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IEEE to MLA converter

Paste IEEE references, get MLA. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in IEEE and get them back in MLA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: numbered in-text citations become author–page citations, your “References” list becomes “Works Cited” and titles switch to title case. CiteSwap looks each reference up in the open Crossref catalogue, so authors, years and page numbers come from the publisher’s record rather than being rewritten by hand.

IEEE vs MLA: the same sources side by side

Each example below was formatted by CiteSwap’s engine, exactly as the converter outputs it.

Journal article

IEEE

T. Suri and W. Jack, “The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money,” Science, vol. 354, no. 6317, pp. 1288–1292, Dec. 2016, doi: 10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: [1, p. 1290]

MLA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science, vol. 354, no. 6317, Dec. 2016, pp. 1288–92, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 1290)

Book

IEEE

C. Achebe, Things fall apart. London: Heinemann, 1958.

In-text: [1, p. 1290]

MLA

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann, 1958.

In-text: (Achebe 1290)

Web page

IEEE

World Health Organization, “Malaria.” Accessed: Oct. 01, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria

In-text: [1, p. 1290]

MLA

World Health Organization. Malaria. 4 Dec. 2023, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

In-text: (World Health Organization 1290)

Key differences between IEEE and MLA

12 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleIEEEMLA
Reference list headingReferencesWorks Cited
In-text citationsa number in square brackets, e.g. [1], assigned in the order sources are first citedauthor and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290)
List orderNumbered in the order of first citationAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Author namesInitials before the surname, e.g. T. Suri and W. JackFirst author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack
Many authorsSeven or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”Three or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”
DateNear the end, after the volume, issue and pages, with abbreviated monthNear the end, after the journal or publisher details
Title capitalisationSentence caseTitle case
Article titlesIn quotation marks, sentence caseIn quotation marks, title case
ItalicsJournal and book titlesContainers: journal, website and book titles
Journal namesJournal name (abbreviated in IEEE journals) with vol. and no.Full journal name in title case, followed by vol. and no.
Page rangesFull range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–1292Shortened range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI written as “doi: 10.1126/…”DOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also accepted

When to use MLA

MLA is the usual choice for English literature, modern languages and other humanities subjects, where quoting and pinpointing pages matters more than dates. It is published by the Modern Language Association; CiteSwap follows the 9th edition (2021).

IEEE is more common in engineering, computer science, electronics, while MLA is usual in literature, languages, cultural studies. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

IEEE to MLA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert IEEE citations to MLA?

Paste your IEEE reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says IEEE or Auto-detect and “To” says MLA, then press Convert. You can also paste DOIs, BibTeX or RIS. Copy the result or download it for Word.

How do in-text citations change from IEEE to MLA?

IEEE uses a number in square brackets, e.g. [1], assigned in the order sources are first cited. MLA uses author and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290). For the same article and page: IEEE gives [1, p. 1290], MLA gives (Suri and Jack 1290).

What is the reference list called in MLA?

In IEEE the list is headed “References”; in MLA it is “Works Cited”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

Does the order of my references change in MLA?

Yes. IEEE: numbered in the order of first citation. MLA: alphabetical by first author’s surname. CiteSwap sorts the converted list for you.

Do titles need different capitalisation in MLA?

Yes. MLA uses title case for article and book titles, so words like “Poverty” and “Gender” are capitalised. CiteSwap applies this automatically.

Is the IEEE to MLA converter accurate?

Each reference is matched against the Crossref catalogue (over 150 million records) and only accepted automatically when the title, year and first author agree. Anything uncertain is marked “Needs review” so you can pick the right match, and references that aren’t in the catalogue, like websites or local journals, are parsed from your text and marked so you can check them.