Best examples of 3 examples of AMA format citation for a website

Core examples of AMA format citation for a website

Before worrying about every edge case, it helps to see straightforward examples of AMA format citation for a website that follows the standard pattern:

Author(s). Title of Webpage. Website Name. Published [date]. Updated [date]. Accessed [date]. URL

Here are three clean, realistic examples of 3 examples of AMA format citation for a website that you could use in a health sciences paper today:

Example 1 – Government health information page (CDC)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19: Symptoms of COVID-19. CDC. Updated May 11, 2023. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html

This is a classic example of AMA format citation for a website created by a government agency. There’s no individual author listed, so the organization becomes the author. The page has an update date, which AMA style treats like a publication/update line.

Example 2 – Medical information page (Mayo Clinic)
Mayo Clinic Staff. High blood pressure (hypertension). Mayo Clinic. Updated August 1, 2024. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/symptoms-causes/syc-20373410

Here, the author is a group (“Mayo Clinic Staff”), the title is in sentence case, and the site name appears as “Mayo Clinic.” This is one of the best examples of how to handle branded health content in AMA format.

Example 3 – General health information page (MedlinePlus/NIH)
National Library of Medicine. Diabetes. MedlinePlus. Updated October 15, 2024. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://medlineplus.gov/diabetes.html

MedlinePlus is run by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In AMA format, NLM is treated as the author, MedlinePlus as the website name.

Those three core examples of AMA format citation for a website give you the basic structure. Now let’s stretch it: no author, news sites, entire websites, and pages with only a copyright date.

More examples of AMA website citations you’ll actually use

To really understand the pattern, it helps to look at more than just 3 examples of AMA format citation for a website. The reality of 2024–2025 web publishing is messy: not every page has clear dates, and not every site credits an author.

Example of an AMA citation for a news article on a website

Online news is everywhere in research papers now, especially for public health, policy, and epidemiology topics. Here’s a realistic AMA citation for an online news article:

Smith J. FDA approves new RSV vaccine for older adults. The New York Times. May 3, 2024. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/health/rsv-vaccine-older-adults.html

Key moves in this example of AMA format citation for a website:

• Individual author listed first, last name then initials.
• Article title in sentence case, no quotation marks.
• Website/newspaper name in title case (The New York Times).
• Single publication date (no update date shown).
• Access date plus URL at the end.

If there’s no author, AMA lets you start with the article title, but in health-related research, most major outlets do list authors.

Example of an AMA citation for a page with no obvious author

Some websites give you a page title and a logo—and that’s it. No “By” line, no author info. In AMA, you treat the organization as the author if that’s clearly who’s responsible for the content.

American Heart Association. Understanding blood pressure readings. American Heart Association. Updated July 10, 2023. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/understanding-blood-pressure-readings

Why this fits the list of best examples of AMA format citation for a website:

• The organization appears twice: once as author, once as website name.
• There is an update date, which AMA expects you to include when available.
• The structure mirrors the earlier examples of 3 examples of AMA format citation for a website, so you can reuse the pattern confidently.

Example of an AMA citation for a page with only a copyright year

Some sites never give you a clear “Published on” or “Updated on” date. You might only see a copyright line at the bottom of the page, like “© 2024 WebMD, LLC.” AMA is flexible here: if you can’t find a specific date for the page, you omit the publication date and rely on the access date.

WebMD Editorial Staff. Asthma in children. WebMD. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://www.webmd.com/asthma/childhood-asthma

Here, the example of AMA format citation for a website does not invent a date. That’s important. In AMA, you do not make up a publication year just to fill the slot.

Example of citing an entire website in AMA format

Sometimes you’re referencing a website as a whole, not a specific page—for example, when you describe a data source or a tool. AMA allows you to cite the entire site:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov

This is one of the simplest examples of AMA format citation for a website. There’s no page title, because you’re citing the entire resource. You still include an access date and URL.

Example of an AMA citation for a guideline or PDF hosted on a website

Guidelines and reports hosted on websites blur the line between “website” and “report.” If there’s a clear publication year and document title, you treat it more like a report but still include the website and URL.

American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes—2025. American Diabetes Association. 2025. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://diabetes.org/diabetes/standards-of-care

This example of AMA format citation for a website shows:

• Organization as author and publisher.
• Formal document title, including year.
• Publication year before the access date.
• URL at the end, as with other web citations.

