Fake News, Real Science (WRI101)

In biology, there are numerous citation styles, but they all share key features. Here is how you should cite your sources for this WRI101 course. The most common mistake is to simply list a peer-reviewed publication as if it were a web site. If you find a paper online, cite the journal article not the web site.

For a peer-reviewed publication
  1. Last name first author, First name first author, first and last name of second author if only 2, use et al. if more than 2 authors.
  2. publication year
  3. title of paper
  4. title of journal
  5. Volume (and number if available):
  6. page numbers if provided
  7. DOI if provided
  8. provide URL to paper if available

Example: Barsoum, Mark J, et al. 2013. Implementing Recommendations for Introductory Biology by Writing a New Textbook. CBE – Life Sciences Education. Vol. 12(1): 106 - 116. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.12-06-0086

For a web site that is not a peer review publication
  1. Last name first author, First name first author (if known, otherwise use organization as author)
  2. publication year or year last modified or year posted
  3. title of web page (or your best estimate of title)
  4. provide URL inside <carrots>
  5. date accessed so readers know when the link was used
    6.

    Example: Campbell, A. Malcolm. 2021. Fake News, Real Science course web page. <https://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/macampbell/WritingScience/S2021_RealScience.html> accessed 7 April, 2021.


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