Skip to Main Content

IEEE - Referencing Guide

Referencing Terms

Some Common Referencing Terms

Bibliography
is a list of documents consulted but not necessarily referred to in a specific essay or assignment. A bibliography can also be a comprehensive list of works on a specific subject, for example, The Bibliography of Bioethics. When researching a topic it is a good idea to prepare a bibliography for your own use, even if in your essay you need to cite only some of these items in a Works cited or References list.

Citation or referencing style
is the method used to format your citations. Some commonly used formats are MLA, Chicago, APA, Vancouver and Footnote.

Descriptive elements
are the necessary parts of a reference. A few examples of these elements are: author, title, edition, date of publication, internet address, etc.

Electronic
is a generic term used to describe documents available from the internet or from databases or published in a digitised format.

In text citations
are a method of signalling to the reader of your work that the words or ideas quoted or referred to at that point are not your own. The method for acknowledging the source document will vary according to the citation style you are using. Ensure that enough information is given to locate the full reference in the Works cited or References list.

References
are an accurate and complete description of a document. A document may be a book, a journal article, a videorecording, an email, or an internet site, to name a few. The reference should include sufficient descriptive elements to identify and locate the document.

Works cited or References list
is a list of all the documents you have referred to in your assignment or project. It is usually included at the end of your work. It may be arranged alphabetically or numerically and formatted according to one of the citation styles. 

See the All Examples page for examples of in-text and reference list entries for specific resources such as articles, books, and web pages.