• 2-minute read
  • 25th May 2019

Citing a Chapter from an Edited Book in IEEE Referencing

IEEE referencing is used in subjects such as computing and engineering. It’s also the preferred system in journals published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. And now, we’re going to look at how to cite a chapter from an edited book using this referencing style.

In-Text Citations for a Chapter from an Edited Book

To cite a source in IEEE referencing, give a citation number in brackets within the text. This usually goes at the end of a sentence before punctuation:

The new electrolysis technique proved effective [3].

These bracketed numbers point to a source in the reference list, with sources numbered in the order you first cite them in the document. The citation above, for example, points to the third source in the reference list, so it would also be the third source cited in the document.

We would then use the same number if we cited the source again later in the document. Variations on this basic citation style include:

  • Giving the citation immediately after the author’s name if you have named the author in the main text of your paper.
  • Citing a page number when quoting a source directly.

You can see examples of these in our overview of IEEE referencing.

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Edited Books in the Reference List

If you’ve cited a chapter from an edited book, make sure to list the full publication details in the reference list at the end of your document. The format to use for a chapter from an edited book here is:

[#] INITIAL(S) Surname, “Chapter Title,” in Book Title, Editor Name, Ed. Place of publication: Publisher, Year, Page numbers.

In practice, then, the reference list entry for a chapter from an edited book would look like this:

[3] B. Smith, “A Comparison of Recently Developed Methods of Enhanced Electrolysis,” in Innovations in Engineering, K. Jones, Ed. London: PME & Co., 2017, 13–41.

This would be the third entry in the reference list, as indicated by the bracketed number. Make sure numbers in the reference list match those used to cite sources in the main text. And don’t forget to include a small hanging indent for each line after the first in each entry.

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