Here is a guide from the American Chemical Society (ACS) to help you use ACS citation style properly:
The following video will provide students with an overview of ACS Style.
References in the text should be cited in one of three ways:
1. By superscript numbers, which appear outside the punctuation if the citation applies to a whole sentence or clause.
Oscillation in the reaction of benzaldehyde with oxygen was reported previously.3
2. By italic numbers in parentheses on the line of text and inside the punctuation.
The mineralization of TCE by a pure culture of a methane-oxidizing organism has been reported (6).
3. By author name and year of publication in parentheses inside the punctuation (known as author–date).
The primary structure of this enzyme has also been determined (Finnegan et al., 2004).
All References:
Guidelines:
Cite the reference in a logical place in the sentence.
References should be numbered sequentially. If a reference is cited more than once, it does not receive a new number, use the original reference number. If citing more than one reference at a time, include reference numbers in increasing order separated by commas (without spaces as superscripts, with spaces on line) or use an en dash to indicate a range of three or more.
When citing more than one reference at one place by the author–date system, list them alphabetically according to the first author’s name, followed by a comma and the year. Use a semicolon to separate individual references. When citing more than one reference by the same author at one place by the author–date system, do not repeat the name. List the name followed by the year of each of the references in ascending order; separate the years by commas. If an author has more than one reference in the same year, add lowercase letters to the years to differentiate them.
In all three systems, the author’s name may be made part of the sentence. In such cases, in the author–date system, place only the year in parentheses.
The syntheses described by Fraser8 take advantage of carbohydrate topology.
Jensen (3) reported oscillation in the reaction of benzaldehyde with oxygen.
According to Harris (2003), drug release is controlled by varying the hydrolytic stability of the ester bond.
Whenever authors are named, if a reference has two authors, give both names joined by the word “and”. If a reference has more than two authors, give only the first name listed, followed by “et al.” Do not use a comma before et al.; always use a period after al.
Allison and Perez12
Johnson et al. (12)
(O’Brien and Alenno, 2005)
(Bachrach et al., 2004)
Books
Book references must include the author or editor names, book title, publisher, city of publication, and year of publication.
Author Name
Separate the names of multiple authors by semicolons, and always end the author field with a period. List names in inverted form: surname first, then first initial, middle initial, and qualifiers (Jr., II).
If a book has no primary authors because each chapter was written by a different author, you may place the editor names in the author name field (especially for lists in alphabetical order). Separate editor names by commas, and a period after the abbreviation Ed. or Eds. terminates the field.
Stocker, J. H., Ed. Chemistry and Science Fiction; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1998.
Chapter Title
Chapter titles are not required. Chapter titles are set in roman type and end with a period.
Puls, J.; Saake, B. Industrially Isolated Hemicelluloses. In Hemicelluloses: Science and Technology; Gatenholm, P., Tenkanen, M., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series 864; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2004; pp 24–37.
Book Title
In general, book titles should not be abbreviated. They are set in italic type and are separated from the next field of the reference by a semicolon, which is set in italic type. The edition number (in ordinal form) and the abbreviation “ed.” follow the book title, set off by an italic comma; they are set in roman type. The edition information is separated from the next field of the reference by a semicolon.
Reagent Chemicals, 10th ed.;
When both authors and editors are given, use the word “In” (set in roman type) immediately before the title of the book to indicate that the cited authors wrote only part of the book.
Hillman, L. W. In Dye Laser Principles with Applications; Duarte, F. J., Hillman, L. W., Eds.; Academic: New York, 1990; Chapter 2.
Editor Name
For books with editors, list the names of the editors, after title and edition information, in inverted form, separated from one another by commas. The names are denoted as editors by including the abbreviation “Eds.” or “Ed.” after the final name. The editor field is set in roman type and ends with a semicolon (unless it is used in the author field location).
Lignocellulose Biodegradation; Saha, B. C., Hayashi, K., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series 889; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2004.
The Chemistry of the Atmosphere: Oxidants and Oxidation in the Earth’s Atmosphere; Bandy, A. R., Ed.; Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, U.K., 1995.
In books that have no primary authors, the names of the editors may appear in either the author name field (especially for lists in alphabetical order) or the editor name field. When the editor names appear in the author name field, they are separated by commas and the field ends with a period.
