AMA Citation Guide
Lecture Notes & Class Handouts

Most instructors would rather you did not cite the lecture notes because they likely created their handouts based on information adapted from books, journals or other such resources. Only use lecture notes if you cannot find the information elsewhere.

If there is no known author, begin the reference with the title of the document.

Reference List Format:

Author AA, Author BB. Title of page or object. Title of website. Published Month Day, Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL.

Reference List Examples:

11. Saal K. Introduction to Practical Nursing. PDF lecture notes. BlackBoard. Updated February 15, 2019. Accessed March 2, 2020. https://csp.edu/blackboard/NU411/html

12. NU411- week1: syringe and needle handling practical 1. PDF class handout. BlackBoard. Updated February, 2014. Accessed March 2, 2014. https://csp.edu/blackboard/NU411/html

When citing a handout from class, first confirm that the information is not originally from a published source (book, journal article, web page, etc). Class handouts are frequently copied or adapted from other sources. Locate and cite the original source, if possible.

If the information is not from a published source, cite it as a personal communication in text and do not include it in your reference list.  

In-Text Citation Examples:

According to a chart distributed by K. Saal (class handout, October 2020)...

The Annotated Bibliography template (K. Saal, class handout, October 21, 2020) can be used to analyze and compare journal articles.