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Engineering -- Civil Engineering

A guide to civil engineering resources in UVic Libraries

IEEE Style Manual

IEEE Publications uses Webster’s College Dictionary, 4th Edition. For guidance on grammar and usage not included
in this manual, please consult The Chicago Manual of Style, published by the University of Chicago Press.

NOTE: Most of these examples and reference formats have been taken from the following sources, please consult them for comprehensive citation styles.

IEEE Reference Manual

IEEE Editorial Style Manual

The IEEE Style Libguide from Murdoch University

Citing and Documenting Sources in IEEE style

What's the best citation management software for me?

The Library currently offers frequent workshops on Zotero, an open-source system for Citation management. You may request a workshop on Zotero, Mendeley or Endnote by emailing askus.uvic.ca.

How do you choose the best citation management software? There are many factors to consider, such as:  

  • Is the software open?
  • Can I export my data?
  • How much does the software cost? 
  • Can I collaborate with colleagues/friends and share my citations in groups? 
  • Can I access my citations and PDFs on different computers? 
  • Can I use a mobile device to work with my citations? 
  • Is my data being stored on a server in the United States? 

We've put together a comparison chart below to help you identify the different features available and figure out the best option for you. 

What is citation management?

Citing your papers is an important part of the research process.

However, citing your papers can also become one of the more frustrating and time-consuming parts of the research process. Citation management software can help you save time by allowing you to:

  • Collect citations from your online databases, library catalogues and websites
  • Organize, edit, and search through the citations you've saved
  • Build and organize bibliographies in well-known styles like APA, MLA, and even style-specific journals like Nature
  • Format citations for papers
  • Take notes on articles and save them in your collection of citations
  • Save and organize PDFs, screenshots, graphs, images, and other files for your research--even offline!

Which citation tool is right for you?

There are several free and discounted citation management software options available to students, staff and faculty at UVic:

Take a look at our tool-comparison guide to find one right for you. 

Citation Management: The Basics

IEEE style examples

NOTE: Use et al. when three or more names are given.

References in text:

References need not be cited in the text. When they are, they appear on the line, in square brackets, inside the punctuation. Grammatically, they may be treated as if they were footnote numbers, e.g.,  as shown by Brown [4], [5]; as mentioned earlier [2], [4]–[7], [9]; Smith [4] and Brown and Jones [5]; Wood et al. [7]

or as nouns:

as demonstrated in [3]; according to [4] and [6]–[9].

References Within a Reference:

Check the reference list for ibid. or op. cit. These refer to a previous reference and should be eliminated from the reference section. In text, repeat the earlier reference number and renumber the reference section accordingly. If the  ibid. gives a new page number, or other information, use the following forms:

[3, Th. 1]; [3, Lemma 2]; [3, pp. 5-10]; [3, eq. (2)]; [3, Fig. 1]; [3, Appendix I]; [3, Sec. 4.5]; [3, Ch. 2, pp. 5-10];

[3, Algorithm 5].

NOTE: Editing of references may entail careful renumbering of references, as well as the citations in text.

Basic Format:

[#]  A. Author, Title: Subtitle (in italics), Edition(if not the first), Vol.(if a multivolume work). Place of publication: Publisher, Year, page number(s) (if appropriate).

NOTE: Use et al. when six or more names are given in the reference list.

Some examples from the IEEE Editorial Style Manual (Online):

  • [1] B. Klaus and P. Horn, Robot Vision. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 1986.
  • [2] L. Stein, “Random patterns,” in Computers and You, J. S. Brake, Ed. New York, NY, USA: Wiley, 1994, pp. 55-70.
  • [3] R. L. Myer, “Parametric oscillators and nonlinear materials,” in Nonlinear Optics, vol. 4, P. G. Harper and B. S. Wherret, Eds. San Francisco, CA, USA: Academic, 1977, pp. 47-160.
  • [4] M. Abramowitz and I. A. Stegun, Eds., Handbook of Mathematical Functions (Applied Mathematics Series 55). Washington, DC, USA: NBS, 1964, pp. 32-33.
  • [5] E. F. Moore, “Gedanken-experiments on sequential machines,” in Automata Studies (Ann. of Mathematical Studies, no. 1), C. E.  Shannon and J. McCarthy, Eds. Princeton, NJ, USA:  Princeton Univ. Press, 1965, pp. 129-153.
  • [6] Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Staff of Technology and Science, Aerospace Div.), Integrated Electronic Systems. Englewood  Cliffs, NJ, USA: Prentice-Hall, 1970.
  • [7] M. Gorkii, “Optimal design,” Dokl. Akad.  Nauk SSSR, vol. 12, pp. 111-122, 1961  (Transl.: in L. Pontryagin, Ed., The Mathematical Theory of Optimal Processes. New York, NY, USA: Interscience, 1962, ch. 2, sec. 3, pp. 127-135).
  • [8] G. O. Young, “Synthetic structure of industrial plastics,” in Plastics, vol. 3, Polymers of Hexadromicon, J. Peters, Ed., 2nd ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp. 15-64.

