How to Generate Citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago Formats
Create properly formatted academic citations for books, websites, articles, and more with our free Citation Generator. Supports APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard.
Steps
Select the citation style
Choose your required citation style: APA 7th edition (social sciences, psychology, education), MLA 9th edition (literature, arts, humanities), Chicago 17th edition (history, arts, some sciences), Harvard (widely used in UK universities), or Vancouver (biomedical sciences). Always check which specific edition your institution or publisher requires.
Choose the source type
Select what type of source you are citing: Book, Book Chapter, Journal Article, Website/Webpage, Newspaper Article, Magazine Article, Thesis or Dissertation, Government Document, Podcast, YouTube Video, or Social Media Post. Each source type has different required fields.
Enter the source details
Fill in all available fields: authors (last name, first name), publication year, title, journal name, volume, issue, page numbers, DOI or URL, and publisher information. The more complete the information, the more accurate the citation. For websites, include the access date as some citation styles require it.
Generate and copy the citation
Click Generate to produce the properly formatted citation. The output is ready to paste directly into your bibliography or reference list. Verify the formatting matches the style guide for your specific institution — minor variations exist between style guide editions.
Build your reference list
Add multiple sources to build your complete bibliography or reference list. The tool orders them alphabetically (APA/MLA/Harvard) or by appearance order (Vancouver) automatically. Copy the full list or export it.
Why Proper Citation Matters
Academic citation serves three critical purposes. First, attribution: giving credit to the intellectual work that informed yours is an ethical obligation and a cornerstone of academic honesty. Failing to cite is plagiarism, which carries serious academic consequences. Second, verifiability: citations allow readers to locate and verify the sources you used, building trust and enabling further research. Third, scholarly conversation: citations place your work within the existing body of knowledge, showing how your argument builds on, challenges, or synthesises existing research. Beyond academia, proper citation in professional writing, journalism, and research reports establishes credibility and allows fact-checking.
Frequently Asked Questions
APA (American Psychological Association) style emphasises date because research currency matters in sciences and social sciences — the date appears prominently after the author name. MLA (Modern Language Association) style emphasises the author and page number, reflecting the humanities focus on authorship and textual evidence. In practice: if you are studying social sciences, education, or psychology, use APA. For literature, languages, and humanities, use MLA. When in doubt, follow your instructor's explicit guidance.
Yes. You must cite any idea, fact, or argument that comes from someone else's work, whether you quote it directly (in quotation marks) or paraphrase it in your own words. Paraphrasing does not eliminate the requirement to attribute the source — it only removes the need for quotation marks. The only exception is common knowledge (dates of historical events, well-established facts) that can be verified in multiple independent sources.
A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a permanent identifier for a digital object, commonly used for academic journal articles. It looks like 10.1000/xyz123 and resolves to a URL when prefixed with https://doi.org/. You find a DOI on the journal article's webpage, usually near the top of the article page or in the article PDF header. If an article has a DOI, always include it in your citation — it creates a permanent, stable link that does not break like regular URLs.