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This page covers information relating to citing and citation styles. Additional information is provided for some of the more tricky resources.
Citing your sources are required with writing assignments and often in presentations.Some of the reason is to avoid plagiarism, but it is also giving credit to the authors/producers of the information. Check our pages on avoiding plagiarism and citations and bibliographies If you're not sure which citation format to use, please check with your instructor. The usual styles in the Health Sciences are APA and AMA. APA: from the American Psychological Association.
APA Citing overview
Since you will read articles and other publications that use a variety of citation styles, it can be confusing at times. Remember, once you know which style you need to use, stick to that format for consistency.
The tutorial offers more detail and practice.
- Citing in the Health Sciences [H5P module]
A tutorial on citation styles commonly used in health sciences fields by Lauri Fennell.
Choose APA or AMA to review each style.
APA Style Sources-7th ed
General information on citations in APA format
- Basic Principles of CitationAPA Style uses the author–date citation system
- Elements of Reference ListReference list entries include the four elements of the author, date, title, and source.
- Journal Article Reference ChecklistSeries of items to review for citation accuracy.
Some specific citing components
- Format of Group Author Names (APA Style site)explains which level of organization to use (this is a change from the 6th edition)
- In-Text citation formattingThere are a few rules for how many authors and where to include the date.
- Citing specific parts of a sourceHow do you cite a table or image from an article? What about chapters, or other sections of a publication? [Images in articles are generally labeled as figures.]
- Stock Images or Clip Art citingThere are special requirements for using clip art and stock images in APA Style papers.
Common sources for stock images and clip art are iStock, Getty Images, Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, Pixabay, and Flickr. Common sources for clip art are Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Web pages, website content
Reports (grey literature)
- Report by a Gov't Agency References (APA Style site)example of a National Cancer Institute report.
Style Format for the Paper Outline (headings, etc.)
These sources come from the APA website.
- Avoiding Plagiarism Guide (APA)Acknowledging your source is key. There are specific ways to do that.
- Student Paper Checklist (Concise Guide version)In APA 7th edition, there are some changes to student paper versions. Make sure this is the requirements your professor expects. Otherwise, there are professional paper guidelines.
Websites and Resources on Styles
These sites are available to explore for additional tips and guidance.
- APAStyle.orgThe official site from the American Psychological Association (APA)
- APA Style BlogNeed to cite a hashtag, tweet, or a blog comment? Search this blog, which is the official companion to the APA Style Guide.
Make sure you are looking at answers for the 7th edition. - AMA Manual of StyleLicensed through Northeastern Libraries, links to the ebook
- Purdue OWLPurdue OWL from Purdue University has similar tips on all citation formats.
Citation organization/management
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.
- Citation Manager Comparison ChartWhich one works better for groups? Let me annotate or add notes? Works with Google docs? This chart will answer those questions and more.
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 managers will identify the citation information when you import the pdf file into the program.
Links to recorded workshops.
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.