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UMES Construction Management: ASCE Style

This guide contains information that will help you start searching for information in the field of construction management. You will find links to relevant databases, journals and other resources.

Getting Started

This page provides a basic introduction to the ASCE citation style. It is based on the Publishing in ASCE Journals: A Guide for Authors published by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2014. The ASCE manual is generally used for academic writing in the engineering sciences. 

Journal Articles

The standard format for a paper published in a US journal is as follows:

Beskos, D. E. 1987. “Boundary element methods in dynamic analysis.” Appl. Mech. Rev., 40 (1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3149529.

ASCE Journal Articles

ASCE no longer uses page numbers and has adopted a new format for its references (including those older papers that still contain page numbers). Use the following style for citation to an ASCE journal:

Authors. Year of initial publication. “Title of paper.” Journal abbr. Volume (Issue): CID/page range. DOI.

Irish, J. L., and D. T. Resio. 2013. “Method for estimating future hurricane flood probabilities and associated uncertainty.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng. 139 (2): 04013001. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000157.

Forthcoming Articles

Articles that are “forthcoming” (i.e., those that have been accepted but have not yet been published, sometimes known as “in press”) may be included in the References list. Authors will be asked to review any “forthcoming” references during page proofs to make sure they are updated. Do not include a date. ASCE journal articles that are “forthcoming” should include the article DOI.

Smith, D. O., J. E. Lee, and E. M. Kim. Forthcoming. “Influence of the geometric and material characteristics on the strength of chestnut timber joints.” Mater. Des.

Han, C.-Y., J.-H. Wang, X.-H. Xia, and J.-J. Chen. Forthcoming. "Limit analysis for local and overall stability of slurry trench in cohesive soil." Int. J. Geomech. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000268.

Books

If a whole book is used (or pages here and there throughout the book), page numbers need not be given. If no author is listed, titles should be alphabetized. If a specific chapter is being used, the chapter title and inclusive page numbers should be included. Reports must include the full institution name and location.

Evans, G. M., and Furlong, J. C. 2003. Environmental biotechnology: Theory and applications. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley.

Moody's municipal and government manual. 1988. New York: Moody's Investors Service.

Websites

The following elements should be included: author’s name or owner of the website (if known); year of publication or last revision (if available; use “n.d.” if no date is available); full title of the specific page, in quotation marks; title of website (if applicable), in italics; the date of access, and the full web address.

Arizona Dept. of Commerce. 2005. “Community profile: Hualapai Indian Reservation.” Accessed March 17, 2014. http://www.azcommerce/com/doclib/commune/hualapai.pdf.

Foucher, J. 2017. “The role of construction companies before, during, and after disaster.” Construct Connect (blog). Accessed October 11, 2017. https://www.constructconnect.com/blog/operating-insights/role-construction-companiesdisaster/.

In-Text Citations

ASCE uses the author-date method for in-text references, whereby the source reads as the last names of the authors, then the year (e.g., Smith 2004 or Smith and Jones 2004).