Best examples of AMA format in-text citation examples for 2024

Quick, realistic examples of AMA format in-text citation examples

Let’s start where most students and early-career researchers actually need help: seeing how AMA citations look in real sentences.

Here are some short, realistic examples of AMA format in-text citation examples you can model your own work on:

• Single study:
  Recent data show a rise in adolescent e-cigarette use in the United States.1

• Two related sources:
  Telehealth use expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic.2,3

• Three or more sources in a row:
  Lifestyle interventions can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.4-6

• Reusing the same source later:
  The original trial reported no serious adverse events.7

  (same article as reference 7 earlier in the paper)

• Citing guidelines:
  Current hypertension treatment thresholds follow national guidelines.8

• Citing a website:
  Updated case counts are available from the CDC.9

These short lines show the core AMA move: superscript Arabic numerals that match a numbered reference list, placed outside periods and commas.

Core rules shown through real examples of AMA format in-text citation examples

Instead of memorizing every line of the AMA Manual of Style, it’s more practical to study patterns. These real examples of AMA format in-text citation examples hit the rules you’ll use most.

Example of a single in-text citation in AMA format

In AMA style, the first time you cite a source, it gets the next available number in the order it appears in the text. That number never changes.

Example:
Obesity prevalence among US adults has increased steadily over the past 2 decades.1

If reference 1 is a CDC report, the corresponding reference list entry might be:

1. Hales CM, Carroll MD, Fryar CD, Ogden CL. Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2017–2018. NCHS Data Brief, no 360. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics; 2020.
Source: CDC / NCHS

Key pattern:
The superscript 1 goes right after the period. If the sentence ends with a quotation, the citation goes after the quotation marks but before the period.

Quoted example:
The authors described the effect as "clinically meaningful".2

Examples include multiple AMA citations in one sentence

You’ll often support a claim with more than one source. AMA wants those numbers grouped together in the order the sources appear in your paper.

Two nonconsecutive sources:
Several trials have evaluated GLP-1 receptor agonists for weight loss.3,7

Three or more sources in a range:
Mask-wearing has been associated with reduced viral transmission in community settings.4-6

If the sources are 4, 5, and 8, you do not write 4-8. You write:

4,5,8

Mixed example:
Observational studies and randomized trials have both supported this association.9-11,14

This is one of the best examples of AMA format in-text citation examples you can memorize: use a hyphen only for consecutive numbers, commas for everything else.

Reusing the same source: AMA in-text citation consistency

Once a source has a number, you keep using that number, even if you mention it again 20 pages later.

First mention:
A landmark trial demonstrated improved survival with the new therapy.12

Later mention:
Long-term follow-up of the same cohort confirmed the survival benefit.12

You do not assign a new number. This is one of the simplest examples of AMA format in-text citation examples that students still get wrong when they reorder paragraphs at the last minute.

Examples of AMA format in-text citation examples by source type

Different sources (journal articles, guidelines, websites, AI tools) still use the same basic in-text numbering system. The differences show up more in the reference list, but it helps to see how they look together.

Journal article in-text citation example

In-text:
Higher levels of physical activity are associated with lower all-cause mortality.13

Reference list entry:
13. Arem H, Moore SC, Patel A, et al. Leisure time physical activity and mortality: a detailed pooled analysis of the dose-response relationship. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(6):959-967. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.0533

Source: JAMA Internal Medicine

Clinical guideline in-text citation example

In-text:
Blood pressure targets vary depending on comorbid conditions and age.14

Reference list entry:
14. Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, et al. 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults. Hypertension. 2018;71(6):e13-e115. doi:10.1161/HYP.0000000000000065

Source: American Heart Association / Hypertension

Government or organizational report in-text citation example

In-text:
COVID-19 mortality rates vary sharply by age group.15

Reference list entry:
15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Risk for COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Death by Age Group. CDC; 2024. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-age.html

Source: CDC

Website in-text citation example (non–peer-reviewed)

In-text:
Patients often search for symptom information online before seeing a clinician.16

Reference list entry:
16. Mayo Clinic Staff. Migraine: Symptoms and Causes. Mayo Clinic. Updated March 1, 2024. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/migraine-headache/symptoms-causes/syc-20360201

Source: Mayo Clinic

Preprint in-text citation example (increasingly common in 2024–2025)

Preprints exploded during COVID-19 and are still heavily used.

In-text:
Preliminary data suggest that sleep duration may influence vaccine response.17

Reference list entry:
17. Smith J, Lee A, Gonzales R, et al. Sleep duration and antibody response to influenza vaccination: a prospective cohort study. medRxiv. Preprint posted online September 5, 2024. doi:10.1101/2024.09.05.123456

Even though the reference is labeled as a preprint, the in-text citation is just a standard superscript number.

AI tool in-text citation example (a 2024 headache)

AMA has been gradually updating its guidance around AI tools. Many journals now require you to describe AI use in the Methods or Acknowledgments and sometimes cite the tool.

In-text (describing AI assistance):
Language editing assistance was provided by a large language model–based tool.18

Reference list entry (example pattern; always check journal instructions):
18. OpenAI. ChatGPT (version 4.0) [large language model]. OpenAI; 2024. Accessed November 10, 2024. https://chat.openai.com

This is one of the newer examples of AMA format in-text citation examples that instructors are starting to expect students to know, especially in research methods courses.

