AMA Citation (11th Edition) Help

This guide was created as a basic guide for using AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition. Some of the health science fields such as physician assistants and physical therapy use the AMA Manual of Style.

Superscript numbers

The numbers in text are in superscript1 and occur at the end of the clause in which you used the information. They occur outside “quotation marks,”2 commas,3 (parentheses)4 and full stops.5 However, they occur inside semicolons6; and colons7:

  • Cited works are numbered in order of initial appearance in the text, and appear in the reference list in numerical order. Once you have given a source a number, it will keep that number throughout your paper. So, if you use your first source again, no matter how often you use it, it is still 1. 
  • Do not leave a space between the last letter or punctuation mark and the number.
  • ​Specific page numbers are cited when using the same source more than once. This will help the reader know more precisely where the information came from. Place the page numbers in parenthesis after the superscript citation.

Dr. Roberts findings11(p58)

  • Use commas to show that more than one work is being cited, and use hyphens for several works that would be numbered sequentially.

​​Several interventions have been successful at increasing compliance.11, 14-16    

  • If including an author in the text of a sentence, use the surnames of authors and add the citation number after the author’s surname. 

    • For one or two authors list all names.

      • Smith1 reported on the survey.
      • Smith and Watson2 reported on the survey.
    • For more than two authors list the first author and follow by et al.
      • Smith et al3 reported on the survey. 

Block Quotations

If you use a quote more than four lines or forty words, the material you use should be set off in a block in a reduced type and without the quotation marks. The quote must be single spaced and indented.

For example:                              

Some students considered it intrusive that faculty should even be enquiring about their Facebook use, as they considered this too personal a topic for discussion. Others expressed concern that faculty's expectations around their online activities were unreasonable. Others took the view that they should be able to post what they like as long as they could control who has access.1(p10)

 

In-Text Examples

Diabetes mellitus is associated with a high risk of foot ulcers.3    
                               
"...as has been the conclusion of this author."6          

 

As reported previously,1                                    

The results were as follows14:   

Several interventions have been successful at increasing compliance.11, 14-16        

The data of Smith et al18 is further evidence of this effect.                                   

 Dr. Roberts findings 11(p58)                                                                                                                             

In-Text Table, Figure and Box Examples

Tables, Figures and Boxes are numbered sequentially, according to their order of appearance in the text and the type of figure (e.g.: Box 1, Box 2, Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, Figure 2...)

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For more extensive information, you can look in the chapter on Tables, Figures and Multimedia in the AMA Manual of Style. 

Appendix citing

Appendices are cited in the text as a table or figure would be cited (eg, Appendix 1) and are usually placed at the end of the article before references.

Subjects: Citing
Tags: AMA, citations, citing