Citing Your Sources: CSE

The Williams Honor System requires you to properly acknowledge sources you have used in course assignments. This guide provides basic information on how to cite sources and examples for formatting citations in common citation styles.

Why is Citing Sources Important?

  • To give credit to ideas that are not your own
  • To provide support for your argument
  • To enable your reader to find and read the sources you used
  • To avoid Honor Code infractions

CSE Style

CSE Style is created by the Council of Science Editors and is used in the fields of astronomy, biology, physics, chemistry, and genetics.

What Needs to be Cited?

  • Exact wording taken from any source, including freely available websites
  • Paraphrases of passages
  • Summaries of another person's work
  • Indebtedness to another person for an idea
  • Use of another student's work
  • Use of your own previous work

You do not need to cite common knowledge.