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Mechanical Engineering: Reference List

General Guidelines

  • Citations are single spaced, with no line space between citations
  • Numbers are in square brackets, justified left (e.g. [5])
  • Authors are listed by initials followed by last name (e.g. A. G. Harvey)
    • List up to three authors (e.g. T. Coolage, F. R. Hodan, and R. J. Wong)
    • For more than three authors, use the first author's name followed by 'et al.' (e.g. L. D. Chan et al.)
  • Editors follow similar rules to authors, with the addition of 'Ed.' for one editor (e.g. P. N. H. Nakashima, Ed.)
    • List up to three editors, followed by 'Eds.' (e.g. C. Rüdiger and C. Caprani, Eds.)
    • For more than three editors, use the first editor's name followed by 'et al., Eds.'  (e.g. K. Singh et al., Eds.)
  • Titles of articles, chapters, conference papers, patents etc. are in quotation marks, and formatted in Sentence case (e.g. "Networked system state estimation in smart grid over cognitive radio infrastructures,")
  • Titles of books or journals are in italics (e.g. International Journal on Electrical Engineering and Informatics,) 
  • Websites should not include punctuation at the end of the URL
  • The DOI, or Digital Object Identifier, is similar to a barcode - uniquely identifying a piece of information. If there is a DOI available for material you are referencing, include it at the end of the availability statement, for example:
    • [Online]. Available: CRCnetBase, doi: 10.1201/b11897-5)
  • An 'Accessed' statement should be included only when referencing a resource whose location is subject to change, for example:

Month Abbreviations

Month abbreviations are used for sources including standards, patents, and websites. Books, reports, conferences, and theses do not require month abbreviations.

The IEEE standard abbreviations for each month are: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.

Journals issued every two months (i.e. Bimonthly): Aug./Sept. 2025

Journals issued every four months (i.e. Quarterly): July–Sept. 2025

Data Sheets (i.e. SDS/MSDS)

Use the following format to reference SDSs/MSDSs in the IEEE Style:

Data Sheets

 Rule:

[#] Company Name, “Title of data sheet,” Data Sheet number, Date of Publication.

 Example:

 [1] Texas Instruments, “High speed CMOS logic analog multiplexers/demultiplexers,” 74HC4051 datasheet, Nov. 1997 [Revised Sept. 2002].

 

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)

 Rule:

[#] Title of MSDS/SDS; Number of MSDS/SDS [Print or Online]; Name of Manufacturing Company: Location of Company, Date of Publication, URL (date accessed).

 Example:

 [2] Ammonium Chloride; SDS No. 000001616 [Online]; Avantor: Center Valley, PA, Feb 23, 2015. https://www.avantorinc.com/Documents/MSDS/USA/SAP/00038387.PDF (Accessed: Apr. 27, 2025).