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IEEE Citation Guide: Reference Lists & Citation Examples

Learn how to format your paper, find citation and paper templates, and more helpful resource on the IEEE citation style.

List of Example Citation Entries

This presentation contains citation examples with labels of the citation components, a link to find abbreviations, example reference lists, and a screen recording of how to format your numbers for your reference list. Use the table of contents to jump to the content you need.

IEEE Citation Guide by HPU Media Services

Example Reference List

Formatting the reference page

General Formatting

  • Numbering: Your list of sources will have numbers that stick out to the left, forming their own column. Think of it like an outline where the numbers are clearly separated. These numbers will be in square brackets, like [1], [2], etc., and will be on the same line as the start of the reference.
  • References are listed in order by which they appear in your paper: the first source you use in your paper will be the first in your list of reference and will be represented by [1] throughout your paper.
  • If you are citing multiple sources in the same sentence, you can list as many citation numbers as needed. Ex. [5],[8],[15] or [2]-[5]

  • One Reference Per Number: Each number in your reference list should correspond to only one source. Don't combine multiple sources under a single number.

  • Initials and Last Name: When you write an author's name, use their initial(s) followed by their last name. For example, Michael Smith Jr. becomes M. Smith Jr.
  • No Commas Before Jr., Sr., III: Don't put commas before suffixes like Jr., Sr., or III in names. So, it should be R. Barnett Sr., not R. Barnett, Sr.
  • Multiple Authors (IEEE): For IEEE publications, if there are six or fewer authors, list all of them. If there are more than six, write the first author's name followed by "et al." (which means "and others").
  • Multiple Authors (Non-IEEE): For publications that aren't IEEE, you can use "et al." even if there are fewer than six authors.
  • Always capitalize proper nouns
  • Use sentence case (only capitalize first letter of first word and proper nouns) for:
    • Titles of journal articles
    • Websites
    • And other content  
  • Use title case (capitalize the first letter of every word) for: 
    • Journal Names
    • Titles of Books/eBooks
    • Title of Datasets
    • Titles of Videos
    • Titles of Manual
  • IEEE Transactions: If you're citing an IEEE Transactions article and you can't find the issue number or month, check IEEE Xplore to see if that information is available in the publication itself. Keep in mind that not all IEEE publications have issue numbers and months.
  • Early Access Articles: For articles that are published online before they appear in a specific issue, use the "Date of Publication" instead of the volume and issue number.
  • Articles within a Volume: If the article is part of a larger volume, include the volume and issue publication date.
  • Two Months for the Same Issue: If a journal issue covers two months (like July/August), write them with a slash in between (e.g., Jul./Aug.) followed by the year.
  • Include Accessed Date: put the word accessed followed by a colon, then use month day, year format for the date.
    • Ex. Accessed: Apr 29, 2025
  • Indicate that you found this source online: Include the word [Online] in brackets followed by a period.
    • Ex. [Online].
  • Include URL or DOI: find the DOI or the permalink to the article on the database and copy/paste it at the end of your citation after the word Available.

Example of online journal article below:

More tutorials and examples

Table of citation entry examples

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. 

 

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