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CHM140IN-Fund. Organic & Biochemistry: American Chemical Society (ACS) Citing

General Rules of ACS

General Rules *The following are recommendations. Final rules will be determined by professor preferences.

  1. Formatting: The preferred font is a serif typeface such as Times New Roman with 14-point size. Single-space between all lines of text, including the reference list. Have uniform margins of 3/4 inch on all sides.
  2. Hanging indents should be used for the reference list entries. This means that all lines after the first line of each entry should be indented one half inch from the left margin (in Word use Paragraph>Special>Hanging; in Google Docs use Format>Align & indent>Indentation options>Special>Hanging>Apply)
  3. Arrange reference list entries in the order used in your paper (numerically based on footnote/endnote number). Use only the initial(s) of the author's given name, not the full name, with a space between the initials. 
  4. Italicize journal titles, volume numbers and even the comma following the volume number (do not italicize the comma if followed by the issue number). Do not italicize issue numbers (i.e. the number which appears in parentheses after the volume number if the journal has issues that continuously begin with page 1).
  5. The ACS style does not allow the use of secondary sources. You must locate the original source of information when citing a work that you have read.
  6. References cited in the text must appear in the reference list and vice versa.

How to Cite in ACS Style

Citation Generators & CASSI

References Pages Example

Sample Citations

Journal Articles
Author, A. A; Author, B. B; Author, C. C. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation (italics) [Online if online] Year (boldface), Volume (italics), Pagination.

The standard list of journal abbreviations is published in CASSI, the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index.

Book
Author, A. A.; Author, B. B. Book Title (italics), Edition (if any); Publisher: Place of Publication, Year; Pagination.

Book with Editor(s):  Citing the Entire Book
Editor, A. A., Editor, B. B., Editor, C. C., Eds. Book Title (italics); Series Information (if any, including series number); Publisher: Place of Publication, Year.

Chapter from a Book Editor(s)
Author, A. A.; Author, B. B. Chapter Title. In Book Title (italics); Editor, A. A., Editor, B. B., Eds.; Series Information (if any, including series number); Publisher: Place of Publication, Year; Volume number (if any), Pagination.

Encyclopedia Article
Article Title. Encyclopedia Name (italics), Edition number; Publisher: Place of Publication, Year; Volume Number, Pagination.

Newspapers
Last name, First Name; Last Name, First Name. Article Title. Newspaper Title (italics), Complete Date, Pagination.

Websites
Author, A. A. (if any). Title of Site. URL (accessed date), other identifying information. (No need to include URL of subscription sites).

Create a Bibliography

  • Arrange the references in your bibliography based on the method used for in-text citations. If numerical citations were used, then arrange references at the end of the paper numerically. If author names were used, arrange alphabetically.
  • All references end with a period.
  • Do not leave blank lines between references.
  • Journal article titles and book chapter titles are not essential, but they are considered desirable.
  • If a book as a whole is used, pagination is not necessary.

Select here for more examples and guidance

In-Text Citations & Reference List

With numerical citations, references should be numbered sequentially. If a reference is repeated, do not give it another number; rather, use the original reference number.

With author name citations, use both names if a reference has two authors (Jones and Smith, 2002). If there are more than two authors, use the first name followed by et al. (Harris et al., 2001).