Writing & Citing

The ACS citation style is often used in Chemistry and Biochemistry courses. This guide provides an example of ACS Journal Article citation. The ACS Style Quick Guide provides additional examples for a variety of sources.

Most commonly, professors ask for citations to be organized By Name. If you are asked to organized your citation By Number, you'll list the references in your bibliography sequentially by number.

Reference Components

Author A. A.; Author B.B.; Author C.C.; etc. Title of article:Subtitle. Journal Year, Volume (issue), Inclusive Pagination. DOI: 

Note: You can check how to abbreviate the journal title on the Chemical Abstract Service Source Index.

Reference List Example

Foster, J. C.; Varlas, S.; Couturaud, B.; Coe, J.; O'Reilly, R.K. Getting into shape: Reflections on a new

generation of cylindrical nanostructures' self-assembly using polymer building block. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141 (7), 2742-2753. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b08648 

Reference List Tips

• Journal Titles: Journal titles longer than one word can be abbreviated. You'll want to check with your professor to see which they require. You can check the abbreviations using the Chemical Abstract Service Source Index.

In-Text Example:

• One author (Axelrod, 2003)
• Two Authors: (Shiraiwa and Gerson, 2011)
• Two or more authors (Gerson et al., 2001)

Reference Components

Author, A. Lab Manual Title; Publisher; City, State Abbreviation, Year; pp X-X.

Reference Example

Flores, C. CHEM4810 Applied Chemistry; California State University; Los Angeles, CA, 2025; pp 4-17.