After finding relevant items for your topic, you will need to cite the items you used to write your paper and compile a bibliography.

Find out the citation style that your department or lecturer prefers. Once you have determined the style to follow, use it consistently in your paper and bibliography.

There are many well-known citation styles like:

• American Medical Association (AMA)
• American Sociological Association (ASA)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Chicago/Turabian
• Harvard Style
• Legal Style
• Modern Language Association (MLA)

The AMA style conforms to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals 5th edition, 1997 (sometimes referred to as the Vancouver group). This Uniform Requirement style was adopted and developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM style) and was first published in 1979. The three styles, usually used by authors of biomedical journals, have certain similarities. It is recommended that authors keep to a particular style for consistency. In view of this, we have chosen to feature the AMA style 9th edition here.

Below are highlights of some rules from the AMA style manual for documenting references cited at the end of an article:

1. References are numbered by Arabic numerals in the order it is cited in the text of the article.
2. Use author's surname followed by initials without periods.
3. Surnames that contain prefixes or particles (e.g. von, de, van) are spelled and capitalized according to the preference of the persons named.
4. Names of authors: if more than 6 authors - the first 3 authors names are used followed by "et al"; If has 6 or less authors - all the authors names are included. (This follows the 1997 ed of the Uniform requirements...or Vancouver style)
5. If article has no author, start reference with title. Unless "anonymous" or something similar was actually used.
6. Abbreviate names of journals according to the abbreviations given in List of journals indexed in Index Medicus, e.g. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med.
7. For articles, capitalize only the first letter of the first word, proper names and abbreviations that are ordinarily capitalized.

For more information, please refer to the American Medical Association manual of style: A guide for authors and editors, [R119 Ame], available in the Medical Library Reference collection.

Examples:

Book

Cantor, CR, Smith CL. Genomics: the science and technology behind the Human Genome Project. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons; 1999.

Chapter in book

Reilly PR. Laws to regulate the use of genetic information. In: Rothstein MA, ed. Genetic secrets: protecting privacy and confidentiality in the genetic era. New Haven: Yale University Press; 1997:369-391.

Journal article

George AL Jr, Neilson EG. Genetics of kidney disease. American journal of kidney diseases. 2000;35(4 Suppl 1):S160-169.

Published conference paper

Downing KH. The structure of tubulin determined by electron crystallography. In: Proceedings of the 7th Asia-Pacific Electron Microscopy Conference on perspective imaging, Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre, Suntec City Singapore,

Unpublished conference paper

Eisenberg J. Market forces and physician workforce reform: why they may not work: Paper presented at: Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges; October 28, 1995; Washington, DC.

Thesis

Thein GT. Mutations and polymorphisms of the androgen receptor gene causing partial and minimal androgen insensitivity syndromes [M Med thesis]. Singapore: Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore; 1998

Web site

Ferrell BG. Critical elements approach to developing checklists for a clinical performance examination. Med Edn Online [serial online]. 1996;1(3):1-7. Available at: http://www.med-ed-online.org/res00001.html. Accessed 7 March 2000.

References

• American Medical Association manual of style: a guide for authors and editors. 9th ed. Cheryl Iverson (Chair), [et al]. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1998.
• AMA style guide. Available at: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/styleguides/ama.html. Accessed 18 August 2000.
• University Libraries: AMA style guide. Available at: http://www2.evansville.edu/libweb/style/ama.html. Accessed 22 August 2000
• Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Jama 1997;277:927-934. Available at: http://jama.ama-assn.org/info/auinst_req.html. Accessed 22 August 2000.
• NLM style guide. Available at: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/styleguides/nlm.html. Accessed 18 August 2000.