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Write and Cite

AMA Style Guide

The AMA updated their style guide in 2020. Rather than duplicating content here, we recommend the excellent guide from the Himmelfarb Librarians which provides detailed examples for the newest AMA manual.

For more information on formatting and in-text citations, see this guide from the University of Washington

AMA Formatting & Style Guide

The American Medical Association (AMA) style is used in the field of medicine. At Bastyr University, nutrition and exercise science students are asked to check the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (JAND) , for examples of how to format their papers: JAND uses the AMA style.

NOTE: you must use accepted abbreviations for journal titles when you're citing using AMA style. You can look them up here.

Book-1 Author

Skipper A. Advanced Medical Nutrition Therapy Practice. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers; 2009.

Book- more than 1 Author

Han SS, Holmstedt JOV. Human Microscopic Anatomy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 1981.

*List all authors, if 6 or less.  For more than 6, list first 3 followed by “et al.”

Book with Editors

Lake J, Spiegel D, eds. Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Mental Health Care. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishers;

2007.

Chapter From Book

Vasquez MJT.  Ethics in Multicultural Counseling Practice.  In:  Ponterotto JG, Casas JM, Suzuki LA, Alexander CM, eds.  Handbook of

Multicultural Counseling.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications; 2010:127-145.

Monographic Series

Sionneau P, Gang L.  Diseases of the Neck, Shoulders, Back and Limbs.  Boulder, CO: Blue Poppy Press; 1997.  The Treatment of Disease in

TCM Series 4.

 

IN-TEXT FORM

In-text citations point the reader to the references listed in one’s Reference List. In AMA style, the in-text citations consist of superscript Arabic numerals placed after periods and commas, but before colons and semi-colons. The items in the Reference List are organized and numbered in the order they were referenced in the text and cited accordingly.

Example: As reported previously,1 this therapy is used to treat diabetes.1,3-5

Example: The types of therapies are as follows4:

The Dept. of Nutrition and Exercise Science uses the modified format, that of Arabic numerals contained in parentheses. For Example: In the following example, the study is the third mentioned in the text, and therefore the third item on the reference list, so the citation is written as “(3)”:

“In a recent study examining the use of Vitamin D as a diabetes prevention aid (3), results indicated…”

Journal Article-1 Author

Cooksey NR.  Bridging the gap between textbook and maternity patient:  a nurse-developed teaching model for first-year medical students.

Birth. 2010;37(4):325-333.

Article From Journal-More than 1 Author

Gillingham LG, Lescheid DW. Probiotics and mucosal immunity:  strain- specific effects on TH1/TH2 cell modulation. Int J Naturopathic Med.

2009;4(1):18-22.

*List all authors, if 6 or less.  For more than 6, list first 3 followed by “et al.”

Website or Webpage (Undated)

How to Treat Gestational Diabetes.  American Diabetes Association Web site. http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/gestational /how-to-

treat-gestational.html. Accessed August 31, 2011.

Online Article with DOI Assigned

Julias M, Buettner HM, Shreiber DI. Varying assay geometry to emulate connective tissue planes in an in vitro model of acupuncture needling.

Anat Rec. 2011;294(2):243-252. doi:10.1002/ar.21308.

Online Article with no DOI Assigned

Varughese J, Richman S. Cancer care inequity for women in resource-poor countries. Rev Obstet Gynecol. 2010; 3(3):122–132.  http://

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046761/?tool=pubmed.  Accessed August 31, 2011.

 

IN-TEXT FORM

In-text citations point the reader to the references listed in one’s Reference List. In AMA style, the in-text citations consist of superscript Arabic numerals placed after periods and commas, but before colons and semi-colons. The items in the Reference List are organized and numbered in the order they were referenced in the text and cited accordingly.

Example: As reported previously,1 this therapy is used to treat diabetes.1,3-5

Example: The types of therapies are as follows4:

The Dept. of Nutrition and Exercise Science uses the modified format, that of Arabic numerals contained in parentheses. For Example: In the following example, the study is the third mentioned in the text, and therefore the third item on the reference list, so the citation is written as “(3)”:

“In a recent study examining the use of Vitamin D as a diabetes prevention aid (3), results indicated…”

Streaming video (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)

American Heart Association.  2010 Guidelines for CPR.  YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9T25SMyz3A. Published October 17,

2010. Accessed August 31, 2011.

Format for Citing Databases:

In citing data from an online database, include the following elements, if applicable, in the order shown:

Author(s). Title of the database [database online]. Publisher’s location (city, state, or, for Canada, city, province, country, or, all others, city, country): publisher’s name; year of publication and/or last update.  URL [provide URL and verify that the link still works as close as possible to publication]. Accessed [date].

Natural Medicines

Aloe: In Natural Medicines. Stockton, CA: Therapeutic Research Center. [Updated August 15, 2018; Accessed October 4, 2018]. https://naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com/databases/food,-herbs-supplements/professional.aspx?productid=607

 

 

IN-TEXT FORM

In-text citations point the reader to the references listed in one’s Reference List. In AMA style, the in-text citations consist of superscript Arabic numerals placed after periods and commas, but before colons and semi-colons. The items in the Reference List are organized and numbered in the order they were referenced in the text and cited accordingly.

Example: As reported previously,1 this therapy is used to treat diabetes.1,3-5

Example: The types of therapies are as follows4:

The Dept. of Nutrition and Exercise Science uses the modified format, that of Arabic numerals contained in parentheses. For Example: In the following example, the study is the third mentioned in the text, and therefore the third item on the reference list, so the citation is written as “(3)”:

“In a recent study examining the use of Vitamin D as a diabetes prevention aid (3), results indicated…”

If you can't find an example in the resources below, see print guides Available in the Library.

 

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