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CUNY School of Public Health

Citation Management Tools

There are a variety of citation management systems you can use to manage your references and insert citations into your writing. Below are links to a few of the most popular for you to download.

Styles and Formatting

Here are links to some helpful websites for learning more about the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago-Style, Bluebook, and the Vancouver (used by the NLM) citation styles.

There are some corresponding manuals on our course reserve book shelf in the 7th floor study lounge, room 704.

You'll also see a link to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and its recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals.

Consult the University of North Carolina for a deeper dive into AMA style.

AMA, APA and Bluebook sample papers provide guidance on formatting an entire research paper.

**Citation generators are not foolproof. Citations copy and pasted from databases often contain mistakes. Always double-check your citations against trusted sources, such as the ones linked to on this page. Be advised that Generative AI often "hallucinates" sources and citations. It is fairly easy to verify the "realness" of articles simply by searching the title, using quotes, in Google Scholar. Be careful not to include fabricated citations in your references list.**

Annotated Bibliographies

An annotated bibliography consists of a list of citations of all a research paper's sources. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually 150-200 words) paragraph analyzing and describing the particular source. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. Unlike abstracts, which are purely descriptive, annotations take a critical look at the source author's perspective, authority, methodological approach, and clarity of expression. The annotation allows you to express an opinion about your sources, providing additional information for your readers. Think of it as having a conversation with the audience for your research.

Always check the syllabus and/ or with your professor for more specific guidelines.

Process

There are two basic steps to creating an annotated citation:

  • Cite the source in the appropriate style (e.g. AMA, APA, Vancouver)
  • Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the source. Include one or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work illuminates your topic.

Adapted with permission from Olin Library Reference, Research & Learning Services, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY, USA, https://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliography/home

Plagiarism

Avoid plagiarizing others' work by using one of the free plagiarism checkers below. Learn more about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it on plargiarism.org. Familiarize yourself with CUNY's Academic Integrity Policy.

AI Citation