Citation Styles and Tools: Examples

When creating your reference list entry for a journal article, always include:

• Author(s): initials and last name
• Title of article "in quotation marks"
• Title of journal in italics. Capitalize the first letter of each word except for conjuntions (and, of, the, for, etc.)
• Volume number, issue number, and page numbers
• Date of publication (month and year)

Note: You can write the full name of the journal title, or abbreviate the titles of IEEE journals (see IEEE Abbreviations for Transactions, Letters, Journals and Magazines for a full list of standard abbreviations).

For example:

[5] E. Strickland, "24 hours at Fukushima", IEEE Spectr., vol. 48, no. 11, pp. 35-42, Nov. 2011

When creating your reference list entry for a web site or online document, always include:

• Author(s) or editor(s): initials and last name
• Date of publication (in round brackets). Abbreviate the month
• Title in italics. Only capitalize the first letter and proper nouns
• Format [in square brackets]
• URL

For example:

[6] K. Bonsor and J. Strickland. (2007, Mar. 20). How nanotechnology works. [Online]. Available:                http://science.howstuffworks.com/nanotechnology.html

If there is no author, start the entry with the title of the site or document. Use (n.d.) if there is no date

[7] Electrical engineer. (n.d.) [Online]. Available: http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=electrical%20engineer

When creating your reference list entry for an electronic patent, always include:

• Title of patent, by Author’s initial & last name or the corporate author
• Abbreviated Month, Day and Year of Publication
• Patent’s country of origin and the patent’s number
• Accessed on: Month, Day, Year
• Type in [square brackets]
• Available: site/path/file, i.e. the patent’s URL or database

[3]     Fixing system for an electrical plate, by Legrand Australia Pty Ltd. (2016, Dec. 22). Patent 2016905338. Accessed on: Feb. 1, 2018. [Online]. Available: AusPat database

When creating your reference list entry for a standard, always include:

• Title of standard in italic
• Standard number
• Date

For example:

[8] IEEE Criteria for Class IE Electric Systems, IEEE Standard 308, 1969

When creating your reference list entry for a patent, always include:

• Inventor(s); initials and last name
• Title "in quotation marks"
• Issuing office
• Patent number
• Date of issue

For example:

[9] J.P. Wilkinson, "Nonlinear resonant circuit devices," U.S. Patent 3 624 125, July 16, 1990

When creating your reference list entry for a technical report, always include:

• Author’s initial & last name
• Title of the Report, in "double quotation marks". Capitalized important words.
• Publisher, i.e. the abbreviated name of company or institution that published the report
• Place of publication
• Report number and volume and/or issue number
• Abbreviated Month and Year of publication

For example:

[9] D. Smith, “17th Construction Squadron Relocation Infrastructure Project,” Canberra Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, Canberra, ACT, Rep. no. 5, June 2015

When creating your reference list entry for a thesis or dissertation, always include:

• Author; initials and last name
• Title
• Degree awarded
• Department
• University
• City, state or province, and country
• Date

Note: Names of universities and university departments should be abbreviated according to IEEE standards. Please see IEEE Standard Abbreviations for more information

For example:

[11] N. Kawasaki, "Parametric study of thermal and chemical nonequilibrium nozzle flow," M.S. Thesis, Dept. of Electron. Eng., Osaka Univ., Osaka, Japan, 1993

When creating your reference list entry for a conference paper, always include:

• Author(s); initials and last name
• Title of the paper "in quotation marks"
• Name of conference
• City and state and/or country of conference
• Year

For example:

[10] H. Zhang, "LaB6 field emission gun: Making a decades old dream come true with nanotechnology," presented at the International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology for Sustainable Development, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2011