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Referencing Guide: IEEE Referencing Style

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) referencing style is commonly used in the fields of electronics, engineering, telecommunications, computer science, and information technology. This is an example of a notational referencing style where citations are numbered in the text of the paper, in square brackets, and a corresponding numbered full description of the source (bibliography) is provided at the end of the paper or work.

Parts of an IEEE reference

An IEEE reference includes the following components:

  1. Unique number of the reference (matches source's numerical appearance in the text).
  2. Author’s name (initial of first name(s) first, then full last name). List names of all authors in the order they appear in the original source up to six names. If there are more than six names, use et al. after the first name.
  3. Title of article, patent, conference paper, etc., in quotation marks and set in sentence case.
  4. Title of journal or book in italics and set in title case.
  5. Names of months are shortened to 3-4 letters each: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
  6. Place of publication and publisher
  7. Date of publication
  8. For electronic resources, include date accessed, medium (online), and where available: URL or DOI

Explore the following library guide for more examples and interpretations of the IEEE referencing style: