AMA Style Guidelines

General Guidelines for Books, Articles, and Internet Sources

When using AMA Style to cite references, please keep the following in mind.

  1. All references are made at the end of the paper.
  2. References are listed in the order they appear in the text.
  3. When citing the same source more than once, reuse the original endnote number but include the specific page you are making reference to. For example,
    Atwater13 reported that the alcohol consumption of college students decreased in their senior year which supported Abbott's3(p33) and Orsborn's14 earlier findings.
  4. For articles, capitalize only the first letter of the first word, proper names and abbreviations that always appear in caps.
  5. For other titles, capitalize the first letter of the every word that isn't an article, preposition or less than 3 letters.

For additional help, refer to the American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, which can be found in the Reference Collection at REF R119.A533 2007.

Books

Citations for books, chapters in books, etc. should include the following basic information. If the source does not have one of these elements, skip it.

  • Authors' last name followed by his/her first and middle initials
  • Chapter title
  • Last name and first and middle initials of book authors or editors (or translator, if any)
  • Title of book and subtitle, if any
  • Volume number and volume title, when there is more than 1 volume
  • Edition (do not indicate 1st)
  • Place of publication
  • Publisher
  • Year of copyright
  • Page numbers, when specific pages are cited

Each element is followed by a period.

  1. Cohen JE. How Many People Can the Earth Support?. New York: W.W. Norton; 1995.
  2. McElroy WD. Biomedical Aspects of Population Control. In: Leisner RS, Kormondy EJ, eds. Population and Food. Vol 1. Dubuque, IA: W.C. Brown Co.; 1991:11-15.
  3. Telemedicine Resource Center. Face to Face: Interactive Television in Health Care. Iowa City: Telemedicine Resource Center. The University of Iowa; 1997.

Articles

Citations for journal articles should include the following basic information. If the article does not have one of these elements, skip it.

  • Authors' last names and initials
  • Title of article and subtitle (if any)
  • Abbreviated name of journal
  • Year
  • Volume number
  • Part or supplement number (if it would help to find the journal article gain), and issue month or number when there are sequential page numbers
  • Page numbers

Each element is followed by a period.

  1. Gray C. One-stop care at breast centre another sign of patients' increasing influence. CMAJ. 1997;157:1419-20.
  2. Miles D. Breast cancer tumour vaccines. Cancer Treat Rev. 1997;23(suppl 1):S77-85.
  3. Alcohol most common `date-rape' drug: Study. Alcoholism Report. March 1998;26:6-8.
  4. Waldman TL, Silber DE, Karp SA, Holmstrom RW. The adult personality of childhood incest victims. Psychological Reports. 1997;80:675-680.

Internet Sources

Citations to Internet sources aren't as rigid as those surrounding books and articles. If you have doubts about what to include, usually the quick rule is "more is better". Important elements to include are:

  • Author(s)' last name and first and middle initials (if known)
  • Name of article/webpage
  • If it is an abstract, note in [brackets] - OR
  • Name of journal, if appropriate, with a [serial online] notation, followed by year;volume:pages
  • Phrase "Available at:" and the URL of the page
  • Phrase "Accessed" and the date you looked at it

Each element is followed by a period.

  1. Henkel J. Testicular Cancer: Survival High with Early Treatment. FDA Consumer magazine [serial online]. January-February 1996. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/196_test.html. Accessed August 31, 1998.
  2. Salvatore S. Study links lupus to Epstein Barr virus. [CNN website]. December 15, 1997. Available at: http://cnn.com/HEALTH/9712/15/lupus.discovery/. Accessed August 31, 1998.
  3. Chabner E, Nixon A, Gelman R, et al. Family history and treatment outcome in young women after breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy for early-stage breast cancer [abstract]. Journal of Clinical Oncology [serial online]. 1998;16:2045-2051. Available at: http://www.jcojournal.org/abs16_6/v16n6p2045.html. Accessed August 31, 1998.

For additional help, refer to the American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, which can be found at the Reference Desk.