Free citation generator

Generate citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, AMA and ACS. No sign-up. Enter a DOI or ISBN, or type the details, and get the in-text citation and reference entry as you type.

Authors (in the order the source lists them; leave empty if there is none)

APA 7 expects sentence case here. We never change your capitalisation on our own. The convert buttons cannot recognise names, so re-capitalise proper nouns afterwards.

The site the page belongs to, for example Mayo Clinic.

Date published or updated (leave empty if none is shown)
Date you accessed it

Reference list entry

Fill in the details above and your citation appears here as you type.

In-text citation

Fill in the details above and your citation appears here as you type.

APA uses sentence case for article, book, page and video titles, and title case for the journal name. Titles are used exactly as you type them. APA wants a retrieval date only for pages that are meant to change and are not archived; the tool adds one when a web page has no date, so delete it if the page is fixed.

References (0)

Sources you add appear here in APA 7 format, in alphabetical order. The list is kept in this browser only.

Check every citation against your source and your instructor’s guidelines before you submit.

Why use it

Correct citations without the busywork

Every style has its own rules for names, punctuation, italics and order. The generator applies them as you type. You still check each entry against the source, but you don’t place every comma by hand.

In the web app

Need more source types or saved lists?

The generator on this page works without an account and keeps your list in this browser. The citation generator in the web app needs a free account and keeps your lists with your account.

  • Auto-fill from a URL as well as a DOI or ISBN
  • 16 source types, including reports, theses and podcasts
  • A separate saved reference list for each paper
Citation generator in the Plagiarism Checker Plus web app: auto-fill from URL, DOI or ISBN, or pick one of 16 source types
From your plagiarism report

Found a match? Cite it in one click

When the plagiarism checker finds a passage that needs credit, open the match, read the source and add the citation without hunting for the details.

  • Copied words shown in red
  • Compare your text with the source side by side
  • Cite in APA, MLA, Chicago or Harvard
Matched source text with the copied words in red, and Compare side by side and Cite buttons
Styles

Citation styles we support

Pick a style from the dropdown and the citation updates as you type. Change the style and your whole list is reformatted.

  • APA7th edition

    Social sciences, psychology, education, business and nursing. Author-date with a References page.

  • MLA9th edition

    Literature, languages, film and the humanities. Author-page with a Works Cited page.

  • Chicago17th edition

    History and the arts. Both notes-bibliography (footnotes) and author-date.

  • HarvardCite Them Right

    Common in UK, Australian and European universities. Author-date with a reference list.

  • IEEE

    Engineering and computer science. Numbered in-text citations and reference list.

  • AMA11th edition

    Medicine and biomedical research. Superscript numbers and a numbered reference list.

  • ACS

    American Chemical Society style, used in chemistry. Numbered references.

The web app, which needs a free account, also formats Vancouver, Turabian, CSE, ASA and APSA.

Source types you can cite here

The form changes with the source type, so you only see the fields that style and source need.

  • Website
  • Book
  • Journal article
  • YouTube or other online video
How it works

How the citation generator works

  1. Pick your style and source type

    APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 17, Harvard, IEEE, AMA or ACS, for a website, book, journal article or video.

  2. Add your source

    Enter a DOI or ISBN to fill in a journal article or book, or type the details by hand.

  3. Copy the citation

    Copy the in-text citation and the reference entry with italics, or build a list and copy it all.

Who it’s for

Built for the way you write

Students

Stop hand-formatting citations. Add your sources, copy your reference list, and get on with the writing.

Researchers and academics

Fill in an article from its DOI, then switch style to reformat the whole reference list at once.

Teachers

Show students how the same source looks in each style, with the in-text citation next to the full entry.

Writers and journalists

Add credible citations to articles, white papers and reports, in the style your publication uses.

FAQ

Citation generator questions

Yes. The generator on this page is free and needs no account. Citations are formatted in your browser and your list is saved in this browser only. A free Plagiarism Checker Plus account adds more source types and reference lists saved to your account.

Generate your first citation in seconds

Free, with no sign-up. APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, AMA and ACS.

Check your writing where you write it