The basics of how to cite properly
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:
- In-text citation: a short citation in the body of the paper at the point where your paper relies on it. If you are using or writing about a source in multiple places in your paper, you'll need to repeat your in-text citation multiple times.
- Complete citation: the full details at the end of the paper, in the bibliography.
Formatting citations properly for a particular style
To cite a source, you can't just paste the URL into your paper - you need to include specific information in a specific order. A citation style is a particular way of formatting and presenting references and citations The information to include depends on what kind of source you are citing - a book, journal article, news website, etc. So it's important to know what kind of source you have!
There are different styles used in science and engineering, and your professor may require a specific style, but they always want you to follow one in particular. The two most common citation styles in science and engineering are APA style (an 'author-date' style) and IEEE (a numbered style). There are other styles in particular fields (ASME ASCE) that are similar to these. The key features are summarized below.
APA style (author-date type)
- In-text citations include the authors' surnames and the year in round brackets. (Author A, Author B & Author C, 2022)
- Bibliography citations are ordered alphabetically by the last name of the first author listed. Generally, citations follow the format below, however the details vary by item type.
Author surname, A.B. & Author surname, J.K. &... (Year or date). Title of the item. Publication, conference, website or organisation, Details (dependent on type of item). URL or DOI.
For more help, refer to the examples further down this page, an Online guide with examples prepared by Kwantlen Polytechnic, or the Official APA website with more examples
IEEE Style (numbered type)
- In-text citations are a number in square brackets, such as [1]. The first source referenced in your (final) paper should have the number 1, followed by 2, 3 etc. If you refer to a source multiple times in the same paper, you'll repeat the citation.
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Bibliography citations are ordered numerically from [1] to [n].Generally, citations follow the format below, however the the details vary by item type.
[#] A.B. Author surname, J.K. Author surname and... , "Title of the item". Publication, conference, website or organisation, Details, Year and possibly month. URL or DOI.
For more help, refer to the examples further down this page, Guide to IEEE style by Purdue University, or the Official IEEE guide (note that the official guide is not that easy to understand)
Creating citations
You can create these formatted citations
- Manually, by typing them out and referring to a guide
- Using a citation manager program like Zotero that helps generate citations. More details below.
- Using a citation generation website. Zbib is a good one.
- Using a citation provided by a journal website
But no matter how, you need to make sure the citation is correct and has the necessary info. Tools sometimes make mistakes, especially with references that aren't journal articles and conference papers.
Guides to citing, and article formatting, by discipline
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 |
Confused about what things you need to cite?
You are required to cite any source you use, whether it's a journal article, a textbook, a video, or or an image you found on the internet.
You aren't expected to provide a citation for facts, definitions or equations that are well-known to everyone in your field. For example, in a class on machine learning, you wouldn't normally need to cite a short definition of 'supervised learning'. But if you are writing several paragraphs on the steps in a supervised learning process, you would need to cite a source for that - even if it's your course textbook!
If in doubt, it's better to be cautious and cite more.
This page from McMaster University gives more guidance on what to cite in science and engineering.
Multidisciplinary Style and Citation Guides
Creating Bibliographies
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)
Comparisons of citation software:
- University of Toronto
- The University of California-Berkeley
- The University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Wikipedia
Bibliography formatting tools:
- Citation Builder (at NCSU)
- Bibme
Our Management Library has put together the following guide:
