It is important to document every idea, statistic, quote or paraphrase that you use from somewhere else, to give credit to authors, let your reader know the basis for what you're saying, avoid plagiarism. This is called citing or referencing your sources. In science and engineering, we cite each source in two places:
These examples show how to format a citation for common engineering documents in the two most popular styles in engineering - APA style (author-date) and IEEE style (numbered). If your professor doesn't have a preference for a style, one of these is a good choice.
Journal Article
| APA style (author, date) | IEEE style (numbered) | |
| In-text citation | Another study found that..... (Perkins, Bird, Jacobs, & Devoy, 2016) | Another study found that..... [1] |
| Full bibliography entry |
Perkins, W. T., Bird, G., Jacobs, S. R., & Devoy, C. (2016). Field-scale study of the influence of differing remediation strategies on trace metal geochemistry in metal mine tailings from the Irish Midlands. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23(6), 5592–5608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5725-7
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[1]
W. T. Perkins, G. Bird, S. R. Jacobs, and C. Devoy, “Field-scale study of the influence of differing remediation strategies on trace metal geochemistry in metal mine tailings from the Irish Midlands,” Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 5592–5608, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5725-7
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Conference Paper
| APA Style (author, date) | IEEE Style (numbered) | |
|---|---|---|
| In-text citation | Another study found that..... (Névéol et al., 2017) | Another study found that..... [1] |
| Full bibliography entry |
Névéol, A., Anderson, R. N., Cohen, K. B., Grouin, C., Lavergne, T., Rey, G., … Zweigenbaum, P. (2017). CLEF eHealth 2017 Multilingual Information Extraction task overview: ICD10 coding of death certificates in English and French. CLEF 2017 Evaluation Labs and Workshop: Online Working Notes, 1866. Retrieved from http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1866/invited_paper_6.pdf
|
[1]
A. Névéol et al., “CLEF eHealth 2017 Multilingual Information Extraction task overview: ICD10 coding of death certificates in English and French,” in CLEF 2017 Evaluation Labs and Workshop: Online Working Notes, Dublin, Ireland, 2017, vol. 1866 [Online]. Available: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1866/invited_paper_6.pdf.
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Report (technical report, government report, ...)
| APA Style (author, date) | IEEE style (numbered) | |
|---|---|---|
| In-text citation | Another study found that..... (Comella-Dorda, Dean, Morris, & Oberndorf, 2004) | Another study found that..... [1] |
| Full bibliography entry |
Comella-Dorda, S., Dean, J. C., Morris, E., & Oberndorf, P. (2004). A process for COTS software product evaluation (No. CMU/SEI-2003-TR-017; pp. 86–96). Retrieved from Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University website: https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/library/asset-view.cfm?assetid=6701
|
[1]
S. Comella-Dorda, J. C. Dean, E. Morris, and P. Oberndorf, “A process for COTS software product evaluation,” Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, CMU/SEI-2003-TR-017, 2004 [Online]. Available: https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/library/asset-view.cfm?assetid=6701.
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Standard or Code
| APA style (author, date) | IEEE style (numbered) | |
| In-text citation | According to the concrete design code... (Canadian Standards Association, 2019) | According to the concrete design code...[1] |
| Full bibliography entry |
Canadian Standards Association. (2019). Design of concrete structures (CSA standard A23.3:19). Retrieved from https://subscriptions.techstreet.com/products/836680
|
[1]
Design of concrete structures, CSA Standard A23:3, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://subscriptions.techstreet.com/products/836680.
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Book Chapter (where different chapters in the book are written by different authors)
| APA style (author, date) | IEEE Style (numbered) | |
| In-text citation | Another study found that.....(Fallon and Carter, 2016) | Another study found that..... [1] |
| Full bibliography entry |
Fallon, J. B., & Carter, P. M. (2016). Principles of Recording from and Electrical Stimulation of Neural Tissue. In Neurobionics: The Biomedical Engineering of Neural Prostheses (pp. 89–120). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118816028.ch4
|
[1]
J. B. Fallon and P. M. Carter, “Principles of Recording from and Electrical Stimulation of Neural Tissue,” in Neurobionics: The Biomedical Engineering of Neural Prostheses, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2016, pp. 89–120 [Online]. Available: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118816028.ch4.
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Book written by a single author
| APA style (author, date) | IEEE style (numbered) | |
| In-text citation | Another study found that..... (MacDowell, 2012, p. 34) | Another study found that..... [1, pp. 34] |
| Full bibliography entry |
MacDowell, L. S. (2012). An Environmental History of Canada. Retrieved from https://www.ubcpress.ca/asset/9296/1/9780774821018.pdf
|
[1]
L. S. MacDowell, An Environmental History of Canada. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2012 [Online]. Available: https://www.ubcpress.ca/asset/9296/1/9780774821018.pdf
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If you didn't get the document from the internet (for example, if it's in print, or if someone emailed you the PDF), then simply don't include a URL.
You are required to include page numbers in the in-text citation anytime you are using a direct quote. But you should also use page numbers anytime you are citing a specific part of a longer source (such as a book or report).
For help on how to cite other types of sources, see the full style guides for APA or IEEE, linked elsewhere on this page.
Collect, manage, cite research sources with your preferred citation management software. Consult the Citation management guide to learn more.
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.
Mendeley is a free online service to index and organize your PDF documents, collaborate and share information via shared and public collections.
EndNote Web is the web version of EndNote software. Records from EndNote Web can be exported to a purchased EndNote software database.
BibTeX format (used in Computer Science with LaTeX)
Papers (subscription for Mac, iOS, and Windows)
Our Management Library has put together the following guide:
Many fields have their own particular citation style or article formatting - it can be confusing! There is no single correct style, but it is essential that consistency be observed within any report you write. Your citation manager (like Zotero or Mendeley) will include pre-set styles for most journals and publishers. (You may have to find it under 'Get more styles' or something similar).
Always ask your professor or supervisor if they want you to use a specific style.
| Discipline | Style Guide | More Details |
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Engineering - Chemical |
AIChE ACS |
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Engineering - Civil |
ASCE |
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Engineering - Mechanical |
ASME |
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Engineering - Electrical and Computer |
IEEE ACM |
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Science and engineering - general |
CSE (Council of Science Editors) style |
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General |
APA, MLA, Chicago |