Books Online (Ebooks):

Books, Monographs (Online)Basic Format:

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

Examples:

  • G. O. Young, “Synthetic structure of industrial plastics,” in Plastics, vol. 3, Polymers of Hexadromicon, J. Peters, Ed., 2nd ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp. 15–64. [Online]. Available: http://www.bookref.com. The Terahertz Wave eBook.ZOmega Terahertz Corp., 2014. [Online]. Available: http://dl.z-thz.com/eBook/zomega_ebook_pdf_1206_sr.pdf. Accessed: May 19, 2014.
  • 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/founder

Basic Format:
[#] A. Author, “Name of paper,” Abbrev. Title of Periodical, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbrev. Month, year.

NOTE: Use et al. when six or more names are given in the reference list.

Some Examples from the IEEE Editorial Style Manual (Online)
[1] R. E. Kalman, “New results in linear filtering and prediction theory,” J. Basic Eng., ser. D, vol. 83, pp. 95-108, Mar. 1961.
[2] Ye. V. Lavrova, “Geographic distribution of ionospheric disturbances in the F2 layer,” Tr. IZMIRAN, vol. 19, no.29, pp. 31–43, 1961  (Transl.: E. R. Hope, Directorate of Scientific Information Services, Defence Research Board of Canada, Rep. T384R, Apr. 1963).
[3] E. P. Wigner, “On a modification of the Rayleigh–Schrodinger perturbation theory,” (in German), Math. Naturwiss. Anz. Ungar. Akad. Wiss., vol. 53, p. 475, 1935.
[4] E. H. Miller, “A note on reflector arrays,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., to be published.***Always use this style when the paper has been accepted or scheduled for a future publication, i.e. do not use "to appear in."***
[5] C. K. Kim, “Effect of gamma rays on plasma,” submitted for publication.***Always use this style when the paper has not yet been accepted or scheduled for a future publication, i.e. do not use "to appear in."***
[6] W. Rafferty, “Ground antennas in NASA’s deep space telecommunications,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 82, no. 5, pp. 636-640, May 1994.

For Conference proceedings online: 

NOTE: Use et al. when six or more names are given in the reference list.

[#] A. Editor and B. Editor, Eds., Title of Conf.: Subtitle of conference, Month Date, Year, Location (optional). Place of publication: Name of  Publisher, Year. Available: Database Name (if appropriate), internet address. [Accessed: date of access].

Basic Format:
[#] J. K. Author, “Title of paper,” in Abbreviated Name of Conf., City of Conf., Abbrev. State), year, pp. xxx-xxx.***Location of conference is optional***

For an electronic conference article when there are no page numbers:
[#] J. K. Author [two authors: J. K. Author and A. N. Writer ] [three or more authors: J. K. Author et al.],
“Title of Article,” in [Title of Conf. Record as], [copyright year] © [IEEE or applicable copyright holder of the Conference Record]. doi: [DOI number]

For an unpublished paper presented at a conference:
[#] J. K. Author, “Title of paper,” presented at the abbrev. Name of Conf., City of Conf., Abbrev. State, year.

Reports in Print:

NOTE: Use et al. when six or more names are given in the reference list.

