Papers include a reference section, or bibliography, or works cited page for several reasons:
In life sciences and medical research, many journals ask for a specific style. Unless someone asks you for a specific style, consistency is more important than choosing the right style. Pick a popular style like Vancouver and use a citation manager to do your heavy lifting (although its always a good idea to double check!).
AMA (American Medical Assocation) Style is used for citing medical research. It is the standard for journals published by the American Medical Association.
APA (American Psychological Association) Style is typically used in the social sciences and education.
Chicago Style is used for humanities (with notes and bibliography format) and for physical and social sciences (with author-date format).
MLA Style is used for humanities, especially for literary research.
Vancouver Style is used for medicine and sciences. It is maintained by the National Library of Medicine.
Citation managers help you organize and keep track of your references and generate bibliographies. Some also have plugins for in-paper citations, the ability to attach full text pdfs to citations, and tools to share your bibliographies with collaborators.
EndNote Desktop (can sync with EndNote Online)
Cost: Free for UMass Chan/UMMHC users.
Library Contact: Victoria Rossetti
Cost: Free for UMass Chan/ UMMHC users
Library Contact: Victoria Rossetti
Get it: Create an account at refworks.com using your institutional email
Mendeley (Desktop and Web-based)
Cost: Free ($$ for more than 2GB of online storage)
Library Contact: Tess Grynoch
Get it: mendeley.com
AMA (American Medical Association)
APA (American Psychological Association)
Chicago
MLA (Modern Language Association)
Vancouver