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How it works

1. Pick a citation style (APA 7, MLA 9, or Chicago author-date) and the type of source you are citing.
2. Fill in the fields: authors, title, date, and the publication details for that source type.
3. The full citation and the matching in-text citation update live in the preview as you type.
4. Copy the citation directly, or add it to your list and copy the whole bibliography when you are done.

APA vs MLA vs Chicago: when each is used

APA 7: social sciences and STEM

APA (American Psychological Association) style dominates psychology, education, nursing, business, and much of the sciences. It emphasizes the publication date, so in-text citations are author-date, like (Smith, 2020). Authors are inverted with initials, and current APA 7 rules use a bare URL with no "Retrieved from" unless the page content changes over time.

MLA 9: humanities and literature

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is standard in English, literature, languages, and cultural studies. It uses full author names, puts article and page titles in quotation marks with the container (site or journal) in italics, and its in-text citations are author-page, like (Smith 45), with no date.

Chicago author-date: history and publishing

Chicago style has two systems: notes-bibliography (footnotes, common in history) and author-date (parenthetical, common in the sciences and social sciences). This tool generates the author-date form, where the year follows the author in the reference list and in-text citations look like (Smith 2020, 45).

Frequently asked questions

How accurate are the generated citations?

The generator applies the core formatting rules of each style: author inversion and et al. rules, date formats, italics, page ranges, and URL handling. Edge cases the rules cannot infer are still on you: capitalization of titles, corporate or translated authors, sources with multiple containers, and special publication types. Always proofread the result against your style manual.

Is this citation generator free?

Yes. Completely free, no account, and no limits. Everything runs in your browser: the details you type are never uploaded to a server, and your citation list is stored only on your own device.

Do I still need to check with my institution?

Yes. Universities, journals, and instructors often layer their own requirements on top of a base style: a specific edition, hanging indents, DOI formats, or local exceptions. Treat generated citations as a fast first draft and confirm the final formatting against your institution's guidelines.