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Citation Help for AMA: Journal Article

Examples, explanations, and links to help you cite your sources in the AMA style

Multiple authors?

Example:
McGill I, Glenn JK, Brockbank A. The Action Learning Handbook: Powerful Techniques for Education, Professional 
Development and Training. New York: Routledge Falmer; 2004.

Explanation:
Place a comma between authors and also a comma before eds. if editors are listed. End with a period. If there are more than six authors listed, give the first three authors followed by et al.

Example

Foley M, Prax B, Crowell R, Boone T. Effects of assistive devices on cardiorespiratory 

   demands in older adults. Phys Ther. 1996;76(12):1313-1319.

Explanation

Author: Foley M, Prax B, Crowell R, Boone, T.
Last name first, abbreviate first and middle names to just the first initial with no periods in between. End with a period.

Title & subtitle of the article: Effects of assistive devices on cardiorespiratory demands in older adults.
Title and subtitle are separated by a colon. Capitalize only the first word of the title and sub-title, and any proper nouns. End with a period.

Title & subtitle of journal: Phys Ther.
Journals in AMA are abbreviated. Use PubMed to find out the abbreviation for your journal.
(Click on the Journals Database on PubMed's left sidebar and enter in the full name of the journal to get the title abbreviation)

Title and subtitle are separated by a colon. Capitalize first word of title and subtitle, proper nouns, and all important words. Do not put periods after the abbreviated words. Italicize title and subtitle. End with a period.

Year of publication: 1996;
List the year when the article was published followed by a semi-colon with no space between. 

Volume and issue number (or supplement information): 76(12):
List the volume number after the semi-colon with no space followed by the issue number in parentheses again with no space. If the issue is a supplement, note that with the word suppl in its own parentheses (suppl) Follow the parentheses with a colon.

Page numbers: 1313-1319.
If page numbers of an article run consecutively, separate beginning and ending page numbers with a hyphen. End citation with a period. If the pages of the article do not run consecutively, indicate the beginning page of the article followed by a + sign. If this is a supplement, precede the pages numbers by an S such as S131-1319.

**If you got this article from an online database such as Academic Search Premier, you are not done! See the Full Text Article from Database for the second half of your citation.

Reference: American Medical Association. AMA Manual of Style. 10th ed. Oxford, England: Oxford Universtiy Press; 2007.