Common Citation Styles 4: Vancouver

Every time you use someone else’s work, either through quoting, summarizing or paraphrasing, you need to credit the original author or creator by using special citation styles.

A citation style is a set of rules on how to cite your sources in academic writing. Citation styles guidelines are often published in an official handbook containing explanations, examples, and instructions.

There are several different ways to cite a source in academic writing. In the past, every subject and specialty has had its own rule for referencing, but today there is a greater tendency among universities and colleges to choose a common method.

Every time you use someone else’s work, either through quoting, summarizing or paraphrasing, you need to credit the original author or creator. This can be done in different ways due to the differences in the types of academic disciplines and majors. In addition, by introducing different citation styles, academic journals and publications can protect unity in the papers they intend to publish. A united referencing style can guarantee the order and beauty of a magazine, especially in the reference section.

There are several different ways to cite a source in academic writing:

• MLA is commonly used in the humanities.
• APA is commonly used in psychology and education.
• Chicago A (notes and bibliography) is commonly used in history.
• Chicago B (author-date) is commonly used in the sciences.
• Vancouver is commonly used in medicine and science

Vancouver Citation style

Vancouver style is usually used for science and medical journals and was developed in Vancouver and has existed since 1978. In this format, you should add numbers within your text. Each number refers to its specific reference in the numbered reference list at the end of a paper.

There are two steps of referencing: in-text and in the reference list.

In-text

Insert an in-text citation when your work has been influenced by someone else’s work, for example:

• • When you paraphrase someone else’s work.
  • When you directly quote someone else’s work.

General rules of in-text citation:

• • • A number is allocated to a source in the order in which it is cited in the text. If the source is referred to again, the same number is used.
    • Use Arabic numerals (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9).
    • Either square [ ] or curved brackets ( ) can be used as long as it is consistent.
    • Superscripts can also be used rather than brackets eg. …was discovered. ^1,3
    • Reference numbers should be inserted to the left or inside of colons and semi-colons.
    • Reference numbers are generally placed outside or after full stops and commas .
    • Whatever format is chosen, the punctuation must be consistently applied to the whole document.

Reference list

• References are listed in numerical order, and in the same order in which they are cited in the text. The reference list appears at the end of the paper.
• Begin your reference list on a new page and title it ‘References’.
• The reference list should include all and only those references you have cited in the text. (However, do not include unpublished items such as correspondence.)
• Use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).
• Abbreviate journal titles in the style used in the NLM Catalog.
• Check the reference details against the actual source – you are indicating that you have read a source when you cite it.
• Be consistent with your referencing style across the document
• List each author’s last name followed by a space and then initials without any periods; there is a comma and space between authors and a period at the end of the last author.
• Capitalize the first letter of the first word in the title.
• For Books, no page numbers are given. After the title (and edition if applicable), place a period and space, then enter the city.  For Journals, the entire page range of an article is given. list the abbreviated journal title, place a period and a space, year, (and abbreviated month and day if applicable), semi-colon, volume, issue number in parentheses, colon, page range, and a period.