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AMA 11th Style

This guide will provide general information about citing in AMA style as based on the 11th edition of the manual.

Paper

AMA does not provide specific instructions on the format of a research paper.  The following are recommendations based on publishing standards.

General Format

  • 1-inch margins
  • Double spaced
  • Times New Roman
  • 12 pt font
  • Page number right-aligned in the header.
  • No page number on first page

Title Page (if requested by professors)

  • Center align text
  • Title of paper begins 1/4 of the way down the page
  • Author's name(s)
  • Course #- Couse Name
  • Assignment
  • Institution

No Title Page

Place the following on the first page:

  • Authors name(s)
  • Instructor name
  • Course title
  • Due Date

Body of Paper

  • Sections and subsection headings are used to organize information
    • Introduction - Section headings are bold and left-aligned
    • Body Paragraphs - Subsection headings are italicized and left-aligned
    • REFERENCES- All caps and left-aligned
  • First line of paragraphs are indented
  • No extra space between paragraphs or sections

References

Please see Reference section.

In-Text Citations

Authors

See Author section.

Superscript numbers

  • The numbers used to designate a citation within the text are in superscript1 and occur directly after the author's names or clause where you used the information. 
  • Superscript numbers should be placed outside of commas, (parentheses), "quotation marks" and ending punctuation.5 
  • However, superscript numbers are placed inside semicolons; and colons7:
  • No space is left between the last letter or punctuation mark and the superscript number.
  • Numbers are reused for the same citation throughout the paper.  If you reuse the first source in your paper on the third page that source is still labeled with a 1.
  • Citations are numbered in order as they appear within the paper. Therefore, the first source will always be 1. 
  • If you use more than one work at a time you separate each superscript number with a comma and use hyphens for works that would occur sequentially.

Direct Quotes

  • AMA does not encourage the use of direct quotes within research. If you find it necessary to refer to the exact wording used by the authors, you must put the quote in "quotation marks" and use a page number next to the in-text citation.
  • You put the page number in brackets directly after the reference number, with no space: 1(p6). This all goes in superscript.

Notes

  • DO NOT place superscript numbers immediately following a number or a unit of measure to ensure that the superscript is not confused with an exponent. 
  • Instead add an additional descriptor word following the numbers (ex: 5 patients, 12 subjects).

Author Information

Author Names in Text of Paper

  • Author surnames should be mentioned as part of the narrative of the sentence.
    • Research conducted by Smith1 indicates a correlation…
  • Do not mention author first names or initials.
  • If there are only two authors both must be mentioned by surname in the text.
  • If there are three or more authors you mention the first author by surname followed by et al (without punctuation).
  • Author names are always listed in the order they appear on the publication.
  • Superscript numbers always follow the final author name or et al.

Author Names in Reference List

  • Authors in your reference list are listed as Surname Initials
    • Smith RL
  • Multiple authors are separated by a comma.
  • List all authors up to a total of 6.
  • If there are more than 6 authors list the first three followed by et al.
  • Reference lists are numerical in AMA and are NOT alphabetized by author.

Special Cases

  • If there is no author listed begin the reference with the title.
  • If the author is listed as "Anonymous" in the published article then use that as the author name, but only if specifically listed as such.
  • Corporations or groups that are listed as the author should be spelled out completely in place of an individual author
    • World Health Organization
    • American Red Cross

Reference List

Reference List

  • Sources are listed in numerical order as they appear in the paper.
  • AMA Manual of Style does not give instructions for the layout of the reference list.

Recommended Formatting

  • Because AMA is not specific in formatting requirements the following are recommendations based on journals published by JAMA.
  • Begin the reference list immediately after the end of your document after a space or line.
  • The reference list should follow after article information or acknowledgements if present.
  • The word REFERENCES should be in all caps aligned with the left hand margin.
  • Numbers are formatted normally.

Sample Reference List

REFERENCES

  1. Maul-Mellott SK, Adams JN. Childhood Cancer: A Nursing Overview. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett; 1987.
  2. Engel J, Pedley TA, Aicardi, J, eds. Epilepsy: A Comprehensive Textbook. Vol 3. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008.
  3. Vieira AR. Genetic Basis of Oral Health Conditions. Springer International Publishing; 2019. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-14485-2
  4. Economopoulos KJ, Brockmeier SF. Rotator cuff tears in overhead athletes. Clin Sports Med. 2012;31(4):675-692. doi:10.1016/j.csm.2012.07.005
  5. Speer, E, Prentice K. The role of the library in the age of online education. Case study presented at: OnlineEd 2021. May 20, 2021. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://youtu.be/9wwtVDM-fX4
  6. Maddox S, Hurling J, Stewart E, Edwards A. If mama ain't happy, nobody's happy: the effect of parental depression on mood dysregulation in children. Paper presented at: Southeastern Psychologica Association 62nd Annual Meeting; March 30-April 2, 2016; New Orleans, LA.
  7. Propylthiouracil. In: DynaMed. EBSCO Information Services. Updated July 22, 2020. Accessed September 30, 2020. https://www.dynamed.com/drug-monograph/propylthiouracil