Basic Format:

J. K. Author, “Title of report,” Abbrev. Name of Co., City of Co., Abbrev. State, Country, Rep. xxx, year.

Examples:

  • E. E. Reber, R. L. Michell, and C. J. Carter, “Oxygen absorption in the earth’s atmosphere,” Aerospace Corp., Los Angeles, CA, USA,Tech. Rep. TR-0200 (4230-46)-3, Nov. 1988.
  • J. H. Davis and J. R. Cogdell, “Calibration program for the 16-foot antenna,” Elect. Eng. Res. Lab., Univ. Texas, Austin, Tech. Memo. NGL-006-69-3, Nov. 15, 1987.
  • R. E. Haskell and C. T. Case, “Transient signal propagation in lossless isotropic plasmas,” USAF Cambridge Res. Labs., Cambridge, MA, USA, Rep. ARCRL-66-234 (II), 1994, vol.2.
  • M. A. Brusberg and E. N. Clark, “Installation, operation, and data evaluation of an oblique-incidence ionosphere sounder system,” in “Radio Propagation Characteristics of the Washington-Honolulu Path,” Stanford Res. Inst., Stanford, CA, USA, Contract NOBSR-87615, Final Rep., Feb. 1995, vol. 1.

Online Reports:

Basic Format:
J. K. Author, “Title of report,” Company, City, State, Country, Rep. no., (optional: vol./issue), Date. Accessed: Date. [Online]. Available: site/path/file
 
Examples: 
 
  • R. J. Hijmans and J. van Etten, “Raster: Geographic analysis and modeling with raster data,” R Package Version 2.0-12, Jan. 12, 2012. [Online]. Available: http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=raster
  • “Teralyzer,” Lytera UG, Kirchhain, Germany. Accessed: Jun. 5, 2014. [Online]. Available:http://www.lytera.de/Terahertz_THz_Spectroscopy.php?id=homeF. Zhao, “Smartphone solutions white paper,” Shenzhen, China, Huawei, White Paper, 2012. [Online]. Available: http://www.huawei.com/ilink/en/download/HW_193034
  • Bureau of Meteorology, “Bureauof Meteorology: Measuring Rainfall in Australia,” 2009. [Online]. Available: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/cdo/about/definitionsrain.shtml#meanrainfall
  • GeoBasisNRWHYPERLINK "http://ol.osa.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-11-2-115", “ATKIS—Digitale Topographische Karte1:25.000 (DTK25),” Bezirksregierung Köln, Cologne, Germany, 2012. [Online]. Available: http://www.bezreg-koeln.nrw.de/brkinternet/presse/publikationen/geobasis/falHYPERLINK "http://ol.osa.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-11-2-115"tblatt_geobasis_HYPERLINK
  • 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.

Standard format for citing online interviews, radio programs, you tube videos, however, the citation may vary depending on the format of the recording:

NOTE: Use et al. when six or more names are given in the reference list.

[#] A. A. Artist , Credit, and B. B. Artist, Credit, "Title of episode," Title of Programme: Subtitle, Date of recording, Year.  Place of recording: Publisher. [Format]. Available: Internet address. [Accessed: Month Day, Year].

For a podcast:

[1] W. Rebecca, Speaker, Earth and it's crust, 2017 David Suzuki Lecture Series. Victoria (BC): University of Victoria; 2017. [Podcast]. Available: https://dspace.uvic.ca/earthanditscrustpodcast. [Accessed Sept. 6, 2018].

W. Chen, Speaker, Applied Mechanics Audio Interview, AMR Audio Interviews, August 24, 2018. Applied Mechanics Reviews. [Podcasts]. http://appliedmechanicsreviews.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/podcasts.aspx. [Accessed October 1, 2018].

For Interviews or other sources of communication that are unpublished:

Interviews and personal communications (conversations, emails, letters, etc.) generally are cited in footnotes are excluded from Bibliography.  

Footnotes format:

Interviewee/Email Sender First Name/Initial Surname, interview with/email to First Name Surname, Date of Interview.

Example:

1. Daniel Perry (CEO, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, BC), interview with Peter Parker, September 29, 2018.
2. David Perry (owner, Ocean's Enterprises), email message to Peter Parker, October 1, 2018.

Video Recordings standard format:

NOTE: Use et al. when six or more names are given in the reference list.

FirstInitial. LastName OR Screen name. "Title of video," YouTube, Date uploaded, Year. [Video file]. Available: URL. [Accessed: Month Day, Year].

Example:

University of Washington. "Explore UW Engineering - Mechanical Engineering," YouTube, Aug. 10, 2015 [Video file]. Available: https://youtu.be/eUvkwxbMWdE. [Accessed: Sept. 28, 2018].

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