IEEE General Citation Guide

General Rules
• IEEE in-text citations consist of numbers provided in square • A numbered list of references must be provided at the end of the
brackets, which correspond to the appropriate sources in the paper. The reference list contains full details of all sources cited in-
reference list at the end of the paper. Each in-text citation text. The sources are numbered in the order they are used in the
number should appear on the text line, inside sentence paper. The given name of the author is abbreviated to the initials
punctuation, with a space before the bracket. followed by the last name.
• The in-text citation numbers start at [1] and continue in • In the reference list, write the names of all authors, up to six. If
ascending order throughout the paper. there are more than six author names, use the primary author’s last
name followed by “et al.” (meaning “and others”).
In-Text Citations Parenthetical Citations In-text and Parenthetical Citations: Overarching Rules
General Johnson [1] believed Paper is made from trees Direct Quotes: The page number(s) must be included.
that… [1]. Paraphrasing: Page numbers are not generally used unless a
Direct Quotes Schumer [6, pp. 4-5] Schumer argued that “the specific theory or idea is being discussed.
argued that… importance of clear writing
Multiple Sources: Each source gets its own brackets.
Holland et al. [7, p. 33] cannot be understated” [6,
pp. 4-5]. Bracketed sources: Can be used as nouns in the sentence.
argued…
Figures or Images The data in [2] shows… Figure 1.3 shows the Three or more authors: When citing three or more authors
evidence [4]. in an in-text citation, list the first author and et al. (e.g.,
Holland et al.)
Multiple Sources [1], [3], and [6] show… Weebly, Ketting, and
Goodman’s ideas are still
widely used today [1]-[3].
Reference Citations
While citing electronic information in a reference list, include the relevant URL. Below are a few formats to include the URL in a reference.
Refer to the IEEE reference guide for additional formats.
• Accessed date. [Online]. Available: URL, DOI (add period at end).
• Accessed date. [Online]. Available: URL (no period at end)
• URL, DOI (add period at end).
Also refer to the below example for citing “Online Books.”
Books and Chapters J. K. Author, “Title of chapter in the book,” in Title of His Published Book, xth ed. City of Publisher, (only U.S. State),
Country: Abbrev. of Publisher, year, ch. x, sec. x, pp. xxx–xxx.
- L. Stein, “Random patterns,” in Computers and You, J. S. Brake, Ed. New York, NY, USA: Wiley, 1994, pp.
55–70.
Online Books J. K. Author, “Title of chapter in the book,” in Title of Published Book, xth ed. City of Publisher, State, Country:
Abbrev. of Publisher, year, ch. x, sec. x, pp. xxx–xxx. [Online]. Available: http://www.web.com
- P. B. Kurland and R. Lerner, Eds., The Founders’ Constitution. Chicago, IL, USA: Univ. of Chicago Press,
1987. Accessed: Feb. 28, 2010. [Online]. Available: http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/
Articles J. K. Author, “Title of article,” Abbrev. Title of Periodical, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbrev. Month, year, doi: xxx.
- N. Paskin, “Toward unique identifiers,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 87, no. 7, pp. 1208 - 1227, Jul. 1999,
doi: 10.1109/5.771073.
Websites First Name Initial(s) Last Name. “Page Title.” Website Title. Web Address (retrieved Date Accessed).
- K. Wertheimer. “Get to Know Each of Alaska’s Eight Awe-Inspiring National Parks.” Sunset.com.
https://www.sunset.com/travel/national-parks/alaska-best-national-parks (accessed Feb. 1, 2020).
Technical Reports J. K. Author, “Title of report,” Abbrev. Name of Co., City of Co., Abbrev. State, Country, Rep. xxx, year.
- P. Diament, S. L. Richert, and W. L. Lupatkin, “V-line surface-wave radiation and scanning,” Dept. Elect.
Eng., Columbia Univ., New York, NY, USA, Sci. Rep. 85, Aug. 1991.
Conference Papers J. K. Author, “Title of paper,” presented at the Abbreviated Name of Conf., City of Conf., Abbrev. State, Country,
Month and day(s), year, Paper number.
- D. Caratelli, M. C. Viganó, G. Toso, and P. Angeletti, “Analytical placement technique for sparse arrays,”
presented at the 32nd ESA Antenna Workshop, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, Oct. 5–8, 2010.
Manual/Handbook Name of Manual/Handbook, x ed., Abbrev. Name of Co., City of Co., Abbrev. State, Country, year, pp. xxx–xxx.
- Motorola Semiconductor Data Manual, Motorola Semiconductor Products Inc., Phoenix, AZ, USA, 1989.
 Patent J. K. Author, “Title of patent,” U.S. Patent x xxx xxx, Abbrev. Month, day, year.
- G. Devic and C. Shaw, “Selectable mode smoothing texture filter for computer graphics,” U.S. Patent
6 181 347, Jan. 30, 2001.
Theses and J. K. Author, “Title of thesis,” B.S/M.S. thesis/ Ph.D. dissertation, Abbrev. Dept., Abbrev. Univ., City of Univ.,
Dissertations Abbrev. State, year.
-J. O. Williams, “Narrow-band analyzer,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Elect. Eng., Harvard Univ., Cambridge,
MA, USA, 1993.
Online Video Video Owner/Creator, Location (if available). Title of Video: In Initial Caps. (Release date). Accessed: Month Day, Year.
(e.g., YouTube) [Online Video]. Available: http://URL.onlinevideo.org
- David Xiang, NY, USA. 10 Courses Every Software Engineer Should Take. (Feb. 20, 2016). Accessed: Jun. 3,
2020. [Online Video]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMQl7iGgGYY
Heading levels

