IEEE and APA are two of the most common referencing styles in university theses and journal papers. They look very different: IEEE uses numbers in square brackets, APA uses author names and years. This guide shows the key differences and gives side-by-side examples you can adapt. All examples below are made-up illustrations of the format, not real papers.
Check the exact style your institution or journal wantsJournals often add their own rules (abbreviations, DOI formats, number of authors). When your university or target journal gives a style guide, that guide wins over any general summary, including this one.
Quick comparison
| Feature | IEEE | APA (7th edition) |
|---|---|---|
| Typical fields | Engineering, computer science, electronics, information technology | Psychology, education, social sciences, business and management, and many other fields |
| In-text citation | Number in square brackets: [1], [2], [1]–[3] | Author and year in brackets: (Khan & Ahmed, 2023) |
| Reference list order | Numbered, in the order sources are first cited | Alphabetical by the first author's surname |
| Author names | Initials first: A. Khan and S. Ahmed | Surname first: Khan, A., & Ahmed, S. |
| Article title | In quotation marks, sentence case | No quotation marks, sentence case |
| Journal name | Italic, usually abbreviated | Italic, written in full in title case |
| Date | Month abbreviated plus year | Year in brackets after the authors |
| Many authors | Usually all authors are listed up to six; more than six use "et al." after the first author | In the text, "et al." for three or more authors; the reference list shows up to 20 authors |
| List formatting | Numbers in brackets, usually hanging | Hanging indent, alphabetical |
In-text citations
IEEE
Cite by number, placed before punctuation. Reuse the same number every time you cite the same source.
IEEE examplesEdge inference can reduce latency on low-power sensors [2].
This was confirmed in later work [1], [3] and in a survey [1]–[3].
As shown in [2], accuracy drops when the battery is low.
This was confirmed in later work [1], [3] and in a survey [1]–[3].
As shown in [2], accuracy drops when the battery is low.
APA 7
Cite the author surname and year. Use "&" inside brackets and "and" in running text. Add a page number for direct quotations.
APA examplesEdge inference can reduce latency on low-power sensors (Ahmed, 2022).
Khan and Ahmed (2023) reported similar results.
Three or more authors: (Khan et al., 2023). Direct quote: (Ahmed, 2022, p. 24).
Khan and Ahmed (2023) reported similar results.
Three or more authors: (Khan et al., 2023). Direct quote: (Ahmed, 2022, p. 24).
Journal article
IEEE[1] A. Khan and S. Ahmed, "Deep learning for early crop disease detection," J. Appl. Agric. Informat., vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 145–160, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.0000/example.
APA 7Khan, A., & Ahmed, S. (2023). Deep learning for early crop disease detection. Journal of Applied Agricultural Informatics, 12(3), 145–160. https://doi.org/10.0000/example
Conference paper
IEEE[2] S. Ahmed, "Edge inference for low-power sensors," in Proc. Int. Conf. Smart Syst. (ICSS), Lahore, Pakistan, 2022, pp. 21–26.
APA 7Ahmed, S. (2022). Edge inference for low-power sensors. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Systems (pp. 21–26). Example Publisher.
Book
IEEE[3] J. W. Creswell and J. D. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: SAGE, 2018.
APA 7Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Website and thesis
IEEE: website[4] Example Organisation, "Guidelines for authors," Example Site. Accessed: Mar. 5, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://example.com/guidelines
APA 7: websiteExample Organisation. (2024, March 5). Guidelines for authors. Example Site. https://example.com/guidelines
IEEE: thesis[5] A. Khan, "Early disease detection in crops using deep learning," M.S. thesis, Dept. Comput. Sci., Example Univ., Bahawalpur, Pakistan, 2021.
APA 7: thesisKhan, A. (2021). Early disease detection in crops using deep learning [Master's thesis, Example University]. University Repository. https://example.edu/thesis
Ten common referencing errors
- Mixing two styles in one document.
- Citations in the text that are missing from the reference list, or the reverse.
- IEEE numbers that are not in order of first citation.
- APA reference lists that are not alphabetical.
- Missing DOIs or URLs when they exist.
- Journal names abbreviated in one reference and written in full in the next.
- Inconsistent author initials or capitalisation.
- Citing a review paper for a claim that came from the original study, without reading the original.
- Copying reference data from a website without checking it against the actual paper.
- Forgetting page numbers for direct quotations (APA).
Tools that save time
- Zotero or Mendeley: store sources once, then insert citations in Word and switch style (IEEE, APA and others) with one click. Always proofread the output.
- LaTeX with BibTeX or BibLaTeX: use
\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}for IEEE, or thebiblatexpackage withstyle=apafor APA. See our LaTeX & Overleaf support. - Our free reference tool: PaperAudit Pro helps you find references and audit citations in a manuscript.
Other styles exist too, such as Harvard and Vancouver. The principle is the same: pick the one your university or journal requires and apply it consistently. Preparing a paper for a specific publisher template? See Journal Formatting, or download our free Journal Formatting Guide.