Saha, B. C., Hayashi, K., Eds.; Lignocellulose Biodegradation; ACS Symposium Series 889; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2004.
Bandy, A. R., Ed. The Chemistry of the Atmosphere: Oxidants and Oxidation in the Earth’s Atmosphere; Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, U.K., 1995.
Publication Information
Name of Publisher: Generally, do not abbreviate publishers’ names.
Place of Publication: For the place of publication, give the city and state for U.S. cities or the city and country for all others.
Year of Publication: In book references, the year is set in lightface (not bold) roman type, following the place of publication. Terminate the field with a period or with a semicolon if further information is given.
Gould, S. J. The Structure of Evolutionary Theory; Belknap Press: Cambridge, MA, 2002. Kline, R. B. Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, 2nd ed.; Guilford Press: New York, 2004.
Volume Information
Include volume number and chapter number. Use the following abbreviations and spelled-out forms with the capitalization, spelling, and punctuation shown:
Annual Review of Physical Chemistry; Leone, S. R., McDermott, A. E., Paul, A., Eds.; Annual Reviews: Palo Alto, CA, 2005; Vol. 56.
If a volume or part number refers to the volume or part of an entire series of books, this information is placed where a series number would normally appear and not in the volume field for the specific book being cited.
Wiberg, K. In Investigations of Rates and Mechanisms of Reactions; Lewis, E. S., Ed.; Techniques of Chemistry, Vol. VI, Part I; Wiley & Sons: New York, 1974; p 764.
If the book or set of books as a whole is the reference, do not include individual volume information.
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 9th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2002; 20 vols.
Pagination Information
Pagination information is set in roman type and ends with a period, except when miscellaneous information follows it, in which case it should end with a semicolon (see the next section). Use the abbreviations “p” and “pp” to indicate single and multiple pages, respectively.
If the book as a whole is the reference, page numbers need not be given.
Miscellaneous Information
If you wish to include additional information about a book that is important for the reader to know, you may add it at the end of the reference with or without parentheses, append it to the title in parentheses before the semicolon, or place it between the title and the publisher.
Series Publications
Publications such as book series that are periodical in nature but are not journals may be styled as either books or journals.
Online
Web Sites
Author (if any). Title of Site. URL (accessed Month Day, Year), other identifying information (if any).
Use the title found on the Web site itself; add the words “Home Page” for clarification when needed. Data retrieved from Internet-based databases should include a data entry number. Stand-alone databases should be cited as computer programs.
If an article is contained within a large and complex Web site, such as that for a university or a government agency, the host organization and the relevant program or department should be identified before giving the direct URL of the article and accession date.
Online Periodicals
Based on Print Editions
Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation [Online] Year, Volume, Inclusive pagination or other identifying information. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).
Online Only
Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation [Online] Year, Volume, Article Number or other identifying information. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).
Online Books
Without Editors
Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Book Title [Online]; Series Information (if any); Publisher: Place of Publication, Year; Volume Number, Pagination. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).
With Editors
Author 1; Author 2; Author 3; etc. Chapter Title. In Book Title [Online]; Editor 1, Editor 2, etc., Eds.; Series Information (if any); Publisher: Place of Publication, Year; Volume Number, Pagination. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).
Computer Program
References to computer programs must be treated on a case-by-case basis. Five common presentations of computer programs are possible:
1. Book format, with the name of the program as the title
Author 1; Author 2; etc. Program Title, version or edition; Publisher: Place of Publication, Year.
2. Technical Report format
Author. Title of Report; Technical Report Number; Publisher: Place of Publication, Year; Pagination (if any).
3. CASSI format
Johnson, C. K. Oak Ridge Natl. Lab., [Rep.] ORNL (U.S.) 1978, ORNL-5348
4. Free style, as a simple listing of program title and author of program
When only minimal information (e.g., author and program name) is available, present the information as simply as possible.
Programs used in this study included local modifications of Jacobson’s ALLS, Zalkins’s FORDAP, Busing and Levy’s ORFEE, and Johnson’s ORTEP2.
5. Thesis style
Sheldrick, G. M. SHELX-76: Program for Crystal Structure Determination. Cambridge University, 1976.