• 2-minute read
• 13th November 2018

Citing a Website Using IEEE Referencing

With so much information available online these days, it is vital to know how to cite online sources. In this post, then, we are looking at citing a website in an essay or paper using IEEE referencing.

In-Text Citations

In IEEE referencing, all citations are indicated with a number in the text of your document:

The internet relies on standardised communication protocols [1].

Sources should be numbered in the order that you first cite them in your work. If you are citing a website more than once, make sure to use the same number in each citation.

As shown above, citations are usually given at the end of the relevant clause before punctuation. However, if you name the author in your writing, give the citation number immediately afterwards:

Rouse [1] identifies TCP/IP as key for networking devices.

These citation numbers then point to an entry in the reference list at the end of your document. The citations above, for example, would be for the first source in the reference list.

Reference List

The reference list is where you provide full information for every source you have used. If you are citing a website, you should use the following format:

[#] INITIAL(S). Surname, ‘Page Title’, Website Name. Accessed: date of access. [Online]. Available: URL

In practice, then, the entry for an online source would look like this:

[1] M. Rouse, ‘TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)’, SearchNetworking. Accessed: 19 Sept. 2018. [Online]. Available: https://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/TCP-IP

It might not always be easy to find all this information. If a page does not name its author, though, you can use an organisational author (e.g. the publishing company or the overall website). Alternatively, if no organisational author is available, you can use the source title in the first position.

Finally, don’t forget to include a hanging indent for each line after the first.