APA and IEEE Citation Guide / Avoiding Plagiarism

A reference list includes the documents cited in a research work and gives enough information to retrieve them.

The way in which the bibliographic references are listed depends on the types of documents (books, journal articles, websites, etc.) and on their availability in print or electronic format.

Some elements in a reference are very important, such as the author, the title of the document, and the year of publication - and they should follow a precise order, according to the citation style used. Rigor and consistency are required when writing bibliographic references.

The development of an idea or research is always based on the results and conclusions of previous works. A doctoral or master's thesis is based on readings, experiences, and conclusions that should be included in the reference list or bibliography.

While writing a dissertation or a thesis, use a citation style recommended by your research advisor and/or your department and/or used by journals in your field.

If your department does not recommend a certain style, the Library suggests that you use the IEEE style (for computer, software, and electrical engineering) or the APA style (for other fields of engineering). There is no exact match between these two styles. This guide shows how to use the APA and IEEE styles at Polytechnique Montreal.