If the guideline is a PDF linked from a landing page, you typically cite the landing page URL (the stable, public-facing page), not the long, versioned PDF link that may change.

Patterns you can copy from these AMA website citation examples

The best examples of 3 examples of AMA format citation for a website all share a predictable backbone. Once you see the pattern, you can plug in the details from almost any site.

Author or organization
Start with the author if named. Use last name then initials (no periods between initials). For multiple authors, list up to 6; if there are more than 6, list the first 3 followed by “et al.” If there’s no individual author, use the responsible organization.

Title of the specific page or document
Use sentence case: only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. No italics, no quotation marks. Keep the title exactly as it appears, but you can drop unnecessary branding fluff.

Website name
This is usually the site’s brand: CDC, Mayo Clinic, MedlinePlus, WebMD, Harvard Health, etc. Use title case here.

Dates
This is where many students get tripped up. AMA wants dates in this order when available:

• Published [Month Day, Year].
• Updated [Month Day, Year].
• Accessed [Month Day, Year].

If you only know one of these, you use what you have. If you can’t find a publication or update date, you skip that part and keep the access date.

URL
Include the full URL, without a period at the end (to avoid confusion when copying). AMA does not require the “https://” to be removed, but many instructors are fine either way as long as the link works.

These patterns are visible in all the examples of AMA format citation for a website above. When in doubt, mirror the structure of the CDC or Mayo Clinic examples—they’re the cleanest templates.

2024–2025 trends that affect AMA website citations

If you learned AMA style five years ago, a few things about citing websites in 2024–2025 are worth noticing:

More frequent updates
Health and policy sites like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) now update pages regularly in response to new data. That means the “Updated” line in your citation matters more than ever. If you’re citing a dynamic page on COVID-19, RSV, or emerging infections, it’s worth double-checking the update date right before submission.

Greater reliance on web-only sources
A lot of clinical overviews live only on the web—no print equivalent. Sites like MedlinePlus and Mayo Clinic have become standard references in undergraduate and graduate health programs. Instructors increasingly expect precise AMA citations for these web sources, not just “Mayo Clinic website” scribbled in a reference list.

Institutional authorship is the norm
For health topics, organizations often stand in for individual authors. You saw this in several examples of AMA format citation for a website above: CDC, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, National Library of Medicine. AMA is very comfortable with that structure; you don’t need a person’s name to have a valid citation.

Persistent URLs and stable pages
Major health sites now put effort into stable URLs, which is good news for you. For example, the CDC’s symptom page and MedlinePlus’ condition pages rarely change their core URLs, which makes them ideal for citations. When a site offers a short, memorable URL, use that instead of a long tracking link.

For more official guidance, you can compare these patterns with the AMA Manual of Style (11th ed.) and with examples from academic libraries, such as those at major universities like Harvard Library or medical libraries at large teaching hospitals.

Quick FAQ about AMA website citations

How many examples of AMA format citation for a website should I include in my references?
You only include as many as you actually use in your paper. If you cited CDC, Mayo Clinic, and MedlinePlus, then those three examples of AMA format citation for a website belong in your reference list. Don’t pad your list with sites you didn’t reference.

Is there an example of AMA format citation for a website with no date at all?
Yes. If you truly cannot find a publication or update date, you skip that part and rely on the access date. For instance:
American Cancer Society. Nutrition and physical activity for cancer survivors. American Cancer Society. Accessed December 1, 2025. URL.
Just don’t invent a year—AMA prefers honesty over guesswork.

Do I need to include the access date in AMA website citations?
Yes. AMA expects an access date for online content because web pages change. Every example of AMA format citation for a website above includes an access date for that reason.

Can I shorten long URLs in AMA format?
You should not use third-party URL shorteners in formal references. However, if the site itself offers a clean, short URL (like the MedlinePlus diabetes page), use that. Make sure the link you include is stable and publicly accessible.

Where can I find more examples of AMA format citation for a website?
Check your institution’s writing center or library guides, especially from medical or public health programs. Many university libraries maintain updated AMA citation guides with real examples, often aligned with the AMA Manual of Style 11th edition.

The bottom line: once you’ve studied several real examples of 3 examples of AMA format citation for a website—from CDC, Mayo Clinic, MedlinePlus, major news outlets, and professional organizations—you can handle almost any web source AMA throws at you. Use the patterns above, keep your access dates current, and don’t be afraid to treat organizations as authors. That’s exactly how AMA expects you to work in a web-first research world.