📚 Citation Generator

Generate APA 7th, MLA 9th, Chicago 17th, and Harvard citations for books, journals, websites, and more.

Source Type

Authors

📋 Bibliography

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Why Proper Citations Matter — Academic Integrity and Credibility

Citations are the backbone of academic writing. They give credit to original authors, allow readers to verify your sources, and demonstrate the depth of your research. Proper referencing protects you from plagiarism and strengthens every argument you make by anchoring it in credible evidence.

Understanding Major Citation Styles

APA 7th Edition — used widely in social sciences, education, and psychology; emphasizes the date of publication to highlight currency of research.
MLA 9th Edition — preferred in humanities, literature, and the arts; focuses on authorship and page-level referencing.
Chicago/Turabian 17th Edition — common in history and some humanities disciplines; offers both a notes-bibliography and an author-date system.
Harvard Referencing — popular in business, natural sciences, and social sciences across the UK and Australia; uses an author-date parenthetical format.
IEEE — the standard in engineering and computer science; assigns numbered references in the order they appear in the text.

What Information You Need for a Citation

Author(s) name — the person or organization responsible for the work.
Publication date or year — when the work was published or last updated.
Title of the work — the name of the article, chapter, or page.
Title of the container — the journal, website, or book that holds the work.
Publisher — the company or institution that produced the work.
URL or DOI — a permanent link so readers can locate the source online.
Page numbers — specific pages referenced, especially for print sources.
Edition, volume, or issue — identifies the exact version of a periodical or book.
Date accessed — required for web sources that may change over time.

In-Text Citations vs. Full References

In-text citations are brief parenthetical markers placed in the body of your writing — for example, APA uses (Author, Year) while MLA uses (Author Page). They tell the reader which source supports a particular point. Full references appear in the bibliography or works cited list at the end of your document and provide every detail needed to find the source. Chicago style can use either footnotes or author-date markers for in-text citations. Every in-text citation must have a corresponding full reference entry, and vice versa, to maintain a complete and verifiable record of your research.

Frequently Asked Questions

This generator supports APA 7th Edition, MLA 9th Edition, Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition, and Harvard referencing style.

You can cite books, journal articles, websites, conference papers, magazine articles, and newspaper articles. Each source type has specific fields for accurate citations.

Click the "+ Add Author" button to add additional author fields. Each author gets their own first name and last name inputs. Citations are formatted correctly for any number of authors.

Yes. After generating a citation, click "Add to Bibliography" to save it. You can accumulate multiple citations and export the entire bibliography as a text file.

The generator follows standard style guidelines closely, but edge cases exist. Always double-check citations against your institution's style guide or the official manual for your chosen format.