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Citing Sources of Information

Suggested resources for citing sources correctly

ACS (American Chemical Society) Style

ACS style is widely used in chemistry and related disciplines.

Suggested manual

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CSE (Council of Science Editors) Style

CSE style is widely used in life sciences.

Suggested manual

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Chicago Style

Chicago style is widely used in many disciplines. Its manual includes provisions for footnote referencing and author-date referencing.

Suggested manuals

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Harvard Style

Harvard style is a generic term for any style following the author-date format. There is no official manual of the Harvard style.

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Oxford Standard for Citations of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA)

OSCOLA is widely used in law schools and by law journals.

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Citing non-English sources in English papers

For non-English or translated sources, a citation follows the desired templates. A common practice is to give the original title in the reference and give the English translation in brackets.

If the source was written in a non-Latin script, such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean, transliterate the title into English alphabet. Below are two examples cited in ACS style:

A book in French:

1. Webb, D.; Andre, C. Statistiques Economiques a Court Terme [Short-term economic statistics]; Presses Universitaires de France: Paris, France, 2008.

A journal article in Chinese:

2. Liu, W. Liu. Guanyu LibQual+ Tushuguan Fuwu Zhiliang Pingjia Yu Shizheng Yanjiu [An Empirical Analysis of Library Service Quality Evaluation Based on the LibQual+]. Gaoxiao Tushuguan Gongzuo, 2012, 20 (5), 32-36.

Citing Chinese sources in Chinese papers - Chinese citation styles

Chinese citation styles are generally different from English ones and there are no standardized styles. Check with your instructor for the acceptable style for your assignments. Below are some guides for reference:

中文出版物編寫格式及注意事項 (香港城市大學出版社)

學術論文寫作:中文論文格式 MLA / APA (香港中文大學自學中心) 

Journal abbreviations

Chemical Abstracts - Service Source Index (CASSI) abbreviations (by Chemical Abstracts Service, a division of American Chemical Society)

Mathematics journal abbreviations

Medical journal abbreviations

Science and Engineering Journal Abbreviations by The University of British Columbia