Question about citations (writing)

[red22]

Is it proper to reverse the order of the names/title, as in the following post?

+ 1
I was aware endophytic fungi were found in certain grasses but morning glories came as a total surprise.

Here are some references:

Molecular characterization of a seed transmitted clavicipitaceous fungus occurring on dicotyledoneous plants (Convolvulaceae). Steiner U, Ahimsa-Müller MA, Markert A, Kucht S, Gross J, Kauf N, Kuzma M, Zych M, Lamshöft M, Furmanowa M, Knoop V, Drewke C, Leistner E. Planta. 2006 Aug;224(3):533-44. Epub 2006 Mar 9.

Clavicipitaceous fungi associated with ergoline alkaloid-containing convolvulaceae. Ahimsa-Müller MA, Markert A, Hellwig S, Knoop V, Steiner U, Drewke C, Leistner E. J Nat Prod. 2007 Dec;70(12):1955-60.

Biosynthesis and accumulation of ergoline alkaloids in a mutualistic association between Ipomoea asarifolia (Convolvulaceae) and a clavicipitalean fungus. Markert A, Steffan N, Ploss K, Hellwig S, Steiner U, Drewke C, Li SM, Boland W, Leistner E. Plant Physiol. 2008 May;147(1):296-305.

When citations are used at the end of a document, the names always come first. However, as you can see, sometimes a citation can have a very long string of names. And the above example is not a case where they're at the end of a document. Reversing the order would make things more presentable. Is it proper or would it be considered informal?

 

[Jerry Atrick]

This thread should prolly be in E&C.

The first place you should check is writing guide that you are supposed to be following. If it is not in the syllabus, ask your professor. For example, when I was in grad school most of my classes followed the American Anthropological Association writing guide. For the AAA style of writing, you are supposed to list all of the authors the first time you cite the article in a paper. For each additional time you cite the article in the paper, it is sufficient to write the first listed author's name followed by "et al." then the page number.

The articles you posted look like biology or some shit, so you would follow their guide. With the amount of authors that their journal articles have, it may be okay to write the name if the first author's name followed by et al.

I would not recommend changing the order because the authors are often listed in order of who did the most work and seniority so order matters.

 

[Belisarius]

I've never seen names come last in a bibliographic citation--then again, there are many citation formats / styles. That said, the way I always learned was:

Two authors:
Smith, John, and Eric Cantor...

Three or more:
John Smith, et al.,..

Then again, there are sites that tell you that you should list up to four, or even five different authors before using et al. Like Jerry Atrick said, I'd strongly recommend sticking to the style characteristic of the field you're interested in, or what the prof says is the correct format.

 

[spork]

Some sites to check out that have been an enormous help for me in writing papers:
Purdue OWL
Son of Citation Machine