Get the reference right, first time.
Enter the author, title and year and see the same source written out in APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition and Chicago style, side by side.
Built to spot text from tools like these
- ChatGPT
Author unknown. (No date). Title. Site name.
Author unknown. "Title." Site name, No date.
Author unknown. "Title." Publication (No date).
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What people say
4.226
Real reviews from people who use the service. Emails are partly hidden, and reviews are shown in the language they were written in.
APA and MLA formatting rules never stay in my head. This gets the punctuation and italics right the first time, which is the part I always got wrong.
Built a 40-item bibliography for my thesis here in one sitting. Free, no account, no upsell in the middle of the job.
I tell my students to use this. It's simple enough that they actually do it instead of hand-formatting and getting it wrong.
I use it for reference lists. It tells me which fields are missing.
I use it because APA formatting is tedious.
For me, I use it because APA formatting is tedious. I can pick the style my department wants.
For me, I use it for reference lists. Copy button is right there.
I can pick the style my department wants. In my experience, I use it because APA formatting is tedious.
In my experience, I use it for reference lists. I can pick the style my department wants.
APA, MLA and Chicago, in plain terms.
APA 7th edition is the house style of psychology, education and most of the social sciences. It puts the year straight after the author, because in those fields how recent a study is matters almost as much as who wrote it.
MLA 9th edition belongs to literature, languages and the humanities. It leads with the author and the title of the work and leaves the date until later — the text itself is the subject, not the year it appeared.
Chicago is the standard in history, the arts and much of book publishing. This page builds the reference-list form; if your department asks for footnotes instead, keep the same elements and move them into the note.
Enter it, pick a style, copy it.
Enter the source
Author, title, year and where it's from — fill in what you know and empty fields drop out.
Pick a style
APA, MLA or Chicago — see how the same source changes from one style to the next.
Copy and paste
Copy the finished line straight into your reference list or footnote.
What to look at after the references.
Check the web for any passage where you forgot to credit the source.
When a direct quote gets long, put it in your own words — and keep the citation.
If the source is long, pull out the key points first and work much faster.
Check you're still within the limit once the references are in.
Where citation styles usually trip people up.
- Which citation styles does this support?
- APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition and Chicago, across four source types: websites, books, journal articles and news articles.
- Is the citation generator free?
- Yes — no account, no payment. What you type is never sent anywhere; the reference is assembled in your browser.
- Can I hand in the citation exactly as it comes out?
- It follows the standard pattern, but departments add their own rules. Compare the finished line with your institution's guide before you submit.
A reference line in 30 seconds.
No login, no payment. Try one source, then compare it with your department's guide.