I. Primary Headings are centered and numbered with Roman numerals. These are the titles of your sections.
A. Secondary headings are aligned left and marked with capital letter.
1. Tertiary headings are tabbed once and marked by Arabic numerals.
a. Quaternary headings are tabbed twice and shown by lower-case letters.
Figures, Tables, and Equations

• All the citations of figures, tables, and equations in the article must follow a numerical order.
• Do not use articles (“a,” “an,” or “the”) at the beginning of a caption for figures, tables, or equations in in-text citations.
- e.g., Incorrect: Refer to the Fig. 1; Correct: Refer to Fig. 1.

Figures Tables Equations

• The title of the figures must be descriptive • Captions for a table must be centered • Equations are center-aligned and labeled
and placed below the figure. above the table with the label TABLE, with right-aligned Arabic numbers
and the enumeration must be enclosed in parentheses.
represented in Roman numerals (e.g., 𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 ! (1)
TABLE I).

• The description of the caption must be • For in-text citations, mention the
centered directly below the table number equation number only, e.g., mention “as
caption (e.g., Cars I Have Seen Today). seen in (2)” instead of “as seen in
Equation (2).”
Fig.1 Plot of temperature measurement vs. • The optional descriptive notes can be
time - Exception: A sentence beginning
included below the table, if necessary.
with an equation number, e.g.,
• Use a lowercase letter within parentheses if “Equation (1) demonstrates…”
TABLE I
parts of the figure are labeled. Include the
Cars I Have Seen Today
description of those labels in the caption
of the figure. Make Color Location
Toyota Red Grocery Store
Fig. 2. (a) Variation of effective mode index
with time. (b) Step-index change. Mercedes Blue Parking Garage
Hyundai White Parking Garage
• For in-text citations, use the abbreviation Ford White Highway
“Fig.” followed by the figure number. White cars were the most common today.

• Maximum width • Lines must be at

is 7.5” least 0.5 or 1-point
• Maximum height thick.
is 10” • Caption size must
be 8-point font.

This guide is based on the 2020 edition of the IEEE reference guide. For more information, consult the IEEE reference guide available on the IEEE website.