72 PRS Proofreading and Editing Service PhD Experts • All Academic Areas • Fast Turnaround • High Quality are numbered according to the order in which they are referred to in the paper, so the first source cited will be number 1, the second, number 2, and so on. The method for numbering any references that appear in tables and figures differs between guidelines: some would have such references numbered after all those in the paper itself, while others ask that references in a table or figure be numbered according to where the table or figure is mentioned in the paper. It’s essential to number sources correctly because errors can mean having to change the numbers of all sources cited after a misnumbered one in both the paper and the reference list. Using numbers for citations doesn’t mean that author names and dates cannot be provided if you want or need this information in your paper, but only that they don’t need to be and that a source’s number must appear in the text whether you provide additional information or not: ‘In 2003, McGraw and Hill studied this phenomenon.(1)’ Vancouver style sets the reference numbers inside parentheses or what it calls ‘round brackets’ (as I’ve done in the example above) or uses a superscript font for them: ‘McGraw and Hill1 argue that….’ However, some journal guidelines will call for square brackets instead [1]. Groups of citations can be gathered together in a numerical referencing style much as they are in an author-date system simply by listing the numbers of all relevant sources separated by commas (1,2,5,8,12). If three or more consecutive numbers need to be listed, a hyphen should be used between the first and last numbers (1-3,5- 9). In Vancouver referencing, no spaces are used between the numbers, but some journals will provide examples that do use spaces, so be sure to check the journal guidelines for precise instructions. As with an author-date referencing style, Vancouver- style citations should be appropriately positioned to indicate with accuracy your use of sources in your text, but standard placement in relation to punctuation calls for the reference numbers to follow full PARt II: PRePARIng, PResentIng And PolIsHIng YoUR woRk