Library Guides: Chemistry: Writing & Citing

Writing & Citing in Chemistry

Writing scientific reports and papers differs from writing papers for general English classes. The books and resources below might be useful when writing papers in Chemistry.

Coghill, Anne M. and Garson, Lorrin R., Eds. The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information; American Chemical Society: Washington, D.C., 2006. Malpass Library Reference QD8.5 .A25 2006

E-Books on Chemical Information

The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors
Dodd, Janet S., Ed. The ACS Style Guide: A Manual For Authors And Editors; American Chemical Society: Washington, D.C., 2006.
Chemoinformatics: Theory, Practice and Products
Bunin, B.A. and others. Chemoinformatics: Theory, Practice and Products. Springer: Dordrecht, 2007.
Introduction to Chemoinformatics
Leach, Andrew R. An Introduction to Chemoinformatics, Rev ed.; Springer: Dordrecht; London, 2007.

Citation Management

Students, faculty and staff at WIU have several options for citation management. EndNote Basic is a cloud-based system that is available through Science Citation Index. Zotero is an add-on for Firefox that can be used to collect and manage references and create citations. Guides to using both systems are linked below. Another resource, Mendeley, is also available, but the Libraries have not yet developed a guide for its use.

Using EndNote Basic
A guide to using Endnote Basic, a web-based resource available through the Libraries Web of Science account. It can be used to access, update, organize and maintain references to publications; import references from library catalogs, indexes and databases and the Internet; create and format references for bibliographies; and share references with colleagues.
Zotero Guide
A guide to using Zotero, a Firefox add-on that can be used to collect, manage, and cite research sources.

Books on Scientific Writing

A Scientific Approach to Scientific Writing
Blackwell, John R. and Martin, Jan. A Scientific Approach to Scientific Writing; Springer: New York, 2011.
Science Centres and Science Events: A Science Communication Handbook
Bruyas, Anne-Marie and Riccio, Michaela, eds. Science centres and science events: a science communication handbook; Springer: Milan ; New York, 2013.
How to Write Technical Reports: Understandable Structure, Good Design, Convincing Presentation
Hering, Lutz and Hering, Heike. How to write technical reports: understandable structure, good design, convincing presentation. Heidelberg: Springer; 2010.
Introduction to Scientific Publishing: Backgrounds, Concepts, Strategies
Öchsner, Andreas. Introduction to scientific publishing: backgrounds, concepts, strategies. Berlin; New York: Springer; 2013.
Mastering Scientific and Medical Writing: A Self-Help Guide
Rogers, Silvia M. Mastering scientific and medical writing: a self-help guide. Berlin: Springer; 2007.
Gaither’s Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Gaither, Carl C. and Cavazos-Gaither, Alma E. Gaither’s Dictionary of Scientific Quotations: A Collection of Approximately 27,000 Quotations Pertaining to Archaeology, Architecture, Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Cosmology, Darwinism, Death, Engineering, Geology, Life, Mathematics, Medicine, Nature, Nursing, Paleontology, Philosophy, Physics, Probability, Science, Statistics, Technology, Theory, Universe, and Zoology. 2nd ed. New York: Springer. 2012.