The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a engineering and computer science professional organization that publishes a variety of materials including industry standards.
IEEE citation style is used primarily for electronics, engineering, telecommunications, computer science, and information technology reports.
Key Features:
A visual example of the basics:
Source: IEEE Style Reference Guide, Murdoch University Library, https://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/IEEE/home
Examples of in-text citations:
"...end of the line for my research [13]."
"This theory was first put forward in 1987 [1]."
"Scholtz [2] has argued that..."
"Several recent studies [3], [4], [15], [16] have suggested that...."
"For example, see [7]."
Creating a Reference List
The Reference List appears at the end of your paper and provides the full citations for all the references you have used. List all references numerically in the order they've been cited within the paper, and include the bracketed number at the beginning of each reference.
Examples of citations for different materials:
Material Type |
Works Cited |
Book in print |
[1] D. Sarunyagate, Ed., Lasers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996. |
Chapter in book |
[2] G. O. Young, "Synthetic structure of industrial plastics," in Plastics, 2nd ed., vol. 3, J. Peters, Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp. 15-64. |
eBook |
[3] L. Bass, P. Clements, and R. Kazman, Software Architecture in Practice, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, 2003. [E-book] Available: Safari e-book. |
Journal article |
[4] G. Liu, K. Y. Lee, and H. F. Jordan, "TDM and TWDM de Bruijn networks and shufflenets for optical communications," IEEE Trans. Comp., vol. 46, pp. 695-701, June 1997. |
eJournal (from database) |
[5] H. Ayasso and A. Mohammad-Djafari, "Joint NDT Image Restoration and Segmentation Using Gauss–Markov–Potts Prior Models and Variational Bayesian Computation," IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 19, no. 9, pp. 2265-77, 2010. [Online]. Available: IEEE Xplore, http://www.ieee.org. [Accessed Sept. 10, 2010]. |
eJournal (from internet) |
[6] A. Altun, “Understanding hypertext in the context of reading on the web: Language learners’ experience,” Current Issues in Education, vol. 6, no. 12, July, 2005. [Online serial]. Available: http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume6/number12/. [Accessed Dec. 2, 2007]. |
Conference paper |
[7] L. Liu and H. Miao, "A specification based approach to testing polymorphic attributes," in Formal Methods and Software Engineering: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2004, Seattle, WA, USA, November 8-12, 2004, J. Davies, W. Schulte, M. Barnett, Eds. Berlin: Springer, 2004. pp. 306-19. |
Conference proceedings |
[8] T. J. van Weert and R. K. Munro, Eds., Informatics and the Digital Society: Social, ethical and cognitive issues: IFIP TC3/WG3.1&3.2 Open Conference on Social, Ethical and Cognitive Issues of Informatics and ICT, July 22-26, 2002, Dortmund, Germany. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2003. |
Newspaper article (from database) |
[9] J. Riley, "Call for new look at skilled migrants," The Australian, p. 35, May 31, 2005. [Online]. Available: Factiva, http://global.factiva.com. [Accessed May 31, 2005]. |
Technical report |
[10] K. E. Elliott and C.M. Greene, "A local adaptive protocol," Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, France, Tech. Rep. 916-1010-BB, 1997. |
Patent |
[11] J. P. Wilkinson, “Nonlinear resonant circuit devices,” U.S. Patent 3 624 125, Jul. 16, 1990. |
Standard |
[12] IEEE Criteria for Class IE Electric Systems, IEEE Standard 308, 1969. |
Thesis/Dissertation |
[1] J. O. Williams, “Narrow-band analyzer,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Elect. Eng., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, 1993. |
Information on this page was adapted from
1. University of Pittsburg Library System, "Citation Styles: APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, IEEE." [Online] Available: https://pitt.libguides.com/citationhelp/ieee. [Accessed Jan 10, 2025]
Citing Images, Figures, and Tables
According to the IEEE Editorial Style Manual (section II. Writing Principles, pg 13), are:
Example: Fig. 1. Theoretical measured values of n
NOTE: If the image/figure is one that you borrowed from another work, the caption should end with an in-text citation just as you would use within the written text of the paper.
Example: Fig. 1. Theoretical measured values of n. Adapted from [1]
Citing Websites
The standard format for citing websites is:
[#] A. Author, "Document title," Webpage name, Source/production information, Date of internet publication. [Format]. Available: internet address. [Accessed: Date of access].
Examples:
[1] A. Bahatt, M. Forsyth, R. Withers, and G. Wang, "How a Battery Works," Australian Academy of Science, Feb 2, 2016. [Online] Available: https://www.science.org.au/curious/technology-future/batteries#:~:text=A%20battery%20is%20a%20device,be%20used%20to%20do%20work. [Accessed Jan 10, 2025]
[2] Brain, Marshall, "How Toasters Work". [Online] Available: https://home.howstuffworks.com/toaster.htm#pt1. [Accessed Jan 10, 2025]
Know your professor's policies on AI use, and ask about specifics. For example, is Grammerly considered AI?
AI is not your original work, therefore you need to make a note of any places where AI helped you write, create, research, etc to complete a project, assignment or paper.
An example from a recent newsletter article has 2 parts:
Title = When Your Gig is Tragic: Using AI to Reclaim Your Time*
At the end of the paper
*ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2024) was used to help develop this newsletter entry.
The following are two excellent sources of help on IEEE Style.