CHS 3595 - Forensic Science in the Courtroom

Scientific writing is technical writing by a scientist, with an audience of peers- and is used to refer to reports of original research in journals. It is also used in the following: review articles (which summarize and synthesize previous research), annotated bibliographies (which aid others in performing research), abstracts (which summarize experiments or studies), and grant proposals (which seek funding for research). Scientific writing should be precise, clear and objective.

ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication

ACS style is a set of guidelines developed by the American Chemical Society. By standardizing the way we format academic writing and the way in which we cite outside sources, readers know where to find the information they need, what types of sources are being used as evidence, and how to locate those sources for themselves.  

Click on the link below to be taken to the ACS official website for journal abbreviations:

https://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp

To locate non-ACS journal abbreviations, do the following: 

• Run a Google search for ISO4 abbreviation and the name of your journal. 
• For example: "iso4 abbreviation for journal of forensic science."
• Locate a reliable source from the search results. One that comes from a reputable site like the journal publisher is best.
• Use the journal abbreviation provided in the Google search, J. Forensic Sci. in your ACS citation. 

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/annotated_bibliographies/index.html

A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "References" or "Works Cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).

An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following.

• Summarize: Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.

  For more help, see our handout on paraphrasing sources.

• Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

  For more help, see our handouts on evaluating resources.

• Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even others. If you're doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor.

EndNote Online is a Web-based service designed to help students and researchers through the process of writing a research paper. You will have FREE access to the full version of EndNote Online as it is included in our database access to Web of Science.

You can set up an account by going to the Library Databases Page: http://library.ucf.edu/Databases.

Once you have your personal EndNote Online account set up, you can select Favorite citation styles.

• In the gray bar along the top, select "Format" and then "Bibliography".
• Next to the dropdown for Bibliographic style, choose the link for "Select Favorites".
• From the list of approximately 4,200 citation styles, select up to 25 individual styles and add each one to your personal favorites by selecting "Copy to Favorites".
• Some commonly selected favorites include:
  • ACS
  • Amer Sociological Assn
  • APA 7th
  • Bluebook-Law Review
  • Chicago 17th Author-Date
  • IEEE
  • JAMA
  • MLA 8th or MLA 9th

Once you have your personal EndNote Online account set up, you can select Favorite import filters.

• In the gray bar along the top, select "Collect" and then "Import References".
• Next to the dropdown for Import Option, choose the link for "Select Favorites".
• From the list of approximately 600 import filters, select up to 25 individual import options and add each one to your personal favorites by selecting "Copy to Favorites".
• Select at least these three filters:
  • EndNote Import
  • ProCite RIS
  • RefMan RIS
• Some other commonly selected favorites include:
  • IEEE BibTeX
  • JSTOR
  • ProQuest
  • PubMed (NLM)
  • PubMed Central (NLM)
  • RefWorks Import
  • ScienceDirect
  • SciFinder (CAS)
  • SpringerLink