Effective electron impact excitation cross sections in the 600- to 3000-eV energy range were obtained for the (0, 1) vibrational band of the first negative system of N2 + (corresponding to the B2&Sgr;u +→X2&Sgr;g + electronic transition) and the N II 4432.7-¿ spectral line induced in N2 and for the O II 4350-¿ and O II 4416-¿ spectral line groups induced in O2 and O1. The measured N2 +1N(0, 1) band cross section is in good agreement with recently published data. The cross sections for the O II 4350-¿ and O II 4416-¿ emissions in atomic oxygen were found to be 1.6 and 3.6 times larger, respectively, than those in molecular oxygen. For all the emissions studied, the beam-induced fluorescence signal intensity exhibited linear relationships with species concentration and beam current.