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Citation Styles

A comprehensive guide to citing in various citation styles, offering examples of citations as well as links to outside sources.

What is a citation?

A citation or reference is the information given in a bibliography or a database about a particular title, which often includes:

  • article title or chapter title
  • periodical title or book title
  • author(s) or editor(s)
  • place of publication
  • date of publication
  • publisher name
  • volume/issue (articles) or edition (books)
  • page range
  • medium of publication
  • electronic access (URL or DOI)
  • date accessed

Citations give credit to those whose ideas have contributed to your research and give your readers enough information to locate the sources you used. There are many ways to format citations. The style you choose depends on your field and the requirements set by your professor or publisher.

End-of-Text References (10th ed.)

Template

Note number. Author AA, Author BB. Title of article. Journal Title Abbreviated. Year of Publication;Volume(Issue):Page range. DOI or URL. Date accessed (if using a URL).

Example

Print article

1. Mountain AD, Kirby RL, Smith C, Eskes G, Thompson K. Powered wheelchair skills training for persons with stroke. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2014;93(12):980-993.

Online article

2. Wan Y, Yan Y, Ma F, Wang L, Lu P, Maytag A, Jiang J. LPR: How different diagnostic tools shape the outcomes of treatment. J Voice. 2014;28(3):362-368. https://www.clinicalkey.com/#!/content/journal/1-s2.0-S0892199713002518. Accessed January 16, 2016.

Template

Book

Note number. Author AA, Author BB. Title of Book. Edition ed. Place of Publication: Publisher Name; Year of publication.

Chapter in an edited book

Note number. Author AA, Author BB. Title of chapter. In: Editor AA, ed. Title of Book. Edition ed. Place of Publication: Publisher Name; Year of publication:Page range.

Examples

One author

1. William L. Clinical Methods in Communication Disorders. 3rd ed. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed; 2002.

Multiple authors

2. Helewa A, Walker JM. Critical Evaluation of Research in Physical Rehabilitation: Towards Evidence-Based Practice. Philadelphia: Saunders; 2000.

Chapter in an edited book

3. Palisano RJ, Campbell SK, Harris SR. Evidence-based decision making in pediatric physical therapy. In: Campbell SK, Palisano RJ, Orlin MN, eds. Physical Therapy for Children. 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier; 2012:1-36.

In-Text References (10th ed.)

Any time a source is directly quoted or paraphrased it needs to be cited within the text. Each in-text source includes a superscript number after the reference. Superscript numerals should appear after periods and commas but before colons and semicolons. The sources are numbered consecutively and refer to the sources listed on the "References" page at the end of your paper.

Direct Quote example:

The study indicates that, "people with stroke who receive formal powered wheelchair skills training improve their powered wheelchair skills to a significantly greater extent (30%) than participants who do not (0%)."7

Paraphrasing example:

Studies of manual wheelchair skills training,5,37-40 and similar powered wheelchair skills training7 support current World Health Organization recommendations for wheelchair service delivery.

Note: If a particular reference is cited more than once, the same superscript numeral is used each time.

Formatting Requirements

The American Medical Association style is used in the fields of medicine and science. The AMA manual does not specify much in terms of how your reference list should be formatted. Be sure to check with your professors for their requirements.

  • References are listed in the order in which they appear in your paper.
  • Each reference number should be associated with a single source.
  • References to personal communications or material not yet accepted for publication should not be included in the reference list and should instead be cited within the text. See the AMA Manual Online, section 3.13.10.