 Before you start a project you need to find out what has already been written on your subject.  Carry out background reading to become familiar with the subject. Browse text and reference books in the library.  For advance search refer to well known journals such as: Nature, Cell, Science, J Immunol etc. look for review articles related to your subject. Dr.Saba Abdi2

At the end of your report or assignment that requires to use references you must list all the publications you referred to (cited) in the text. Dr.Saba Abdi3

Databases that can be used to find information related to biological sciences include: Scopus- for all science subject Web of knowledge-for all science subjects Medline/pubmed-for life science, clinical medicine Science direct-for all science Dr.Saba Abdi4

You can acknowledge your sources by creating a list of references or bibliography. You do this in 2 steps:  Step 1: In text citations  Step 2: List your references at the end of your work Dr.Saba Abdi5

 Harvard system (Author- date)  Vancouver system (numeric/ Author-number) Dr.Saba Abdi6

 Insert the author's surname and year of publication in bracket s in the text where you cite a reference. Example: The increase in adipocytes in bone marrow leads to bone atrophy (Cirotteau,1999)  If authors name is already in text, just insert the year of publication. Example: Cirotteau (1999) has proposed that the increase in adipocytes in bone marrow leads to bone atrophy. Dr.Saba Abdi7

 list all your references alphabetically and with full bibliographic details. Example: Cirotteau Y.1999.Morphological modifications of the upper femoral metaphysis on man stricken by osteoporotic disease. C R Acad sci III 322: Li M, Liang h, Shen Y, Wronski Tj.1999.Parathyroid hormone stimulates cancellous bone formation at skeletal sites regardless of marrow composition in ovariectomized rats.Bone 24: Dr.Saba Abdi8

 List all authors by last name and initials, separated by commas if there are more than two authors. Put an "and" before the last author in the list.  Put the year of publication  The title of the book (in italics if possible)  Edition(if not first)  Publisher  City  Number of the pages in the book.  EXAMPLE:Gould, S. J., 1983, Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes, W. W. Norton, New York City,p 413. Dr.Saba Abdi9

 List the author(s) of the article using the same format as for books  Give the year  The title of the article or chapter (no quotes, italics or underlines)  The name(s) of the editor(s) of the book or compilation,  Title of the book (in italics if possible)  The edition (if not first)  The publisher  The city  The page numbers where the article can be found  EXAMPLE: Rodgers, J., 1983, The life history of a mountain range-- Appalachians, in Hsu, K. J., ed., Mountain Building Processes, Academic Press, Orlando, pp Dr.Saba Abdi10

 List the author(s) of the article using the same format given above for books  The year  The title of the article or chapter (no quotes, italics or underlines)  The title of the journal or magazine (in italics if possible)  The volume number of the journal (do not use the publication date)  Page numbers where the article can be found.EXAMPLE:  One author: Maddox, J., 1987, The great ozone controversy, Nature, v. 329, p  Two or more authors: Vink, G. E., Morgan, W. J., and Vogt, P. R., 1985, The Earth's hot spots, Scientific American, v. 252, p Dr.Saba Abdi11

 Give the author's last name and initials (if known)  The date of publication (or last modification).  The full title of the work (e.g. the specific web page)  Then the title of the complete work or site (if applicable) in italics (if possible). Include any version or file numbers, enclosed in parentheses.  Provide the full URL to the resource, including the protocol, host address, and the complete path or directories necessary to access the document.  The date that you last accessed the site, enclosed in parentheses.  Focazio, M.J., Welch, A.H., Watkins, S.A., Helsel, D.R., and Horn, M.A., 1999, A retrospective analysis on the occurrence of arsenic in ground-water resources of the United States and limitations in drinking-water-supply characterizations, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigation Report , (accessed August 1, 2000)/ Dr.Saba Abdi12

 Citing reference using Endnote