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Writing requires using specific guidelines and standards. Health science professions will use some of the associated citation styles and formatting that you see in publications.
Two key ones are AMA for American Medical Association and APA for American Psychological Association. Organizing your citations is necessary for referencing your sources properly in your papers.
Citation/reference management tools can make that much easier. On this page you will find information aimed at providing you with tools and tips related to citing.
AMA Style
- AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition (American Medical Association) This link opens in a new windowA style guide for medical and scientific researchers, writers, and editors to produce well-organized, clear, readable, and authoritative manuscripts, including citation formatting guidelines. Access is limited to 5 users at a time.
- AMA Manual of Style (library access)
Examples of Sections include:
-specific guidelines for types of references: in text, legal, journal articles, etc.
-explanation of types of articles
-tables and figures
-proofreading
Includes links to other resources as well. - Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL)Purdue OWL offers tips for writing. However, be aware that there will be pop up ads.
APA Style
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by Call Number: Print only-reserve copiesISBN: 9781433832161Publication Date: 2019Seventh Edition It is the official source for APA Style.
New chapter on bias-free language guidelines for writing about people with respect and inclusivity in areas including age, disability, gender, participation in research, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality
- APAstyle.apa.orgAPA has a cite that covers most of the content in the print guide.
Use the Style & Grammar page for information on writing and formatting. - Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL)NOTE: Pop up ads and citation machine are included in Purdue OWL pages now. For projects that use many citations, use a reference manager.
NOTE: Pop up ads and citation machine are included in Purdue OWL pages now. For projects that use many citations, use a reference manager. Northeastern Libraries provide support for citation managers. See more information on this guide.
Citation Management Software (store and organize)
By now you have probably heard of citation management programs, sometimes called reference managers. The most common ones are EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley but there are others. There are also tools that will format one citation at a time but don't store and organize like these others do.
Your instructor or group member may have a preference for one. These tools will save you time and help with formatting for both in text (in your paper) and creating bibliographies/reference lists.
- Comparison chart for citation management softwareCompares EndNote, RefWorks, Zotero, and Mendeley Desktop.
Two I recommend:
- EndNoteHelps you manage your bibliography and citations, and is installed onto the computer of your choice. You store your citations offline on your computer, and use a Microsoft Word or Mac Pages plugin to automatically create bibliographies.
- ZoteroA research toolbar for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari (or available as a standalone program) to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. Save a citation of whatever you're viewing on the web to create your own collection of research in one personalized library.
Getting the citations
Adding citations to a citation/reference manager
- When in a database and saving articles, look for a button or text that indicates "save", "export" or "download" your citations. In some cases it may use words like save to "Citation Manager."
- occasionally the name of your program will be an option
- While sorting through your results and selecting articles, save them to a folder or file (whatever the database calls them, clipboard in PubMed). This will have your selections to them save in a file to import into your reference manager program.
Already have a pdf saved on your computer? Many will allow you to drag and drop it in the program. It will read the citation components and add them appropriately.
Other reasons to use Zotero, EndNote or Mendeley
- You can manually add citations, maybe a pamphlet or a book that is just easier this way.
- Select citations to create a bibliography and have it formatted automatically in the style of your choice.
- Enter in-text citations as you type your paper using the Word addon/plugin provided by the program.
- Note: You have to either download or connect this to your word program first.
- Share your citations and bibliographies easily with the share options.