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How to Cite Your Sources

A guide to some of the citation styles

Citing Periodicals in AMA

Author formats in the Reference List

The authors follow the pattern of Surname Initials (e.g. Brown JA) and are separated by a comma.

If there are six authors/editors or less, include the names of all authors/editors.

Mentioning the authors by name in text

In narrative citations in text, you mention the author's names as part of the sentence. Place the reference number next to the author's names. For example:

Research conducted by Smith7 showed a correlation between...

When you have only two authors, you will always mention both authors in the sentence:

Research conducted by Smith and Green7 showed a correlation between...

If you have three or more authors, give the first author and et al (note that for AMA you do not put a full stop after al in et al):

Research conducted by Smith et al7 showed a correlation between...

If there are more than six authors/editors, only list the first three names, then shorten with et al. (e.g. Smith AA, Jones BA, Bloggs JC, et al.).

  1. Hallal AH, Amortegui JD, Jeroukhimov IM, et al. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography accurately detects common bile duct stones in resolving gallstone pancreatitis. J Am Coll Surg. 2005;200(6):869-75.

Standard news article pattern (print):

Author AA, Author BB. Article title. Newspaper name. Month DD, year:pp-pp.

Examples

  1. Tourne R. Townsville Hospital in poor health: hospital troubles persist. Townsville Bulletin. February 26, 2011:5.

  2. Packham B. Australian-made vaccine available 'within months'. The Australian. September 7, 2020:5.

Standard news article pattern (online):

Author AA, Author BB. Article title. Newspaper name. Month day, year:pp-pp. Accessed Month DD, YYYY. URL

Examples

  1. Scott M. More than 60 treated in hospital after Townsville music festival. The Australian. May 7, 2019. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/more-than-60-treated-in-hospital-after-townsville-music-festival/news-story/f4b6a403939ed34b0c18d426becb9533

  2. Ikonomou T. Townsville’s rising obesity numbers among shocking health statistics. Townsville Bulletin. November, 14, 2018. Accessed September 9, 2020. https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville/townsvilles-rising-obesity-numbers-among-shocking-health-statistics/news-story/47c5f163d537ba20353e0572901ea19e

Citing Books in AMA

Standard book patterns:

Pay close attention to the punctuation use in these examples – including case, italics, the order of dates and spaces.

Standard book in Print:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Book Title. Vol no. Nth ed. Publisher; Year.

Edited book:

Editor AA, Editor BB, Editor CC, eds. Book Title. Vol no. Nth ed. Publisher; Year.

eBook:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Book Title. Vol no. Nth ed. Publisher; Year. Accessed Month DD, YYYY. DOI or URL

Example:

Health Worker Roles in Providing Safe Abortion Care and Post-abortion Contraception. World Health Organization; 2015. Accessed December 9, 2021. https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/unsafe_abortion/abortion-task-shifting/en/

Standard chapter pattern:

Pay close attention to the punctuation use in these examples – including case, italics, the order of dates and spaces.

Author AA, Author BB. Title of chapter. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, eds. Book Title. Vol no. Nth ed. Publisher; Year:page numbers. Accessed Month DD, YYYY. DOI or URL

Examples:

  1. Karmakar M. Ultrasound-guided central neuraxial blocks. In: Narouze SN, ed. Atlas of Ultrasound-Guided Procedures in Interventional Pain Management. Springer; 2011:161-178. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-1681-5_12
  2. Shaparin N, Shah A, Gritsenko K. Pharmacological agents: opioids. In: Urman RD, Vadivelu N, eds. Perioperative Pain Management. Oxford University Press; 2013:29-37. Accessed December 16, 2021. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jcu/detail.action?docID=1274300
  3. Banasik J. Alterations in cardiac function. In: Copstead L, Banasik J, eds. Pathophysiology. 4th ed. Saunders Elsevier; 2010:429-460.
  4. Dog TL. Botanicals in the management of pain. In: Audette JF, Bailey A, eds. Contemporary Pain Medicine: Integrative Pain Medicine: the Science and Practice of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Pain Management. Humana Press; 2008:447-470.
  5. Varacallo M,  Mair SD. Rotator cuff tendonitis. In: StatPearls. NCBI Bookshelf version. StatPearls Publishing; 2019. Accessed October 24, 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532270/