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AMA 11th Edition

General Guidelines for an AMA Paper

  • The AMA Manual of Style provides no specific preferences for font style or size; however, the following are good standards for a college-level paper
  • Font: 12-Point Times New Roman is mentioned for easy readability 
  • Double spaced
  • 1" margins
  • Title Page:
    • In center: Title of Paper, Name, College, Course # and Name, Instructor, Due Date
  • Page numbers in upper right corner (header)
  • Section headings
  • References List (numbered, not alphabetical)
  • NOTE: A DOI (digital object identifier) is preferred over URL. If you use the DOI, you should NOT include the URL or date accessed.
  • NOTE: If there is no date, put :"date unknown" in place of the year.
  • NOTE: To ensure you are following assignment guidelines, check with your professor.

The Reference List

  • AMA Citation uses a NUMBERED Reference List
  • The Reference List is NOT Alphabetized
  • References are numbered consecutively in the order that they are cited in the text of the paper
    • For example, the first item in the Reference List should be 1.  This should also be the first item cited in the paper. 
  • For more examples, see In-Text Citations tab to the right

Minimal Acceptable Data for References

  • AMA has different citation templates for different formats of References
    • Journal Article vs. Book vs. Website
  • AMA calls these templates "Minimal Acceptable Data for References" 
  • Journal Articles
    • Print
      • Author(s). Article title. Abbreviated Journal Name. Year;volume(Issue number):inclusive pages. DOI (if provided)
    • Online 
      • Author(s). Article title. Abbreviated Journal Name. Publication date. DOI (if provided)
  • Books
    • Print
      • Author(s). Book Title. Edition number (if it is the second edition or later). Publisher's name; copyright year. 
    • Online (eBook)
      • Author(s). Book Title. Edition number (if it is the second edition or later). Publisher's name; copyright year. Accessed [date]. URL. (or DOI, if provided). 
  • Website
    • Author (if no author is available, use the name of the organization responsible for the site). Title (if no title is available, the name of the organization responsible for the site). Name of the website. Published [date]. Updated [date]. Accessed [date]. URL. 

Note: A DOI is always preferred if provided. Do NOT use a period after a DOI (this might alter the accuracy of the DOI)

Authors

  • Authors are listed by Last Name First Initial
  • There are no commas between Last Name and First Initial
  • John Smith would be written as Smith J. 
  • For 2-6 authors, list all authors as above without using "and" in the string of names and placing a comma between authors
  • For more than 6 authors, list the first 3 authors and follow with "et al" (not in quotations)
    • For example, here is an article with 8 authors, list the authors as:
      • Smith J, Michaels M, Jones P, et al. 
  • If no author is listed, use the article title or book title as the author

Reference Item Titles (Article titles and Book chapters)

  • For Journal Article titles:
    • Do not italicize or place in quotations
    • Only capitalize the first letter of the first word and any words that are normally capitalized
      • Also capitalize the first letter of the first word of a subtitle
      • Example: Anatomy of the arm shows little ability to survive extreme cold: A literature review. 
        • The "A" in Anatomy and the "A" of the subtitle are capitalized
  • For Book Chapter titles:
    • Use the same rules as Journal Article titles above

Reference Format Titles (Journal Titles and Book Titles)

  • Reference format titles, such as the title of an academic journal, are treated differently in AMA than other citation styles
  • Academic Journals: 
  • Books, Government Bulletins, Documents, and Pamphlets:
    • Capitalize the first letter of each major word
      • EXCEPT: articles, prepositions of 3 or fewer letters (as, of, per)
    • The title is in italics