Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects.
Citing Your Sources
Proper citation is essential. Citing properly allows your reader or audience to locate the materials you have used. Citations give credit to the authors of quoted or consulted information. For detailed instructions on how to cite within the text of your paper, please consult a style manual listed below.
BU Librarians recommend 
RefWorks as the best tool to manage citations. Accounts are free for the BU community. RefWorks can automatically create a bibliography in hundreds of styles. Here are some other popular options:
- Mendeley a free reference manager and PDF organizer.
- Zotero a free, web browser-based toll that allows you to collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research.
- Quick Bibliography Generators
- Research Guide: Create Bibliographies
CSE (Council of Science Editors) Style
Scientific Style and Format by Location: Science & Engineering Library Stacks T11 .S386 2014Developed by the Council of Science Editors (CSE), the leading professional association in science publishing, this guide encompasses all areas of the sciences.. Style instructions for physics, chemistry, genetics, biological sciences, and astronomy have been adjusted to reflect developments in each field. It remains the essential resource for those writing, editing, and publishing in the scientific community.
NLM (National Library of Medicine Style)
Citing Medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers
The official style manual for the National Library of Medicine (NLM), and suggested when citing documents from the associated databases MedLine and PubMed. The online edition supercedes the print edition as the most up to date.
