Type the details of a book, article, website, newspaper story or video and get the reference and in-text citation with italics.
A citation generator formats the details of a source as a reference-list entry and an in-text citation, and this one works only from what you type: it does not look up a book, a DOI or a web page. You choose a style (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Chicago 18 notes-bibliography or Harvard) and a source type (book, journal article, website, newspaper article or video), fill in the fields and get the entry with the italics in the right places. The rules come from published guides: the APA Style reference examples and reference-list guide, the MLA Style Center, the Chicago Manual of Style Online Quick Guide for the 18th edition, and the Cite Them Right Harvard style sheet. Harvard has no single official version, so universities differ; this tool follows Cite Them Right, and your department's handbook wins if it disagrees. A worked example: entering Lynne M. Jackson, 2019, the 2nd edition of The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action, published by the American Psychological Association, with the DOI 10.1037/0000168-000, gives the APA entry Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000, with the title in italics.
Write one author per line as First Last or Last, First. The tool reads Last, First as written and, for First Last, takes the last word as the family name, with a lower-case particle such as van or de and a Jr., Sr., II, III or IV handled. For a family name of several words, write Last, First. APA uses initials (Jackson, L. M.), lists up to 20 authors with an ampersand before the last, and for 21 or more gives the first 19, an ellipsis and the last. MLA gives the first author as Last, First, adds and Second Author for two authors, and writes Last, First, et al. for three or more. Chicago lists up to 6 authors in the bibliography and for more than 6 gives the first three and et al.; a note gives both names for two authors and the first name and et al. for three or more. Harvard lists every author in the reference list, with et al. only above 10, and uses et al. in the text from 4 authors. An organisation can be the author. With no author, the entry starts with the title.
Dates are typed as 2024, 2024-06 or 2024-06-03. APA shows the year, and for websites, newspapers and videos the month and day; with no date it writes n.d. MLA writes 3 June 2024 with abbreviated months such as Sept. and Dec. but not May, June or July. Page ranges follow each style: APA and Harvard keep both numbers (340-354 becomes 340–354), MLA keeps the last two digits of the second number (340–54) and Chicago uses its own rule (1818–59, 117–18, 101–8). A DOI is written as an https://doi.org link and is preferred over a web address. APA adds no full stop after a link, MLA drops https://, and Chicago and MLA end with one. The Copy with italics button puts rich text on the clipboard so a word processor keeps the italics, and the reference button also adds a hanging indent of 0.5 inch.
The tool does not change your capital letters. APA and Harvard want sentence case for book and article titles, while MLA and Chicago want title case, so type the title the way your style needs it. It does not cover chapters in edited books, reports, theses, social media posts or other source types, and it does not check that a source exists. Chicago leaves out an initial The in a newspaper name and the tool does the same. A short list of rules cannot replace your assignment's guide, so compare one entry with a worked example from it before you format a whole list. Sort a reference list by author yourself, in alphabetical order.
Choose APA 7 and Book, then type the author, year, title, edition and publisher. The entry follows Author, A. A. (Year). Title (2nd ed.). Publisher. For Jackson in 2019 it is Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. The title is in italics.
APA puts the year after the author, uses initials (Jackson, L. M.) and sentence-case titles, and the in-text citation is (Jackson, 2019). MLA spells out first names, puts the year near the end, uses title case, and the in-text citation is (Jackson 45), with the page and no year.
Leave the authors and the date empty. APA starts with the title and writes (n.d.), MLA starts with the quoted title and leaves out the date, Chicago writes n.d. and Harvard writes (no date). The in-text citation uses the first words of the title, which you can shorten.
APA lists up to 20. MLA gives the first author and et al. from 3 authors. Chicago lists up to 6 in the bibliography and, above 6, the first three and et al. Harvard lists all in the reference list, with et al. only above 10, and uses et al. in the text from 4 authors.
No. It formats only what you type, so a wrong year or a missing page stays wrong in the entry. It accepts a DOI as 10.1037/0000168-000 or as a doi.org link and writes it as https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000. Check the details against the source.
No. The text is processed in your browser and not uploaded. The entries are made on your device. Only the style and the source type you chose are saved in this browser, never the authors, titles or links.