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Citing Sources of Information

Suggested resources for citing sources correctly

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IEEE style is widely used in the fields of electrical engineering and computer science.

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IEEE resources:

Other resources:

Examples of in-text citations - IEEE style

IEEE format follows the numbered system in which a source is given a citation number in-text in square brackets [ ]. The citation number should be put directly after the reference. Punctuation should be placed outside of the brackets. Include page number(s) if you need to be specific (e.g. direct quotes).

Bennett [1] suggested that …

As shown by Newell and Jones [2] …

Hicks et al. [3] have argued that …   Note: Use et al. when three or more names are given.

Recent studies [4]-[7] have proved that … (preferred)

Recent studies [4-6] have proved that … (acceptable)

In [3], [7] it was found that ... (preferred)

In [3, 7] it was found that ... (acceptable)

... according to [8].

Wood et al. [9, p. 15] claimed that "..."

Wood et al. claimed that "..." [9, p. 15].

Examples of reference list entries - IEEE Style

Some of the following examples are based on information provided in How to Cite References: IEEE Documentation Style and IEEE Editorial Style Manual.

Entire book

[#] A. A. Author and B. B. Author, Title of Work. Location: Publisher, Year.

[1] J. A. Zalasiewicz and M. Williams, The Goldilocks Planet: The Four Billion Year Story of  Earth's Climate. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2012.

[2] R. Jain, et al., Handbook of Environmental Engineering Assessment: Strategy, Planning, and Management. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2012.

Note: Capitalize all major words in the title and the subtitle. Italicize the book title. When there are more than six authors, only the first author should be used and followed by “et al.”.

 

Edited book

[3] J. L. Spudich and B. H. Satir, Eds., Sensory Receptors and Signal Transduction. New York: Wiley-Liss, 2001.

 

Book chapter

[#] A. A. Author of Part and B. B. Author of Part, "Title of chapter," in Title of Book, C. C. Editor, Eds. Location: Publisher, Year. pp. page numbers.

[36] Z. Wang and C. Brown, "Chemical fingerprinting of petroleum hydrocarbons," in Methods in Environmental Forensics, S. M. Mudge, Ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2009, pp. 43-77.

Note: Capitalize all major words in the book title. Capitalize only the first word of the chapter title and subtitle, and any proper nouns. Italicize the book title, and enclose the chapter title in quotation marks (the punctuation goes inside the quotation marks).

 

Journal or newspaper article

[#] A. A. Author of Article and B. B. Author of Article, "Title of article," Abbrev. Title of Journal, vol. #, no. #, pp. page numbers, Abbrev. Month year. [Online]. Available: Internet address [Accessed: Month day, year].

  • Journal article with DOI

[4] R. W. Sperry, "Science, values, and survival," J. Humanistic Psychology, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 8-24, Spring 1986. doi:10.1177/0022167886262002.

[5] E. V. Stanev and R. Kandilarov, "Sediment dynamics in the Black Sea: Numerical modelling and remote sensing observations," Ocean Dynam., vol. 62, pp. 533-553, Apr. 2012. doi:10.1007/s10236-012-0520-1.

Note:Use accepted journal abbreviations for the journal title. Italicize the journal title. Capitalize all major words in the journal title. Capitalize only the first word of the article and subtitle, and enclose the article title in quotation marks. Issue number is not given if page numbers are continuous throughout an annual volume (i.e. issue number is given only when each new issue starts on page 1). For example, the second article above is in vol. 62, issue 4, but issue 4 does not start on page 1. The issue number is therefore not given in the citation.

  • Journal article without DOI

[5] E. V. Stanev and R. Kandilarov, "Sediment dynamics in the Black Sea: Numerical modelling and remote sensing observations," Ocean Dynam., vol. 62, pp. 533-553, Apr. 2012.

  • Journal article accessible from the Internet

[6] F. Habashi, "The case of Nobelists Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark," Chem. Ed., vol. 17, pp. 78-79, Jun. 2012. [Online]. Available: http://chemeducator.org/bibs/0017001/17100078.htm [Accessed: Jan. 2, 2014].

  • Newspaper article

[7] A. Shamdasani, "Firm strives to be lean, clean, green and energy efficient environment," South China Morning Post, p. 4, Jan. 19, 2010.

