Citation generator
APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago 18 citations for websites, books, articles and videos, plus in-text citations and a works cited list.
APA, MLA or Chicago?
APA 7 is used in psychology, nursing, education and most social sciences. It puts the year right after the author and uses sentence case for titles. MLA 9 is used in English and the humanities; it lists the author, title and “containers” such as the journal or website, and uses title case. Chicago 18 (notes and bibliography) is common in history and some humanities courses; it uses footnotes in the paper and a bibliography at the end.
In-text citations
Every source in your reference list needs a matching citation in your paper. APA uses author and year, like (Smith & Lee, 2020, p. 12). MLA uses author and page, like (Smith and Lee 12). Chicago uses a numbered footnote with the full citation the first time and a shortened note after that.
Formatting the list
Title the page References (APA), Works Cited (MLA) or Bibliography (Chicago). Sort entries alphabetically by the first word, double-space them, and use a hanging indent of 0.5 inch. “Copy whole list” copies the entries with italics and hanging indents, ready to paste into Word or Google Docs.
Check your citations
Citation generators follow the rules, but they can only use what you type. Double-check author names, capitalization of proper nouns in titles, and dates against the source. Autofill uses the free Crossref (DOIs) and Open Library (ISBNs) databases, which are usually right but not always complete. Your instructor’s instructions always win over any guide.