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Engineering & Computer Science: IEEE Referencing

Research guide for engineering & computer science

IEEE Referencing

  • “IEEE” refers to The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
  • IEEE style is a referencing style is often used with publications in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science.
  • IEEE publishes journals, magazines, conference proceedings, and standards. 

IEEE Style Sheet

IEEE Style Overview 

CASSI Source Index (Finding Journal Abbreviations)

Month Abbreviations

Format for month abbreviations (Note that some months are not abbreviated).

Jan.   Feb.   Mar.   Apr.    May   June  
July   Aug.   Sept.  Oct.   Nov.   Dec.

For a bimonthly issue, use "/"   e.g.,  June/July 2020

For a quarterly issue, use "–" e.g.,   Sept.–Nov. 2021

In-text citations

  • In-text citations consist of reference numbers in square brackets, [X], which correspond to the sources in the reference list. The reference list is at the end of the paper.
  • The intent citations begin with [1] and continue in ascending order throughout the paper.
  • When authors are mentioned, the assigned reference occurs in the brackets. If there are more than three authors, use et al. (in italics) after the first author of the source. Note that  et al.  comes from the Latin phrase meaning “and others.” 
  • Citing more than one source, use commas, e.g., [1], [4], [22].
  • For three or more consecutive sources, use a dash, e.g., [2]–[7].
  • If you quote then use the page number(s) and place the quote in quotation marks.

Examples:

Jones [1] has argued...

Holmes et al. [2] discovered that...

Several recent studies on robots [1], [2], [8]–[12] have found...

According to [3], it has been...

As shown in [14]...

As stated in [7, pp. 3-4], "A chatbot is a software system, which can interact or “chat” with a human user in natural language such as English".

To this end, Serban et al. have noted that "Dialogue systems and conversational agents - including chatbots, personal assistants and voice- control interfaces - are becoming ubiquitous in modern society" [12, p.1].

Referencing examples

  • References are on a separate page at the end of the paper, headed as, References.
  • References start with [1] and continue in ascending order.
  • For more than 6 authors, use et al. (in italics) after the first author.

Examples (from IEEE Style Sheet):

References

[1]  M. M. Chiampi and L. L. Zilberti, “Induction of electric field in human bodies moving near MRI: An efficient BEM computational procedure,” IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., vol. 58, no. 10, pp. 2787–2793, Oct. 2011, doi: 10.1109/ TBME.2011.2158315.

[2]  H. Eriksson and P. E. Danielsson, “Two problems on Boolean memories,”  IEEE Trans. Electron. Devices, vol. ED-11, no. 1, pp. 32–33, 1959.

[3]  M. Ito et al., “Application of amorphous oxide TFT to electrophoretic display,” J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol. 354, no. 19, pp. 2777–2782, Feb. 2008.

[4]  B. Klaus and P. Horn, Robot Vision. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 1986.

[5]  T. Ogura, “Electronic government and surveillance-oriented society,” in Theorizing Surveillance: The Panopticon and Beyond. Cullompton, U.K.: Willan, 2006, ch. 13, pp. 270–295.

[6]  L. S. Carmichael, N. Ghani, P. K. Rajan, K. O’Donoghue, and R. Holt, “Characterization and comparison of modern layer-2 Ethernet survivability protocols,” in Proc. 37th Southeastern Symp. Syst. Theory (SSST 2005), Tuskegee, AL, USA, Mar. 20–22, 2005, pp. 124–129.

[7]  J. Smith and J. Doe. “Obama inaugurated as President.” CNN.com. Accessed: Feb. 1, 2023. [Online]. Available:
http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/01/21/ obama_inaugurated/index.html