Citing Biological Literature

Preferred Format for Citing Sources (BIO/ENS)

Book Format: Author(s)*. Year. Title. edition. Publisher. Place Published.

Wright, R. T. 1989. Biology through the eyes of faith. Harper and Row, San Francisco, CA.

Edited Volume: Author(s). Year. Article Title. Pages xxx-xxxx in Author(s), editor(s). Title of Book. Publisher, Place published.

*Author(s) may be people, organizations, software publishers, or Anonymous.

Journal Article Format: Author(s). Year. Article Title. Journal Title Volume(Issue):p - p.

Pimentel, D. , C. Wilson, C. McCullum, R. Huang, P. Dwen, J. Flack, Q. Tran, T. Saltman, and B. Cliff. 1997. Economic and environmental benefits of biodiversity. BioScience 47(11):747-757.

Internet Article/Page Format: Author(s) *. Year. Title of page or article. [Internet] URL address. (Date Accessed).

Harris, R. 1997. Evaluating iInternet research sources. [Internet] http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm (Feb 9, 2006). *All web pages are published by a person or an organization. To find the "author", find the main home page, e.g. www.bethel.edu & Bethel College would be the Authoring Organization.

Citing sources in the body of your paper:

1-2 authors: Either Wright (1989) or (Wright 1989)

: According to Wright (1989) science has three main components.


More than 2 authors: Pimentel et al. (1997) or (Pimentel et al. 1997)