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IEEE - Referencing Guide

Citing in the Text

Citing in the Text

Indicating the relevant reference in the text

A number enclosed in square brackets, eg.[1] or [26], placed in the text of the essay, indicates the relevant reference.

Each reference number should be enclosed in square brackets on the same line as the text, before any punctuation, with a space before the bracket.

Citations are numbered in the order in which they appear in the text and each citation corresponds to a numbered reference containing publication information about the source cited in the reference list at the end of the publication, essay or assignment.

Once a source has been cited, the same number is used in all subsequent references.

No distinction is made between print and electronic references when citing within the text.

Here are some examples of this kind of referencing :

"...end of the line for my research [13]."
"The theory was first put forward in 1987 [1]." "Scholtz [2] has argued that......."
"Several recent studies [3, 4, 15, 16] have suggested that..."
"For example, see [7]."

It is not necessary to mention either the author(s) or the the date of the reference unless it is relevant to your text.

It is not necessary to say " in reference [26] ..." "In [26] ..." is sufficient.

Citing more than one reference at a time

When citing more than one source at a time, the preferred method is to list each reference number separately with a comma or dash between each reference:

Preferred
[1], [3], [5]
[1] - [5]

Although the following method is also acceptable:

Acceptable
[1, 3, 5]
[1-5]

Citing a reference multiple times

When citing a source for a second or subsequent time, do not use ibid or op. cit.

In the text, repeat the earlier reference number.

If referring to a different page number, or other reference, within the source, use the following forms:

[3, pp. 5-10], [3, Ch.  2, pp. 6-21], [3, Fig. 1], [3, Sec. 4.5]

Page numbers included

 Include page, chapter, paragraph or section numbers in the citation if you need to be specific, such as when material is directly quoted or when a specific part of the source is referred to, or when a detail difficult to find.

 Give page numbers within the square brackets:

[1, p. 5]

[2, Fig. 3]

[3, Sec. 4.5]


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