  • Newspaper article from an Internet news source

[7] A. Shamdasani, "Firm strives to be lean, clean, green and energy efficient environment," South China Morning Post, p. 4, Jan. 19, 2010. [Online]. Available: http://www.scmp.com/article/704044/firm-strives-be-lean-clean-green-and-energy-efficient [Accessed: Jan. 2, 2014].

 

Dissertation or thesis

  • Doctoral dissertation or master's thesis available from a database service

[#] A. A. Author, "Title of thesis," Thesis type, Abbrev. Dept., Abbrev. Univ., Location of University, Country/State, year. [Online]. Available: Database Name.

[8] W. Ye, "Models and algorithms for energy efficient wireless sensor networks," Ph. D. dissertation, Dept. Ind. Syst. Eng., Univ. South. Calif., Los Angeles, CA. 2007. [Online]. Available: Digital Dissertation Consortium.

  • Unpublished dissertation or thesis

[#] A. A. Author, "Title of thesis," Thesis type, Abbrev. Dept., Abbrev. Univ., Location of University, Country/State, year.

[9] H. N. Cheung, "Anomalous East Asian Winter monsoon in relation to symbolic Eurasian blocking patterns," M. Phil. dissertation, School Energy Env., City Univ. HK, Hong Kong, 2011.

 

Internet document

[#] A. A. Author. (year, month day). Title of Document [Format]. Available: Internet address [Accessed: Month day, year].

[10] S. Antipolis. (2008, Nov. 13). Essential Step Achieved in the Creation of the European Air Traffic Management Network [Online]. Available: http://www.etsi.org/file259803.htm [Accessed: Jan. 2, 2014].

[11] City University of Hong Kong. (2012). Rules on Academic Honesty: Effective from Semester A 2012/13 [Online]. Available: http://www.cityu.edu.hk/provost/academic_honesty/rules_on_academic_honesty.htm [Accessed: Jan. 2, 2014].

Note: Note the distinctions between online books/journals and other Internet resources (e.g. the position of the date is different).

 

Online video file

[#] A. A. Author (year, month day). Title of Video [Video file]. Available: Internet address [Accessed: Month day, year]

[12] BirdTricks. (2008, Apr. 27). Tips for Training a Parrot to Talk [Video file]. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89dZNPPYOdk [Accessed: Jan. 2, 2014].

 

Online forum, blog, newsgroup

[#] A. A. Author (year, month day). Title of Post [Description of form]. Available: Internet address [Accessed: Month day, year]

[13] T. Rampersad (2005, Jun. 8). Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions [Blog]. Available: http://www.wipo.int/roller/comments/ipisforum/Weblog/theme_eight_how_can_cultural#comments [Accessed: Jan. 2, 2014].

 

Software

How to cite ChatGPT in IEEE Style (by Nanyang Technological University)

Journal abbreviations

IEEE: Conference Abbreviations

Science and Engineering Journal Abbreviations (by The University of British Columbia)

CAS Source Index (CASSI) Search Tool (by Chemical Abstracts Service, a division of American Chemical Society)

Citing non-English sources in English papers

A common practice is to give the original title in the reference and give the English translation in brackets.

If the source is written in a non-Latin script, such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean, transliterate the title into English alphabet. Below are two examples cited in IEEE style:

A book in French:

[1] D. Webb and C. Andre, Statistiques Economiques a Court Terme [Short-term economic statistics]. Paris, France: Presses Universitaires de France, 2008.

A journal article in Chinese:

[2] W. Liu, “Guanyu LibQual+ tushuguan fuwu zhiliang pingjia yu shizheng yanjiu [An empirical analysis of library service quality evaluation based on the LibQual+],” Gaoxiao Tushuguan Gongzuo, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 32-36, May 2012.

Citing Chinese sources in Chinese papers - Chinese citation styles

Chinese citation styles are generally different from English ones and there are no standardized styles. Check with your instructor for the acceptable style for your assignments. Below are some guides for reference:

中文出版物編寫格式及注意事項 (香港城市大學出版社)

學術論文寫作:中文論文格式 MLA / APA (香港中文大學自學中心)