Best examples of CSE style format examples for students

Quick examples of CSE style format examples for students

Before getting into rules, let’s look at a few fast, realistic examples of CSE style format examples for students writing science papers.

Name–Year in-text citation example
Recent studies show that heat-related illness is increasing among outdoor workers (Jackson and Rosenberg 2010).

Matching reference list entry
Jackson JE, Rosenberg HR. 2010. Preventing heat-related illness among outdoor workers. Am J Public Health. 100(8):1378–1380.

Citation–Sequence in-text citation example
Recent studies show that heat-related illness is increasing among outdoor workers (1).

Matching reference list entry

1. Jackson JE, Rosenberg HR. 2010. Preventing heat-related illness among outdoor workers. Am J Public Health. 100(8):1378–1380.

These quick models are the kind of examples of CSE style format examples for students that you can copy, adapt, and plug into your own lab reports or research essays.

Core example of CSE Name–Year format in a short student paper

Most undergraduates in biology, public health, and environmental science courses are asked to use the Name–Year system. Here’s a compact example of CSE style format in a paragraph, followed by the reference list.

Sample paragraph using Name–Year

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events in US cities (US Global Change Research Program 2018). Heat exposure is associated with higher rates of heat stroke, dehydration, and cardiovascular stress, especially among older adults and people with chronic disease (Mayo Clinic 2023; CDC 2024). Urban design strategies such as increasing tree canopy and reflective roofing can reduce local temperatures by several degrees Fahrenheit (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health 2022).

Reference list formatted in CSE Name–Year

CDC. 2024. Heat-related illnesses [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/heat_illness.html
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 2022. Climate change and health: urban heat islands [Internet]. Boston (MA): Harvard University; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/subtopics/urban-heat-islands/
Mayo Clinic. 2023. Heatstroke [Internet]. Rochester (MN): Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heat-stroke/symptoms-causes/syc-20353581
US Global Change Research Program. 2018. Impacts, risks, and adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Internet]. Washington (DC): US Government Publishing Office; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://nca2018.globalchange.gov

This is one of the best examples of CSE style format examples for students because it shows how real online sources from .gov, .edu, and major medical organizations appear in a student paper.

Examples of CSE style format examples for students using Citation–Sequence

Some instructors prefer the Citation–Sequence system, which uses superscript or parenthetical numbers in the order sources first appear.

Sample paragraph (Citation–Sequence)

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events in US cities (1). Heat exposure is associated with higher rates of heat stroke, dehydration, and cardiovascular stress, especially among older adults and people with chronic disease (2,3). Urban design strategies such as increasing tree canopy and reflective roofing can reduce local temperatures by several degrees Fahrenheit (4).

Reference list in citation order

1. US Global Change Research Program. 2018. Impacts, risks, and adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Internet]. Washington (DC): US Government Publishing Office; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://nca2018.globalchange.gov
2. Mayo Clinic. 2023. Heatstroke [Internet]. Rochester (MN): Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heat-stroke/symptoms-causes/syc-20353581
3. CDC. 2024. Heat-related illnesses [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/heat_illness.html
4. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 2022. Climate change and health: urban heat islands [Internet]. Boston (MA): Harvard University; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/subtopics/urban-heat-islands/

These examples of CSE style format examples for students show the key difference: in Name–Year, you organize references alphabetically; in Citation–Sequence, you organize them in the order cited.

Real examples of CSE style format for common source types

Students rarely struggle with theory; they struggle with the weird edge cases. These real examples of CSE style format cover the sources you’re most likely to use in 2024–2025.

Journal article with DOI (Name–Year)

In-text
Physical inactivity has been identified as a major risk factor for global mortality (Lee et al. 2012).

Reference
Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Lobelo F, Puska P, Blair SN, Katzmarzyk PT. 2012. Effect of physical inactivity on major non-communicable diseases worldwide: an analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy. Lancet. 380(9838):219–229. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61031-9.

Book with one author

In-text
Clear communication of science to the public has become more important in the age of social media (Dean 2017).

Reference
Dean C. 2017. Am I making myself clear? A scientist’s guide to talking to the public. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.

Chapter in an edited book

In-text
Risk communication strategies have evolved in response to emerging infectious diseases (Reynolds 2018).

Reference
Reynolds B. 2018. Crisis and emergency risk communication. In: Seeger MW, Sellnow TL, Ulmer RR, editors. Theorizing crisis communication. 2nd ed. Malden (MA): Wiley-Blackwell. p. 45–64.

Government report from a .gov site

In-text
Adult obesity rates in the United States have continued to climb over the past decade (HHS 2023).

Reference
US Department of Health and Human Services. 2023. The state of obesity in the United States [Internet]. Washington (DC): HHS; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://aspe.hhs.gov

Webpage from a health organization (no individual author)

In-text
Sleep deprivation is associated with increased risk of chronic disease (NIH 2024).

Reference
National Institutes of Health. 2024. Sleep deprivation and deficiency [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): NIH; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation

Dataset used in a methods section

In-text
We used national mortality data from 1999–2022 to estimate trends (CDC WONDER 2023).

