Bachelor of Engineering (first year): Referencing

Library resources for students studying first year engineering

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Referencing - introduction

The referencing style required for units in the first year engineering is either APA or IEEE style. However, it is always a good idea to confirm with individual unit coordinators as to which referencing style is required.

Information about why you need to reference is available in the Referencing & Plagiarism guide.

Access the Victoria University APA Referencing Guide.

Access the Victoria University IEEE Referencing Guide.

What is a DOI?

DOI (Digital Object Identifier) provides a persistent electronic link to a journal article or e-book. Both APA and IEEE referencing styles require the DOI (where available ) to be included in the Reference List citation.

Example journal article reference with doi:

Braaf, S., Riley, R., & Manias, E. (2015). Failures in communication through documents and documentation across the perioperative pathway. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 24(13/14), 1874-1884       doi:10.1111/jocn.12809.

APA Referencing - journal article

A basic reference list entry for a journal article ( print version) in APA must include:

  • Author or authors. The surname is followed by first initials.
  • Year of publication of the article (in round brackets).
  • Article title.
  • Journal title (in italics).
  • Volume of journal (in italics).
  • Issue of journal (no italics).
  • Page numbers of article.
  • The first line of each citation is left adjusted. Every subsequent line is indented 5-7 spaces.

Example print journal article: 

Brill, J. B. (2011). Heal your heart with food: Eight foods that prevent a second heart attack. Better Nutrition, 73(2), 38-42.

 

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Refer to the Victoria University APA Guide for details of referencing journal articles accessed electronically and for  more referencing examples.

APA Referencing - videos

This series of videos takes you through the fundamentals of the APA Referencing style. Refer to the Victoria University APA guide for examples of in-text referencing and more information.

IEEE Referencing - Journal article

[#]    Author(s) Initial(s). Surname(s), “Title of the electronic article,” Abbrev. Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx–xxx, Abbrev. Month. Year. Accessed: Abbrev. Month. Day, Year. doi:xxxxx. [Online]. Available: site/path/file (database or URL) 

Referencing elements to cite:

  • [#] Reference number (matching the in-text citation number)
  • Author’s first initial. Author’s second initial, if provided. Author’s last name
  • Title of the article in double quotation marks, in lower case
  • Title of the Journal, in italics. Important words of the title are capitalised, but not minor ones, such as ‘and’, ‘of’, ‘on’, etc. Refer to the Journal titles abbreviations section on this page for further information.
  • Volume, issue and page number(s)
  • Abbreviated month and year of publication. Refer to the Abbreviated month section for further information.
  • Accessed: Month, Day, Year. Where there is a DOI available, the Access Date can be omitted.
  • DOI (Digital Object Identifier), if available. It is preferable to provide a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), if available.
    • If a DOI of the journal article is not available, provide the Victoria University database provider. Refer to DOI in IEEE section on this guide for further information.
  • [Online]
  • Available: site/path/file location of an article, which can be a library database provider or a full URL. 
    • For electronic resources found on the Internet include the full URL

Example:

[2]     A. Vaskuri, H. Baumgartner, P. Kärhä, G. Andor, and E. Ikonen, "Modeling the spectral shape of InGaAlP-based red light-emitting diodes," Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 118, no. 20, pp. 203103-1–203103-7, Jul. 2015. Accessed: Feb. 9, 2017. doi: 10.1063/1.4936322. [Online]. Available: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.4936322

IEEE Referencing - the basics: Video

Study Tools

The documents here provide basic templates to create a book reference and journal article reference in APA style. Watch the videos on this page and refer to the APA Guide for more information.