How to Cite a Letter in IEEE (standard)
Learn how to cite published letters, letters in archives, and open letters in IEEE format (standard). This guide includes the reference list format, in-text citation examples, and key formatting rules.
IEEE Reference List Format
Here is the standard IEEE format for citing a letter in your reference list:
[1] A. Writer, “Letter to Recipient, Mon. Day, Year,” in Title of Collection, vol. #, E. Editor, Ed. City, State, Country: Publisher, Year, pp. xx–xx.
IEEE Example for a Letter
A complete IEEE reference for a letter, written by hand and checked against the official IEEE guidance for this source:
[1] A. Adams, “Letter to John Adams, Mar. 31, 1776,” in Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, L. H. Butterfield, Ed. Cambridge, MA, USA: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press, 1963, pp. 369–371.
Matching in-text citation: [1, p. 370]
IEEE In-Text Citation
Use one of these formats when referencing this source within your paper:
Parenthetical
[1, p. 370]
Narrative
As Adams wrote in [1, p. 370], …
Key IEEE Formatting Rules
- The IEEE Reference Guide has no format for published or archival letters; writers commonly cite a published letter like a chapter in an edited book, as this entry does.
- For an archival letter, give the writer, a description, the date, the collection and the repository, so a reader can request it.
- A letter sent to you is listed in the Reference Guide’s private communication form, such as [1] A. B. Sender, private communication, Mar. 2024.
- Add a page to the in-text number when you quote, as in [1, p. 370].
Step-by-Step Guide
- Gather source information: Collect the author name, title, publication date, and URL or DOI for your letter.
- Format the reference: Arrange the elements following the IEEE (standard) template shown above.
- Create the in-text citation: Add a parenthetical or narrative citation in your paper where you reference this source.
- Add to your reference list: Include the full formatted citation at the end of your paper.
- Double-check formatting: Verify italics, punctuation, capitalization, and hanging indents match IEEE requirements.
Evidence and review notes
Worked examples on this page are written by hand from the style's own published guidance and checked against it, because the general CSL styles do not encode this source's rules. Editorial guidance and sources in this section were reviewed on 2026-08-14.
Metadata to collect
- writer and recipient
- date the letter was written
- collection title, editor, publisher, year and pages, if published
- collection name, box or folder, and repository, if archival
- URL of a digitized copy, if you used one
Common metadata traps
- A private letter sent to you that no reader can consult is a personal communication; cite it the way the email page shows, not with the formats below.
- In a published collection the editor’s heading is not the letter’s title; describe the letter by writer, recipient and date.
- An open letter printed in a newspaper or posted online is cited as that article or web page, with the publication that carried it.
Editorial sources
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I cite a letter in IEEE?
- To cite a letter in IEEE (standard), include the author, title, date, and source location. Use our free citation generator for automatic formatting.
- What is the IEEE format for a letter citation?
- The IEEE format for a letter is: [1] A. Writer, “Letter to Recipient, Mon. Day, Year,” in Title of Collection, vol. #, E. Editor, Ed. City, State, Country: Publisher, Year, pp. xx–xx.
- What does the in-text citation look like for a letter in IEEE?
- In IEEE, the in-text citation for the example above is [1, p. 370]
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