Where to put AMA in-text citations in a sentence

A lot of grading rubrics quietly punish you for clumsy placement. These examples of AMA format in-text citation examples show the cleanest patterns.

After punctuation

AMA wants the superscript number outside commas and periods.

Correct:
The intervention reduced systolic blood pressure by an average of 8 mm Hg.19

Incorrect:
The intervention reduced systolic blood pressure by an average of 8 mm Hg19.

Mid-sentence comma example:
The intervention reduced systolic blood pressure by an average of 8 mm Hg,19 which is clinically meaningful for high-risk patients.

With parentheses

When your sentence already has parentheses, the citation number goes outside them.

Example:
The study excluded patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (estimated glomerular filtration rate <30 mL/min/1.73 m2).20

If the entire sentence is in parentheses, the citation stays inside.

Example:
(A detailed description of the intervention protocol has been published previously.21)

Multiple citations in different parts of a sentence

Sometimes you need to support different pieces of a complex sentence with different sources.

Example:
Short sleep duration has been linked to obesity in children,22 whereas in adults it has been associated more consistently with cardiovascular disease.23

This is one of the best examples of AMA format in-text citation examples for advanced writing: you’re signaling to the reader that different claims rest on different bodies of evidence.

2024–2025 trends that affect AMA in-text citation examples

The rules of AMA style haven’t radically changed, but what you’re citing absolutely has.

More guidelines and living documents

Clinical practice guidelines from groups like the American College of Cardiology, the American Diabetes Association, and the US Preventive Services Task Force are updated more frequently and often hosted online.

In-text example:
Screening recommendations for colorectal cancer now start at age 45 for average-risk adults.24

Reference list entry (USPSTF example):
24. US Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for Colorectal Cancer: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. JAMA. 2021;325(19):1965-1977. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.6238

Source: USPSTF via JAMA

Because these guidelines are widely cited, you’ll see this style of in-text citation constantly in 2024–2025 coursework and publications.

Heavier use of online data dashboards

Public health papers now routinely cite dashboards from the CDC, NIH, or WHO.

In-text example:
Updated hospitalization rates by region are available from the CDC.25

Even though the underlying data may change weekly, your in-text citation remains a simple superscript; the reference list entry carries the access date.

Hybrid referencing in student papers

In teaching settings, instructors often mix classic RCTs, systematic reviews, and web-based patient education pages in a single assignment. That’s where seeing many different examples of AMA format in-text citation examples becomes genuinely helpful.

Mixed-source sentence:
Patients frequently search online for information about new therapies,26 but their understanding of risk often remains limited even after reading educational materials.27,28

Here, 26 might be a WebMD article, while 27 and 28 are peer-reviewed studies on health literacy.

Common mistakes (with better AMA in-text citation examples)

It’s easier to write clean citations if you know the traps.

Using author names instead of numbers

AMA does not use author–date or author-in-text systems the way APA does.

Incorrect:
As Smith et al (2022) reported, obesity prevalence continues to rise.

Correct:
Obesity prevalence continues to rise.1

If you need to mention the authors for rhetorical reasons, you still include the superscript.

Better:
Smith et al reported that obesity prevalence continues to rise.1

Renumbering when you move paragraphs

In AMA, references are numbered in the order they first appear in the text. If you move a paragraph, you may need to renumber everything that follows.

One of the most practical examples of AMA format in-text citation examples in editing is this:

• You move a paragraph that used to be in the Discussion (with citations 23–25) up into the Introduction.
• Those sources now become, say, 4–6 in the new order.
• Every later citation must be updated to reflect the new sequence.

Reference managers like EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley can handle this automatically if you select AMA style.

Overloading a single sentence with citations

Technically, you can stack half a dozen numbers after one sentence, but it becomes unreadable.

Overloaded:
Previous studies have shown an association between air pollution and cardiovascular mortality.3-5,7,9,12

Cleaner version:
Previous studies have shown an association between air pollution and cardiovascular mortality.3-5 Additional analyses have extended these findings to stroke and heart failure.7,9,12

Both are valid examples of AMA format in-text citation examples, but the second one respects your reader’s sanity.

FAQ: Short answers with AMA in-text citation examples

How do I write an example of AMA format in-text citation for a direct quote?
Use a superscript number after the quotation marks and before the period.

Example:
One study concluded that "even modest increases in physical activity" were associated with lower mortality.13

Can I reuse the same number for an example of a figure or table note in AMA style?
Yes. If a figure or table is based on a published source, you use the same superscript number that source already has in the text. For example, if the data in Table 2 come from reference 10, you would label the table note with 10 as well.

Do I need a separate in-text citation for every sentence that uses the same source?
Not necessarily. If several consecutive sentences clearly refer to the same source, one citation at the end of the last sentence is often enough. For teaching assignments, some instructors prefer more frequent citation, so check your course guidelines.

What are the best examples of AMA format in-text citation examples to follow for student papers?
Look at recent articles in journals that explicitly use AMA style, such as JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, or Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Their PDFs give you live, real examples of AMA format in-text citation examples under current editorial standards.

Where can I find official guidance on AMA format?
The primary source is the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition. Many university libraries provide online access through their websites. Some institutions also publish AMA quick guides, such as University of Washington Libraries and University of Toledo Libraries. These guides include additional examples of AMA format in-text citation examples tailored to student work.