Cite ACS Style

These tips can help you format your paper correctly. The ACS Style Guide does not dictate font, margins, and other overall elements for the text of a paper or report. In general, the below guidelines are considered good practice; however be sure to follow your instructor's directions on such matters. Ask if you are not sure.

• Margins
  Page margins should be set 1 inch on top, bottom, left and right.
• Font
  For the body of the paper, use an easily readable font such as Times New Roman or Arial in a standard size, such as 12. Exceptions include chemical structures, tables, and other special elements. Refer to the style guide for specifics.
• Double Space
  Set your word processor to double-space the entire research paper, including quotations, notes, and the list of works cited. Leave one space after a period or other concluding punctuation mark, unless your instructor prefers two spaces.
• Hanging Indent
  Use a hanging indent in your word processor to create the proper spacing (0.5”) for your works cited page.

ACS requires that any quotation over 50 words be started on a new line, indented on both sides inch from the margin, and without quotation marks, essentially a block quote.

In Word, once you have typed in the text you want for your block quote:

Highlight the text Right click and select paragraph Under indent change left to 1". Also change right indent to 1".

It's easier done than said:

See instructions for your phone or smaller devices

1. Place your cursor at the beginning of your citation, and highlight it.
2. Right click your mouse
3. Select Paragraph from the resulting pop up menu
4. Under Indentation, use the Special pull-down menu to select hanging
5. Use the By menu to select 0.5"
6. Select OK. 
7. 

For multiple Citations in a References, Works Cited or Bibliography Page

1. Once you've applied the hanging indent using the technique above, hit enter after your citation.
2. If you are typing your citation it should keep the same formatting. If you are pasting in your citation, right click when you paste and select the paste as text option (looks like a A on clipboard) and Word will automatically apply all the formatting you've already done, including hanging indent, spacing, font, etc. Alternatively you could wait until all your citations are on your bib, highlight them all at once, then use the 5 steps as listed above.

Create a Hanging indent on your phone

You might not see teh options on your phone. The key is to rotate the screen to landscape mode so you can see the available options (see images below to see the difference). Here are the steps:

1. Once you have typed in the text you want for your block quote, tap enter/return before the first word of the quote and after the last word of the quote.
2. Highlight the text that you want to indent.
3. Rotate your device so that you're viewing it in landscape mode.
4. Choose the indent option and you're good. If for some reason you can' do that, you'll have to tap the dot options that represent more menu options, bu that will take more steps.

View in Landscape Mode

View In Portrait Mode

• No Author
  If there is no author for your article, book, or Internet source, start the citation with the title of your resource.
• More than one Author
  Cite names in the same order listed on the article or title page of the book. For two authors use "and"( Rakita and Smith). For more than two authors use et al. (Rakita et al.)
• Publication year
  The year of publication must be in boldface type, followed by a comma in boldface type (2005, )
• URLWhen creating references for websites, include the URL and the access date (accessed January 1, 2011).