APA vs IEEE vs Harvard: which citation style to use and how
A quick comparison of APA, IEEE and Harvard referencing, with who uses each and how in-text citations differ.
Which style should I use?
Use the style your department tells you to. As a rule of thumb, APA is common in psychology, education and social sciences, IEEE in engineering and computing, and Harvard in business and many UK and Gulf universities.
APA: author and year
In the text you write (Author, Year). The reference list is alphabetical and includes the author, year, title, journal and DOI.
IEEE: numbered
In the text you write a number in square brackets, such as [1]. The reference list is ordered by first appearance, not alphabetically.
Harvard: author and date
Similar to APA with small formatting differences between universities. Always check your own university guide for punctuation and the order of elements.
Use real, checkable sources
Whatever the style, every reference should be a real published source that you can open through its DOI. Never cite a paper you have not verified exists.
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