The pattern at a glance
- Reference list1. Author AA. Title of page. Website Name. Published Month Day, Year. Updated Month Day, Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL
- Organization, no date1. Organization. Title of page. Website Name. Accessed Month Day, Year. URLThis matches the LUPUS UK example in the University of Northern Colorado's AMA 11 guide.
- In-textSuperscript number after the fact it supports, outside periods and commas: ...sleep health.1
What an AMA 11 web reference contains
- Authors: surname followed by initials without periods or spaces (Hughes GRV). Organizations are written in full.
- Title of the specific page in sentence case, plain text, no quotation marks.
- Name of the website, as on its home page (MedlinePlus, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
- Published and updated dates when the page displays them; AMA guides write "Updated" before a revision date.
- "Accessed" and the date you viewed the page, always included for online sources.
- The URL without a full stop at the end, so the link stays clickable.
Which date to trust on health websites
Health pages are revised often, so AMA asks for the access date to tell readers which version you saw. Use the dates the page shows to people. The CDC page in our examples carries a date only in hidden metadata; nothing is printed on the page, so the reference uses the access date alone.
MedlinePlus, by contrast, prints "updated December 4, 2025". The engine places that date before the access date. AMA library guides write the word "Updated" in front of a revision date and "Published" in front of a first-publication date. The webpage form asks which kind of date you entered and prints the matching word.
Before you add an AMA web reference: a short checklist
Ask first whether the web page is the best source. Medical writing in AMA style leans on primary literature, so a fact sheet suits public-health guidance, definitions or patient information, while research findings should be cited from the journal article the page summarises. If the page links to a study, open it and cite the study when you use its data.
Next, copy the exact page title rather than the menu label. Health portals often have a short menu entry ("Sleep") and a longer heading on the page ("About Sleep"); the heading is the title. A few sites list a medical reviewer, but the organization stays the author unless a person is presented as the writer.
Finally, record the access date on the day you read the page, not when you compile the list. If you return weeks later and the content has changed, cite the new version and update the date.
Field by field: AMA web reference
The webpage form fields as AMA uses them.
| Field | What to enter | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Person (Surname Initials) or organization. | Byline, reviewer box or site owner. |
| Title | Page title in sentence case. | Main heading. |
| Website name | Site name, plain text. | Header or logo. |
| Date | Published or updated date shown on the page. | Top or bottom of the page. |
| Accessed | Date you read the page. | Your notes. |
| URL | Direct page link. | Address bar. |
AMA website citation examples
Two public health pages read on 25 October 2026 and formatted in AMA 11 by the generator's engine.
Page with an updated date (MedlinePlus)
AMA 11th: Reference entry
1.National Library of Medicine. Sleep disorders. MedlinePlus. Updated December 4, 2025. Accessed October 25, 2026. https://medlineplus.gov/sleepdisorders.html
In-text marker: 1
The National Library of Medicine publishes MedlinePlus, so it is the author and MedlinePlus is the website. The visible update date comes before the access date.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). The page shows "updated December 4, 2025"; publisher National Library of Medicine.
Page without a visible date (CDC)
AMA 11th: Reference entry
1.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About sleep. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed October 25, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/index.html
In-text marker: 1
No date is printed on the page, so only the access date appears. The organization name is written in full both as author and as website.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). No date is shown on the page itself (only hidden metadata), so only the access date is recorded.
Formatted by the same citation engine that runs the generator above (citeproc-js with the official CSL style file). Italics follow the style.
AMA in-text citations
AMA numbers sources in order of first citation and marks them with superscript Arabic numbers.
- Single source: The CDC page collects general information and recommendations about sleep health.1
- Two sources: ...sleep disorders.1,2
- Range: ...in several reviews.3-5
- Placement: The superscript goes outside periods and commas and inside colons and semicolons.
On this site, the generator shows the number as a list label; type the superscript in your document with your word processor's superscript button.
AMA website citation mistakes
- Periods in initials. AMA writes Erb N, not Erb, N.
- Italicising the page title. In AMA web references the page title is plain text.
- No access date. Every web reference needs Accessed and the date.
- Citing the same source with two numbers. A source keeps the number it received the first time it was cited.
AMA website citation FAQ
How do I cite a website in AMA 11?
Author. Title of page. Website Name. Published or updated date. Accessed date. URL. Number the reference in the order you cite it.
What if the web page has no author?
Use the organization responsible for the site as the author.
Do I put a period after the URL in AMA?
No. AMA ends web references with the URL and no full stop.
Is the citation generator free for AMA?
Yes, the citation generator is free in every style and runs in your browser.
Style guides used on this page
Rules on this page were checked against these pages on 25 October 2026.