For your assignment, you will be expected to adhere to IEE/ACM format. You may be familiar with it, as many research papers feature the double-column format. While there are many guidelines (which you can read about in depth in the IEEE style guide or the OWL Purdue general format guidelines), here's a checklist to ensure your paper meets the criteria. Remember, you can always book an appointment or send a copy for review to your Applied Sciences Librarian at malyn.berger@wmich.edu!

You can also use the official IEEE template and copy your research into it directly. To avoid leaving behind any of the template language, try highlighting or changing the font color of the original document so you can clearly distinguish the template from your own research.

1. Ensure Your Citations Are Accurate

IEEE format differs from other styles you may have used, like MLA and APA, which are far less technical. One of the changes is that the in-text citations use brackets like this [3] to cite their work [4] for an in-text citation. For your reference section, try to mimic the following format:

A. B. Author, “Name of paper,” Abbrev. Title of Periodical/Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbrev. Month, year, doi: xxx.

After you have a basic citation, try tools like the IEEE Reference Preparation Assistant to make sure they're ready for your final draft. While other citation generators are available, this one from IEEE directly ensures the highest accuracy for the format.

2. Title Pages/Bylines

The title and bylines (where you, as the authors, will put your names) have a few different rules. Here are the guidelines for each of the parts:

• Title: Times New Roman, 24pt font
• Author names: Times New Roman, 11pt font
• Author affiliation: Times New Roman, 10pt font in italics
• Email address: Courier (looks like a typewriter font), 9pt font

3. Index Terms

Not only is the abstract mandatory (which is not the case in MLA), it must also be followed by something called "index terms." Your index terms should be keywords that are directly related to your research; however, you can also find keywords the approved IEEE index terms list. This may help save you time and will make this process easier.

4. Section Headings

Different parts of your paper will be divided by different levels of importance/headings. They should be distinguished as:

I. PRIMARY HEADINGS (INTRO, ABSTRACT, ETC.; NOTE THE "SMALL CAPS" FOR IMPORTANT WORDS"

A. Secondary Headings (For Subsections; Use Italics, Title Case, and Don't Use Small Caps)

          1) Tertiary Headings: Use numbers, no period, and use Italics in Title Case for keywords.

                     1a) Quaternary headings: Numbers and letters, no period, and use italics in sentence case for keywords.

Section headings in IEEE formatting can be frustrating. Feel free to send an email to your subject librarian at malynberger@wmich.edu to ask formatting questions!

5. Tables and Graphs

Your results section should include tables and/or graphs, which are called "Figures." If you can, align them at the top of the column where they're mentioned. Figures should progress vertically from top to bottom (like a numbered list), not horizontally. Below each one should be “Fig.” and the number, followed by a period. Then, there's something called an em space included (copy and paste the space between the brackets here [ ]) and then the text of the caption. The first word of the caption should always be capitalized. If you are citing Fig. 1(a) and 1(b), the singular "Fig." is still used. Here's an example:

Fig. 3. Caption should be here. 

or...

Fig. 1. (a) Caption should be here.

For your convenience, try using the official IEEE template below and type your paper right onto it! Hint: To avoid leaving behind any template text, try highlighting all the original text or changing the font color so you'll know to remove any leftovers before submitting your final draft.