IEEE Referencing Using Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is one of the most widely used document editors in the world. Many scientific-based academic reports; essays, coursework, final year projects, thesis, dissertations, journals etc. use the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) referencing format. This can be really frustrating especially if you want to input a new in-text reference between two or more already existing in-text references. Doing it manually is a pure waste of time especially when the number of references is so verbose. Here is where the Microsoft Word in-built referencing system can help. The following sections explain how to use Microsoft Word to manage IEEE references.

Add A New Source

Step 1: Go to the References tab

Microsoft Word Reference Tab

Step 2: Select the type of referencing from the list provided by clicking on the drop-down list of the Styles in Citations & Bibliography category. In this example, the IEEE referencing is selected as seen below.

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Style Selector

Step 3: While writing the content of your report and you want to include an in-text reference in a specific location, place the mouse in that location, then go to Insert Citation in the Citations & Bibliography section as seen below. If you want to add new reference information, then click on the Add New Source from the dropdown list.

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Insert Citation Add New Source

Step 4: The pop-up window will appear for you to create a new source. It allows the user to select the Type of Source, after selecting this, the required fields for the selected source type will be displayed. For example, the required field for a Journal Article is provided below.

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Create Source

Step 5: However, if you want to add additional information about the source then you can click on the checkbox “Show All Bibliography Fields” as seen below.

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Create Source Journal Article

Step 6: To add the author information click on the edit button and insert one after the other the author information as seen below:

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Create Source Add and Edit Author

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Create Source Add Author

Step 7: Once the reference is successfully added the reference number will appear on the body of the report as seen below:

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Create Source Add Author

Microsoft Word IEEE In-text Reference Viewing the List of Sources Already Added

The added references in the list can be viewed by going to the References tab and then selecting Insert Citation from the Citation & Bibliography category as seen below:

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Insert Citation Reference Listing

Referencing A Source That Was Already Inserted

If the source is already added to the document, you don’t need to add it again. All you need to do is to click on the location where you want to insert the reference again and select it from the list as shown below:

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Insert Citation Reference Listing

Generating Bibliography or Reference List

Lastly, you can generate your bibliography or reference by clicking on Bibliography from the Citations & Bibliography category from the References tab as seen below:

Microsoft Word Reference Tab Bibliography Listing

Microsoft Word Bibliography Listing Example

Updating the In-Text Citations and References List

If you want to add a new in-text reference between two or more already existing in-text references and then update the reference list, no manual changes are needed. All you need to do is to insert the in-text reference in the specific section as discussed above. Select the entire document (CTRL+A), then Right-Click and select the Update Field from the popup list. The in-text reference numbering and the reference or bibliography list will be updated accordingly.

Microsoft Word Reference IEEE In-Text and Reference List Update