No matter the style you are using (APA, AMA, NLM, etc.), these are the essential pieces of information you must cite from each source you use to ensure they are properly attributed:
AMA Manual of Style
Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by AMA Style is published by the American Medical Association, JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), and Oxford University Press. AMA Style is used by scientists in many research disciplines.
AMA Style uses numerical superscripts in-text to reference a reference list at the end of the document.
The basic elements of AMA Style citations are as follows:
Examples come from amamanualofstyle.com
Physical Book
Sacks O. Hallucinations. Alfred A Knopf; 2012.
eBook
Guyatt G, Rennie D, Meade MO, Cook DJ. Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill Education; 2015. Accessed August 15, 2016. https://jamaevidence.mhmedical.com/book.aspx?bookID=847
Chapter From A Book With Editors
Boushey CJ. Application of research paradigms to nutrition practice. In: Coulston AM, Boushey CJ, Ferruzzi MG, eds. Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease. 3rd ed. Academic Press; 2013:99-105.
Webpage
In citing data from a website, include the following elements, if available, in the order shown:
■ Authors’ surnames and initials, if given (the names of all authors should be given unless there are more than 6, in which case the names of the first 3 authors are used, followed by “et al”), or name of the group
■ Title of the specific item cited (if none is given, use the name of the organization responsible for the site)
■ Name of the website
■ [Date published]
■ Updated [date]
■ Accessed [date]
■ URL (verify that the link still works as close as possible to publication)
Example:
Zika travel information. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. January 26, 2016. Updated August 11, 2016. Accessed June 18, 2019. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-travel-information
A figure is any graphic that is not a table - photos, drawings, graphs, charts, and maps are all figures.
"The original source should be acknowledged in the legend. If the original source in which the illustration has been published is included in the reference list, the reference may be cited in the legend, with the citation number for the reference corresponding to its first appearance in the text, tables, or figures. Permission should be obtained to reproduce the material in print, online, and in all licensed versions (eg, reprints)." AMA 4.2.9
Example:
(image)
Reprinted with permission from the American Academy of Pediatrics.5
Government Reports
(1) name of author (if given); (2) title of bulletin; (3) name of issuing bureau, agency, department, or other governmental division (note that in this position, Department should be abbreviated Dept; also note that if the US Government Printing Office is supplied as the publisher, it would be preferable to obtain the name of the issuing bureau, agency, or department); (4) date of publication; (5) page numbers (if specified); (6) publication number (if any); (7) series number (if given); (8) online accessed date (if applicable); and (9) web address (if applicable)
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Questions and Answers About Sprains and Strains. National Institutes of Health; 2015. NIH publication 15-5328. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Sprains_Strains/default.asp
Conference Presentations
Morales M, Zhou X. Health practices of immigrant women: indigenous knowledge in an urban environment. Paper presented at: 78th Association for Information Science and Technology Annual Meeting; November 6-10, 2015; St Louis, MO. Accessed March 15, 2016. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2857070.2857108
Dissertations/Theses
Ghanbari S. Integration of the Arts in STEM: A Collective Case Study of Two Interdisciplinary University Programs. Dissertation. University of California; 2014. Accessed October 14, 2016. http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wp9x8sj
Software
Stata 14. Version 14. StataCorp; 2015. Accessed March 14, 2016. http://www.stata.com/
Databases
Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM). Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; 2016. Updated March 13, 2016. Accessed March 14, 2016. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim
US Federal Statutes
Citations of statutes include the official name of the act, the title number (similar to a chapter number), the abbreviation of the code cited, the section number (designated by §), and the date of the code edition cited.
Example:
Female Genital Mutilation, 18 USC §116 (2012). Accessed March 18, 2016. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/USCODE-2011-title18/USCODE-2011-title18-partI-chap7-sec116
See more legal examples here: https://www.amamanualofstyle.com/view/10.1093/jama/9780190246556.001.0001/med-9780190246556-chapter-3-div2-127
APA Style is a popular academic style guide produced by the American Psychological Association. APA Style is used across many disciplines beyond psychology.
APA Style uses in-text citations to refer to larger reference lists at the end of the document.
The 2 basic elements of an APA Style in-text citation are: (Author, Date)
The 4 basic elements of an APA Style reference are: Author. (Date). Title. Source.
Examples come from apastyle.apa.org unless otherwise noted.
Journal Article
In-Text: (Grady et al., 2019)
Reference List: Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185
UpToDate Article
(Bordeaux & Lieberman, 2020)
Bordeaux, B., & Lieberman, H. R. (2020). Benefits and risks of caffeine and caffeinated beverages. UpToDate. Retrieved February 26, 2020, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/benefits-and-risks-of-caffeine-and-caffeinated-beverages
Whole Book
In-Text: (Jackson, 2019)
Reference List: Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000
Book With Editors
(Torino et al., 2019)
Torino, G. C., Rivera, D. P., Capodilupo, C. M., Nadal, K. L., & Sue, D. W. (Eds.). (2019). Microaggression theory: Influence and implications. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119466642
Chapter From A Book With Editors
(Aron et al., 2019)
Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. (2019). Culinary arts: Talent and their development. In R. F. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345–359). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000120-016
Webpage
In-Text: (National Institute of Mental Health, 2018)
Reference List: National Institute of Mental Health. (2018, July). Anxiety disorders. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
ICD Entry
(World Health Organization, 2019)
World Health Organization. (2019). 2A85.5 Mantle cell lymphoma. In International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (11th ed.). https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/1804127841
A figure is any graphic that is not a table - photos, drawings, graphs, charts, and maps are all figures.