Reference
CDC WONDER. 2023. Underlying cause of death, 1999–2022 [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://wonder.cdc.gov

These are the kinds of best examples of CSE style format examples for students you can mirror when you’re citing real-world sources in lab reports and capstone projects.

Examples of CSE formatting inside a lab report

Students often ask for examples of CSE style format examples for students that show how the citations sit inside a full lab report, not just in a reference list. Here’s a shortened sample using Name–Year.

Methods section excerpt

We followed CDC guidance for hand hygiene procedures in healthcare settings (CDC 2023). Participants were instructed to wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, following the steps outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO 2009).

Results section excerpt

Consistent with previous findings on bacterial load reduction after handwashing (Burton et al. 2011), we observed a median reduction of 2.3 log10 colony-forming units.

References

Burton M, Cobb E, Donachie P, Judah G, Curtis V, Schmidt WP. 2011. The effect of handwashing with water or soap on bacterial contamination of hands. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 8(1):97–104.
CDC. 2023. Hand hygiene in healthcare settings [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/
World Health Organization. 2009. WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care [Internet]. Geneva (Switzerland): WHO Press; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241597906

This example of CSE style format shows that citations appear naturally in the narrative, usually right after the idea or data you borrowed.

Updated 2024–2025 tips with real examples

In 2024–2025, instructors are paying more attention to online source quality and AI-assisted writing. Here’s how that affects your CSE formatting, with concrete examples.

Citing online reports and dashboards

Public health and climate science now rely heavily on interactive dashboards and regularly updated web pages. For CSE, you still treat these as web documents.

In-text
US life expectancy declined during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not fully recovered (CDC 2024).

Reference
CDC. 2024. Life expectancy in the U.S. [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs

Citing preprints (e.g., medRxiv, bioRxiv)

Many 2024–2025 science classes let you use preprints if you label them clearly.

In-text
Recent preprint data suggest that booster vaccination maintains high levels of neutralizing antibodies (Smith et al. 2024).

Reference
Smith J, Patel R, Nguyen L. 2024. Durability of neutralizing antibody responses after updated COVID-19 booster vaccination [preprint]. medRxiv. doi:10.1101/2024.01.15.24301345.

Citing AI tools (only if your professor requires it)

CSE does not yet have a single, official rule for AI tools, but many campuses in 2024–2025 recommend treating them like software or personal communication and following your institution’s policy.

A common approach:

In-text
We used an AI language model (OpenAI ChatGPT, version 4.0) to generate draft phrasing for survey items, which was then edited and verified by the authors (OpenAI 2025).

Reference
OpenAI. 2025. ChatGPT (Mar 2025 version) [software]. San Francisco (CA): OpenAI; [cited 2025 Mar 2]. Available from: https://chat.openai.com

If your instructor gives you a department-specific AI citation guide, follow that over any generic example of CSE style format.

Formatting details that separate okay work from the best examples

The difference between average and best examples of CSE style format examples for students usually comes down to small details:

• Authors: Last name first, initials only, no periods between initials ("Smith AB,” not “Smith A.B.").
• Year: Always right after the authors. If there’s no year, CSE allows “[date unknown]” or an approximate date; check your instructor’s preference.
• Titles: Sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized).
• Journal names: Use standard abbreviations if your instructor requires them; otherwise, full journal titles are usually accepted in undergraduate work.
• No hanging “Retrieved from": CSE prefers “Available from:” before the URL, plus a [cited date] in square brackets for online sources.

Here’s a polished example of CSE style format for an article many students use:

In-text
Dietary patterns have shifted toward higher consumption of ultra-processed foods in the United States (Hall et al. 2019).

Reference
Hall KD, Ayuketah A, Brychta R, Cai H, Cassimatis T, Chen KY, Chung ST, Costa E, Courville A, Darcey V, et al. 2019. Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain: an inpatient randomized controlled trial of ad libitum food intake. Cell Metab. 30(1):67–77.e3. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2019.05.008.

Notice the use of “et al.” after many authors, the journal abbreviation, the volume(issue), and the page range with the e-page.

FAQ: Short answers with more examples

What are some quick examples of CSE style in-text citations?

• One author: (Dean 2017)
• Two authors: (Jackson and Rosenberg 2010)
• Three or more authors: (Hall et al. 2019)
• Multiple sources: (Mayo Clinic 2023; CDC 2024)
• Citation–Sequence version: (1), (2,3)

These are the simplest examples of CSE style format examples for students to memorize and reuse.

Can you give an example of a CSE reference for a website?

Yes. Here’s a clean example of CSE style format for a health website:

NIH. 2024. High blood pressure [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institutes of Health; [cited 2025 Jan 5]. Available from: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/high-blood-pressure

Do I need access dates in CSE references for online sources?

Yes, CSE recommends including [cited year Mon day] for online sources because web content changes over time. For example of best practice:
[cited 2025 Jan 5].

Where can I find official CSE guidelines?

The official reference is the Scientific Style and Format manual, 8th edition, from the Council of Science Editors. Many university libraries summarize those rules in online guides. Look for pages from .edu domains and compare their examples of CSE style format with the ones your instructor provides.

If you keep a few of these real examples of CSE style format examples for students open while you write, CSE stops feeling like a mysterious code and starts feeling like a predictable pattern you can apply to almost any source you meet in 2024–2025.