University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering

Thesis Reference Guide: IEEE Style

References in the text must match the reference list both in number and style. All sources must be mentioned in the text.

References in the Text

  • References must be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text.
  • Once you label the source, use the same number in all subsequent references.
  • Each reference number should be enclosed by square brackets on the text line, with a space before the bracket, and before the punctuation: ". . . end of the line for my research [12]."
  • It is not necessary to mention the author(s) of the reference unless it is relevant to your text. Do not mention the date of the reference in the text.
  • It is not necessary to say "in reference [27]. . . ." "In [27] . . ." is sufficient.
  • To cite more than one source at a time:
    Vastly preferred Acceptable
    [1], [3], [5] [1, 5, 7]
    [1] - [5] [1-5]

    You may have to adjust your computer program format to get the preferred form.

  • The names of all authors should be given in the references unless the number of authors is greater than six. If there are more then six authors, you may use et al. (no comma before et) after the name of the first author.

The Reference List

  • References must be listed in the order they were cited (numerical order). The references must not be in alphabetical order.
  • The bracketed number should be on the line, and the lines of each entry indented.
  • List only one reference per bracketed number.
  • Footnotes and other words and phrases not part of the reference format should not be included in the reference list. Phrases such as "for example" should only be given in the text.

Capitalization

  • Every (important) word in the title of a book must be capitalized.
  • Every (important) word in the title of a journal or conference must be capitalized.
  • Capitalize only the first word of an article title (except for proper nouns, acronyms, etc.)
  • Capitalize only the first word of a paper, thesis, or book chapter.
  • Capitalize the "v" in volume for a book title, but not for a periodical.

Punctuation

Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. An example with a question mark is provided under periodicals.

Abbreviations

  • You must either spell out the entire name of each periodical you reference or use accepted abbreviations. You must consistently do one or the other.
  • You may spell words such as volume, December, etc., but you must either spell out all such occurrences or abbreviate all.
  • You do not need to abbreviate March, May, June, July.
  • To indicate a page range: pp. 111-222. But to reference one page only, use only one p: p. 111.

Spacing

Please note the correct spacing and punctuation for author names:

D. L. Tao, C. Siva Ram Murthy, and S. Al Kuran
but
T.-C. Hsu and L. A. Stein-Rosenberg

 

Books

[1] S. M. Hemmingsen, Soft Science. Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan Press, 1997.
[2] A. Rezi and M. Allam, "Techniques in array processing by means of transformations," in Control and Dynamic Systems, Vol. 69, Multidimensional Systems, C. T. Leondes, Ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 1995, pp. 133-180.
[3] D. Sarunyagate, Ed., Lasers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Periodicals

[3] G. Liu, K. Y. Lee, and H. F. Jordan, "TDM and TWDM de Bruijn networks and shufflenets for optical communications," IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol. 46, pp. 695-701, June 1997.
[4] J. R. Beveridge and E. M. Riseman, "How easy is matching 2D line models using local search?" IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 19, pp. 564-579, June 1997.

Articles from Published Conference Proceedings

The word in before the conference title is not italicized.

[5] N. Osifchin and G. Vau, "Power considerations for the modernization of telecommunications in Central and Eastern European and former Soviet Union (CEE/FSU) countries," in Second International Telecommunications Energy Special Conference, 1997, pp. 9-16.
[6] S. Al Kuran, "The prospects for GaAs MESFET technology in dc-ac voltage conversion," in Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Portable Design Conference, 1997, pp. 137-142.

Papers Presented at Conferences, but Unpublished

[7] H. A. Nimr, "Defuzzification of the outputs of fuzzy controllers," presented at 5th International Conference on Fuzzy Systems, Cairo, Egypt, 1996.

Reports (technical reports, internal reports, memoranda)

Provide number and month if available.

[8] K. E. Elliott and C. M. Greene, "A local adaptive protocol," Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, France, Tech. Rep. 916-1010-BB, 1997.

Thesis or Dissertation

"PhD dissertation," but "M.S. thesis."

[9] H. Zhang, "Delay-insensitive networks," M.S. thesis, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, 1997.

Manual

[10] Bell Telephone Laboratories Technical Staff, Transmission System for Communications, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1995.

Class Notes

[10] "Signal integrity and interconnects for high-speed applications," class notes for ECE 497-JS, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Winter 1997.

Private Communication

[11] T. I. Wein (private communication), 1997.

From the Internet

[12] Computational, Optical, and Discharge Physics Group, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "Hybrid plasma equipment model: Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching reactors," December 1995, http://uigelz.ece.uiuc.edu/Projects/HPEM-ICP/index.html.
[13] D. Poelman (dirk_poelman@rug.ac.be), "Re: Question on transformerless power supply," Usenet post to sci.electronics.design, July 4, 1997.

Catalog

[14] Catalog No. MWM-1, Microwave Components, M. W. Microwave Corp., Brooklyn, NY.

Application Notes

[15] Hewlett-Packard, Appl. Note 935, pp. 25-29.

Patents

[16] K. Kimura and A. Lipeles, "Fuzzy Controller Component," U. S. Patent 14,860,040, December 14, 1996.

 

 

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Last modified April 10, 1998