publisher, Year. DOI or URL

Mom the Chemistry Professor: Personal Accounts and Advice from Chemistry Professors Who Are Mothers, 2nd ed.;
Woznack, K., Charlebois, A., Cole, R. S., Marzabadi, C. H., Webster, G., Eds.; Springer, 2018.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-78972-9

Book in Series

Author 1; Author 2; etc. Title of Chapter. In Title of Book; Editor 1, Editor 2, etc., Eds.; Series Information, Volume Number;
Publisher, Year; pp Pages Used. DOI or URL

Goh, S. L. Polymer Chemistry in an Undergraduate Curriculum. In Introduction of Macromolecular Science/Polymeric
Materials into the Foundational Course in Organic Chemistry; ACS Symposium Series 1151; American Chemical Society,
2013; pp 113-127.

General Guidelines

Reference sources sources, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and indexes, are important sources of information in the sciences.

As always, provide what information you can. For reference sources, the title of the work, the subtitle of the particular entry being cited, and the publication information is most important.
For online reference works, include a URL or DOI.

Print Reference Work

Author, A. A., Author, B. B. Article Title. In Title of Reference Work, Edition Information; Editor, E. E., Eds.; Publisher, Year;
Volume, pp Pagination.

Powder Metallurgy. In Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd ed.; Wiley, 1982; Vol. 19, pp 28-62.

Online Reference Work

Author, A. A., Author, B. B. Article Title. In Title of Reference Work, Edition Information; Editor, E. E., Eds.; Publisher, Year.
Updated Month Day, Year. DOI or URL

Vallero, D. A. Air Pollution, ver. 3. In Kirk‐Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology; Wiley, 2015.
Updated March 16, 2015. DOI: 10.1002/0471238961.01091823151206.a01.pub3

General Guidelines

List author's last names, followed by their initials.
- For multiple authors, place a semicolon between author names.
Indent any lines beyond the first line of any entry.
Use the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index to correctly abbreviate scientific journal titles.

Print Journal Articles

Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation Year, Volume, Inclusive Pagination.

Evans, D. A.; Fitch, D. M.; Smith, T. E.; Cee, V. J. Application of Complex Aldol Reactions to the Total
Synthesis of Phorboxazole B. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 10033-10046.

Electronic Journal Article

For online scholarly articles found electronically, use the following format:

Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation [Online] Year, Issue, Inclusive Pagination.
Complete URL (accessed Date).

For articles found through an electronic database, include the database name in the citation. Replace the article's URL with that of the database.

Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation [Online], Date, Inclusive Pagination.
Database Name. Complete URL of database (accessed Date).

For articles published online in advance of the print issue, use this format:

Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation [Online early access]. DOI. Published Online:
Date. Complete URL (accessed Date).

Peacock-Lopez, E. Exact Solutions of the Quantum Double Square-Well Potential. Chem. Ed. [Online] 2007, 11,
383-393. http://chemeducator.org/bibs/0011006/11060383ep.htm (accessed Dec 6, 2018).

General Information

For newspapers, include "p." or "pp." before the page numbers. If the article appears on discontinuous pages, give all page numbers, separated by a comma. If retrieved online, include "Retrieved from" statement and the URL.

Magazine or Newspaper Article
For print non-scientific magazines and newspapers.

Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Title of Article. Title of Periodical, Complete Date, Pagination.

Manning, R. Super Organics. Wired, May 2004, pp 176-181.

For specific electronic resources, see the examples corresponding with the same print resources: for instance, for correct formatting of e-books, see the Books examples.

General Website

Author, X (if any). Title of Site. URL (accessed Month Day, Year), other identifying information (if any).

National Library of Medicine. Environmental Health & Toxicology. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/index.html
(accessed Feb 04, 2020).

Document Retrieved from Institutional or Agency Website

Author 1; Author 2; etc. Title of Document, Year. Title of Site. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).

Adrian, B.; Dooley, O.; Huang, C.; Levkowitz, M. Tackling Bed Bugs: A Starter Guide for Local Government, 2016.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site. http://npic.orst.edu/pest/bedbug/tacklingbbstarterguide.pdf
(accessed Nov 19, 2010).