Figure With Attribution Required (Copyright)
In-text:
Reference list:
Denali National Park and Preserve. (2013). Lava [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/
Figure With No Attribution Required (Creative Commons, etc.)
In-text:
No reference list entry required.
Table
In-text:
Reference list:
Williams, C. L. (1992). The glass escalator: Hidden advantages for men in the "female" professions. Social Problems, 39(3), 253-267. https://doi.org/10.2307/3096961
(This example comes from: https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/cite-write/citation-style-guides/apa/tables-figures#examples-for-citing-tables)
Government Reports
National Cancer Institute. (2019). Taking time: Support for people with cancer (NIH Publication No. 18-2059). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/takingtime.pdf
Conference Presentations
Evans, A. C., Jr., Garbarino, J., Bocanegra, E., Kinscherff, R. T., & Márquez-Greene, N. (2019, August 8–11). Gun violence: An event on the power of community [Conference presentation]. APA 2019 Convention, Chicago, IL, United States. https://convention.apa.org/2019-video
Dissertations
Kabir, J. M. (2016). Factors influencing customer satisfaction at a fast food hamburger chain: The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Publication No. 10169573) [Doctoral dissertation, Wilmington University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Data Sets
O’Donohue, W. (2017). Content analysis of undergraduate psychology textbooks (ICPSR 21600; Version V1) [Data set]. ICPSR. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36966.v1
The National Library of Medicine has produced a document called Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers. This style guide is one of the recommended texts used in the AMA Style Guide, and serves as its own complete style as well.
The NLM Style Guide includes information and examples for three different types of in-text citations:
citation-sequence system: numerical superscripts that are listed in the reference list in the order they appear in the text (similar to AMA)
citation-name system: numerical superscripts that are listed in the reference list in alphabetical order, regardless of what order they appear in the text
name-year system: author and year of publication are used in-text as (Author Year) to reference to alphabetical reference list (similar to APA)
Examples come from Citing Medicine.
Journal Article
Journal titles should be abbreviated. For abbreviations visit: https://www.issn.org/services/online-services/access-to-the-ltwa/
Petitti DB, Crooks VC, Buckwalter JG, Chiu V. Blood pressure levels before dementia. Arch Neurol. 2005 Jan;62(1):112-6.
See many more examples here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7282/#A32680
Whole Book
Jenkins PF. Making sense of the chest x-ray: a hands-on guide. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005. 194 p.
Book With Editors
Izzo JL Jr, Black HR, editors. Hypertension primer: the essentials of high blood pressure. 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; c2003. 532 p.
Chapter From A Book With Editors
Whiteside TL, Heberman RB. Effectors of immunity and rationale for immunotherapy. In: Kufe DW, Pollock RE, Weichselbaum RR, Bast RC Jr, Gansler TS, Holland JF, Frei E 3rd, editors. Cancer medicine 6. Hamilton (ON): BC Decker Inc; 2003. p. 221-8.
Webpage
Table
Diaz-Cruz ES, Shapiro CL, Brueggemeier RW. Cyclooxygenase inhibitors suppress aromatase expression and activity in breast cancer cells. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005 May;90(5):2563-70. Table 2, Aromatase activity and expression in cell lines; p. 2565.
Figure
A figure is any graphic that is not a table - photos, drawings, graphs, charts, and maps are all figures.
Mitchell GF, Pfeffer MA. Evaluation and management of patients with uncontrolled systolic hypertension: is another new paradigm really needed? Am Heart J. 2005 May;149(5):776-84. Figure 3, Regional pressure wave forms in the normal arterial system; p. 780.
Government Reports
National High Blood Pressure Education Program (US). The fourth report on the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of high blood pressure in children and adolescents. Rev. ed. Bethesda (MD): National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (US); 2005. 48 p. (NIH publication; no. 05-5267).
Conference Presentations
Hu X, Gao Z, Xu F, Liu N. A novel approach to harvesting lymphatic endothelial cells from human foreskin dermis. Paper presented at: 8th TESI Annual Meeting; 2005 Oct 22-25; Shanghai, China.
Dissertations
Jones DL. The role of physical activity on the need for revision total knee arthroplasty in individuals with osteoarthritis of the knee [dissertation]. [Pittsburgh (PA)]: University of Pittsburgh; 2001. 436 p.
Data Sets
RxNorm [dataset on the Internet]. Release META2011AA Full Update 2011_07_05. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2011 Jul 5 [cited 2011 Jul 14]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/rxnorm/docs/rxnormfiles.html
Federal Statutes
Veterans Hearing Loss Compensation Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-9, 115 Stat. 11 (May 24, 2001).
See more legal citation examples in The Bluebook.
Properly citing your sources is the number one way to prevent claims of plagiarism against your work.
The Library does not promote or subscribe to any tools offering plagiarism checking for manuscripts. There are many websites offering "free" plagiarism checking services online, but note that many of these services limit word count/databases searched/searches per month etc. Plagiarism checkers recommended by other libraries include:
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