Conference sources come in two kinds: papers published in proceedings and presentations (talks, posters, slides) that were never formally published. They are cited differently. In engineering and computer science, conference papers carry as much weight as journal articles, and IEEE defines their format in detail. Style-by-style examples are generated below.
First decide: was it published?
| Case | How to cite |
|---|---|
| Published in formal proceedings (with ISBN or DOI) | Proceedings format. APA treats proceedings published as a book like an edited-book chapter, and proceedings published in a journal like a journal article |
| Presented only (program, abstract book, slides) | Presentation format. APA adds [Paper presentation] or [Poster presentation] after the title, with conference name and location |
| Later published in a journal | Cite what you read; ideally read and cite the journal version |
Elements and where to find them
| Element | Where to look | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Authors | First page, program | Presenter and authors can differ |
| Year and dates | Proceedings copyright page, conference website | Presentations need the event dates |
| Title | First page, program | |
| Conference name | Proceedings title page, website | Include the edition number (15th) |
| Location | Website, program | City and country, or virtual |
| Proceedings title and editors | Proceedings title page | Often differs from the conference name |
| Pages and DOI | Running head, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library | Proceedings papers only |
Where the styles differ
| Item | APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago 18 | IEEE | Vancouver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proceedings paper | Chapter or journal format | Proceedings as container | Like a chapter | "in Proc. Abbrev. Conf., (location optional), year, pp., doi:" | In: editors. Proceedings title; date; place. City: Publisher; year. p. |
| Presentation only | [Paper presentation] Conference, Location | Conference, date, location + type | Type, conference, location, date | Presented at conference | Paper presented at: … |
The IEEE Reference Guide gives the pattern "J. K. Author, “Title of paper,” in Abbreviated Name of Conf., (location of conference is optional), year, pp. xxx–xxx, doi: xxx." Conference names are abbreviated with IEEE's standard abbreviations (Proc., Int., Conf., Symp.).
BibTeX fields and other presentation types
Conference papers are @inproceedings (or its synonym @conference): title for the paper, booktitle for the proceedings, editor, pages and address for the location. Records from IEEE Xplore or the ACM Digital Library are generally accurate, but booktitle is long and must be abbreviated for IEEE.
- Posters: APA labels them [Poster presentation]; add a URL if you viewed the poster online.
- Keynotes and invited talks: label the type, such as [Keynote address].
- Symposia and panels: cite the presenter of the talk you used and include the symposium title.
- Workshop papers: if a workshop has its own proceedings, cite that title.
Common mistakes
- Citing an abstract-book talk as a proceedings paper.
- Omitting the edition number or year of a recurring conference.
- Listing only the presenter.
- Linking slides through expiring personal cloud links.
- Forgetting to mark virtual conferences.
Korean conference sources
Proceedings of Korean societies are often indexed in DBpia, KISS and ScienceON, which confirm the conference name, venue, dates and pages. Many have no ISBN or DOI; follow the society's own format for "발표논문집" (proceedings).
Checklist
- Published proceedings or presentation only
- Edition number and year in the conference name
- Location (or virtual) and dates
- Pages and DOI for proceedings papers
- IEEE abbreviations applied where required
Related tools
Choose "Conference paper" in the reference generator, build text citations with the in-text citation generator, and convert @inproceedings records with the BibTeX and RIS converter.
Side-by-side by style
These examples are generated by this site's formatting engine from fictional sample data (not real publications).
| Style | Reference | In-text |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7th | Tanaka, H., & Kim, S.-J. (2024). A lightweight model for citation intent classification. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining (pp. 33–41). STM Society. https://doi.org/10.5555/stm.2024.33 | (Tanaka & Kim, 2024, p. 150) Tanaka and Kim (2024, p. 150) |
| MLA 9th | Tanaka, Hiroshi, and Soo-jin Kim. “A lightweight model for citation intent classification.” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining, STM Society, 2024, pp. 33–41, https://doi.org/10.5555/stm.2024.33. | (Tanaka and Kim 150) Tanaka and Kim … (150) |
| Chicago 18th (author-date) | Tanaka, Hiroshi, and Soo-jin Kim. 2024. “A lightweight model for citation intent classification.” In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining, 33–41. STM Society. https://doi.org/10.5555/stm.2024.33. | (Tanaka and Kim 2024, 150) Tanaka and Kim (2024, 150) |
| Chicago 18th (notes-bibliography) | Tanaka, Hiroshi, and Soo-jin Kim. “A lightweight model for citation intent classification.” In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining, 33–41. STM Society, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5555/stm.2024.33. | 1. Hiroshi Tanaka and Soo-jin Kim, “A lightweight model for citation intent classification,” in Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining (STM Society, 2024), 150, https://doi.org/10.5555/stm.2024.33. 2. Tanaka and Kim, “A lightweight model,” 150. |
| IEEE | [1] H. Tanaka and S.-J. Kim, “A lightweight model for citation intent classification,” in Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining, Lisbon, Portugal, 2024, pp. 33–41, doi: 10.5555/stm.2024.33. | [1, p. 150] Tanaka and Kim [1] |
| Vancouver (NLM/ICMJE) | 1. Tanaka H, Kim SJ. A lightweight model for citation intent classification. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining; Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon: STM Society; 2024. p. 33-41. doi: 10.5555/stm.2024.33. | (1, p. 150) 1 |
| Korean journals — social science | Tanaka, H., & Kim, S.-J. (2024). A lightweight model for citation intent classification. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining (pp. 33–41). STM Society. https://doi.org/10.5555/stm.2024.33 | (Tanaka & Kim, 2024, p. 150) Tanaka and Kim (2024, p. 150) |
| Korean journals — humanities | Hiroshi Tanaka and Soo-jin Kim, “A lightweight model for citation intent classification,” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining, STM Society, 2024, pp. 33-41. | 1) Hiroshi Tanaka and Soo-jin Kim, “A lightweight model for citation intent classification,” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Scholarly Text Mining, STM Society, 2024, p. 150. 2) Tanaka and Kim, op. cit., p. 150. |