Vancouver Style Guide: 17 Easy Hacks for Citing Sources

The Vancouver style was created by professionals in the medical field back in the late 1970s. The editors of medical journals came together and developed a style of academic writing specifically to serve clinical and other scientific disciplines. Vancouver uses a numeric system to reference sources. The style uses numbers that correspond to entries in the reference list.

The pool of research and literature available grows every day. Scientists are constantly building on the work of those who came before them. Referencing ensures that those who came before are credited and acknowledged. It also points readers to those works that came before and prepared the stage for current findings. The creators of the vancouver style edit and update the manual to reflect this.

Deciding what to reference or cite is not specific to Vancouver or whatever other style you may be using. The quantity of sources you refer to in your work relies upon the plan of the paper. By and large, you should refer to representative sources for each key point.

Nonetheless, if you are dealing with a survey article, the point is to present to the readers all that has been composed on a theme, so you should incorporate a more thorough list of references.

Citations in Vancouver

1. Citation in Vancouver can be done in two ways. The first is by having the source number in parenthesis while the second is by superscripting. It is imperative that one pick one design and stick to it throughout.
2. If you choose parenthesis, you will have a choice of either box brackets or round brackets. Whichever one you start with, you should remain consistent throughout the paper.
3. Numeric references are utilized in the content, generally numbers in brackets, for example (1)
4. A similar reference number is utilized at whatever point a similar source is cited to in the content
5. These in-text numbers are coordinated to full numbered references for every publication in the reference list
6. The reference list is arranged according to the pattern in which the references showed up in the content, not one after another in order
7. Almost no punctuation is utilized.
8. Abbreviations that are already well-established are used for journal titles
9. In the event that you have composed a part of your content with a few references, you can demonstrate that by posting each source isolated by a comma
10. Authors should be cited by the last name, at that point initials with no comma between last name and initials, nor full stop after the initials or spaces between the initials. Indicate the end of the author’s name with a full stop.
11. In case there are more than 6 authors, refer to the initial six followed by ‘et al.’ or then again ‘and others’
12. If you are citing at least two sources at once, compose a number for each isolated by a comma for example (7, 9) or (3, 10)
13. When citing multiple sources that are numbered continuously, utilize a hyphen rather than a comma for example (2-4)
14. If you need to cite a specific work more than once, you can utilize a similar reference number for every citation
15. Numbers should be in brackets and placed after punctuation marks such as full stops or commas and before colons and semi-colons
16. Page numbers: It is suggested that page numbers should be included for in-text references where this is important to show a particular piece of the content, for instance with an immediate statement or rework, e.g. (2, p. 20) or (2, p. 20)
17. If you are using superscript and need to cite the page number, the page comes in parenthesis after the source number as part of the superscript.

Reference List in Vancouver

Reference List in Vancouver

Your vancouver reference list links with your in-text citations, enabling readers to easily trace the sources cited within your work. It is a list of the documents from which any direct quotations or examples have been taken.

A vancouver bibliography (where you give credit to sources that were used for background reading, but were not quoted within the body of the text), is not usually required.

You should however always check this first, with the person who will be assessing your work. Your reference list (and bibliography if you choose to provide one) should be arranged numerically in the order that the citations appear in the text.

The reference list in Vancouver looks simple but is not because it is such a deviation from other lists of sources. It does not use italics or follow the rules of other lists.

Referencing with Missing Information in Vancouver

Different academic writing styles have different rules for when there is missing information. In some cases, the rules say that you should simply ignore that fact. Like in the vancouver style. However, in others you are meant to acknowledge the absence of that information.

In the case of missing author name, you are meant to ignore the fact that there is no author and simply start the entry with the title instead. For example imagine a website source,

Title [Internet]. Year [cited yyyy mm dd]. Available from: link

In the case of a missing date especially with corporate websites, you are also required to simply ignore the date part. Some academic writing styles like MHRA and APA will have you placing ‘n.d.’ where the date should be. In Vancouver, you are not required to do that. Simply include the information you do have.

You may also be missing information about the page. This information is often necessary especially when you are directly quoting a source. This information is also important where the source is hefty and you need to pinpoint exactly where the information came from. In this case, you would cite the paragraph instead. Simply count the number of paragraphs from the top.

Conclusion

Vancouver breaks the mold when it comes to citation and referencing design. It uses a numerical system which is not common. It is a deviation from the usual author-date and note-bibliography designs.

Still, it is pretty straight forward. It is easy to understand and apply if you can take the time to go through the guide. Therefore, save yourself the time. Contact us.

Let us tackle the vancouver style for you. The good news is that the Vancouver guide is not too keen on how you write things within the text. You have full reign to do what you want there. As long as the citation and referencing is done right.