Nursing: Source Categories & Styles

The American Medical Association (AMA) citation style is used for those involved in medical, health, or scientific writing and publishing. The AMA Style Manual was written by an expert committee of JAMA Network editors. The 11th edition covers ethical and legal issues, authorship, conflicts of interest, scientific misconduct, and intellectual property, in addition to the preparation of articles for publication, style, terminology, measurement, and quantification. 

Why cite? Citing information serves three purposes:

• Acknowledgment: To give credit to authors/creators for their work and ideas.
• Documentation: To prove that you have done a proper literature review.
• Linking to information: Complete and accurate citations facilitate access to the cited material.

When to cite? Citations need to be provided under the following circumstances:

• When exact wording is taken from any source (quoted)
• When work is summarized (paraphrased)
• Indebtedness to another person for an idea

Where to cite? Anytime you quote or paraphrase someone else's work, you must cite it in two places:

• In-text citation: Include an in-text citation within the paragraph/PPT slide where you are quoting or paraphrasing. 
• References section: Include a references page at the end of your paper/PPT that includes all of the works you cited.