In Deinen Protokollen wirst Du typischerweise Informationen aus anderen Quellen, wie einem Lehrbuch, einem Versuchsskript oder einem wissenschaftlichen Artikel verwenden. Wenn Du solche Informationen benutzt, musst Du dem Leser sagen, woher diese Informationen stammen und wo der Leser sie finden kann. Das ist der Grund, warum beim wissenschaftlichen Schreiben zitiert wird.
Verschiedene naturwissenschaftliche Fächer verwenden etwas unterschiedliche Stile, um ihre Quellen anzugeben. In der Chemie würde man beispielsweise dem Stil der American Chemical Society (ACS) folgen. In der Biologie wäre der Stil des Council of Biological Editors (CBE) angemessen. Bring unbedingt in Erfahrung, welcher Stil für Dein Praktikum richtig ist.
Allgemein gibt es drei grundlegende Dokumentationssysteme in den Naturwissenschaften:
Wenn Dein Lehrender sagt, dass Du eins dieser Systeme verwenden sollst findest Du hier eine kurze Beschreibung auf Englisch zur Dokumentation der Quellen:
When you cite the source of information in the report, you give the names of the authors and the date of publication. Jenkins and Busher (1979) report that beavers eat several kinds of herbaceous plants as well as the leaves, twigs, and bark of most species of woody plants that grow near water. Beavers have been shown to be discriminate eaters of hardwoods (Crawford, Hooper, and Harlow 1976). References: The sources are listed at the end of the report in alphabetical order according to the last name of the first author, as in the following book and article. Crawford, H.S., R.G. Hooper, and R.F Harlow. 1976. Woody Plants Selected by Beavers in the Appalachian and Valley Province. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture. Jenkins, S.H., and P.E. Busher. 1979. Castor canadensis. Mammalian Species. 120:1-8.
When you cite the source of information in the report, you give a number in parentheses that corresponds to the number of the source in the alphabetical listing in the "References." Jenkins and Busher report that beavers eat several kinds of herbaceous plants as well as the leaves, twigs, and bark of most species of woody plants that grow near water (4). Beavers have been shown to be discriminate eaters of hardwoods (3). References: The sources are listed in alphabetical order and numbered accordingly, as in the following book and article. 3. Crawford, H.S., R.G. Hooper, and R.F Harlow. 1976. Woody Plants Selected by Beavers in the Appalachian and Valley Province. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 4. Jenkins, S.H., and P.E. Busher. 1979. Castor canadensis. Mammalian Species. 120:1-8.
When you cite the sources of information in the report, you give a number in brackets that corresponds to the number of the source listed in the order in which they appear in the report, the source listed first as [1], the next source [2], etc. Jenkins and Busher report that beavers eat several kinds of herbaceous plants as well as the leaves, twigs, and bark of most species of woody plants that grow near water [1]. Beavers have been shown to be discriminate eaters of hardwoods [2]. References: The sources are listed in the order in which they are cited in the report, as in the following book and article. [1] S.H. Jenkins and P.E. Busher, "Castor canadensis,"Mammalian Species. Vol. 20, Jan. 1979. [2] H.S. Crawford, R.G. Hooper, and R.F Harlow, Woody Plants Selected by Beavers in the Appalachian and Valley Province. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1976.
Help for using the documentation system of the Council of Biological Editors (for life sciences). The source is the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin. Help for using the documentation system of the American Chemical Society (for chemistry classes). The source is the Lehigh University Library.