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Citation Generator
Pick a style, fill in the source or look it up by DOI or ISBN, and copy a formatted reference with its in-text citation.
A DOI is sent to Crossref (api.crossref.org) and an ISBN to Open Library (openlibrary.org) to fetch the details. Nothing else leaves your browser.
Source type
Preview · APA 7th edition
The formatted reference appears here as you fill in the form.
References (0)
Sorted alphabetically by author as the style requires. Saved in this browser only.
Sources you add appear here, formatted in the style you chose.
Formatted on your device. Only DOI and ISBN lookups contact Crossref or Open Library.
Works in your browser. No account needed.
Frequently asked questions
Which citation styles and editions does it follow?
APA 7th edition (2020), MLA 9th edition (2021), Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition in both notes-bibliography and author-date forms, Harvard as set out in Cite Them Right, and the IEEE Reference Guide. Harvard has no single official version. This tool follows Cite Them Right, which many UK and Irish universities use, so check your own school’s guide if it publishes a local variant.
What happens to my data when I use the DOI or ISBN lookup?
Everything else runs in your browser. A lookup is the only time the tool contacts a server. A DOI is sent to Crossref’s public API (api.crossref.org), and an ISBN is sent to the Open Library API (openlibrary.org), to fetch the title, authors and publication details. Your bibliography is saved only in this browser’s local storage, and none of it is uploaded.
Why did my title’s capitalization change?
Each style sets its own capitalization. APA, Harvard and IEEE article titles use sentence case: only the first word, the first word after a colon (not in Harvard) and proper nouns get capitals. MLA and Chicago use title case. The converter keeps acronyms and words like iPhone, but it can’t know every proper noun. Wrap a name in curly braces, such as {Taiwan}, to protect it, or tick “Keep my capitalization”.
How are multiple authors and et al. handled?
Each style has its own rule. APA lists up to 20 authors in the reference and uses et al. in text from three authors. MLA uses et al. from three authors. Chicago lists up to ten in the bibliography (above ten, the first seven then et al.) and uses et al. in notes from four. Harvard (Cite Them Right) uses et al. from four, and IEEE from seven.
Can I paste the bibliography into Word or Google Docs with italics?
Yes. Copy and Copy all put both formatted text and plain text on the clipboard, so Word, Google Docs and most editors keep the italics and the hanging indent. A plain-text field gets the text without formatting. APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard lists are sorted alphabetically. IEEE lists stay in the order you added sources, which should match the order you first cite them.
Are the generated citations guaranteed to be correct?
They follow the published rules and are tested against examples from the APA Style website, the Purdue OWL, the Chicago Manual of Style quick guide and the IEEE Reference Guide. The result is only as good as the details you enter, though, and lookup data sometimes has errors. Check names, dates and capitalization against the source, and follow your instructor’s guidelines where they differ.
About this tool
This citation generator formats references in the six styles students and researchers use most: APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, Chicago 17th edition (notes-bibliography and author-date), Harvard and IEEE. It covers web pages, journal articles, books, book chapters, newspaper and magazine articles, YouTube videos and reports. Each reference comes with the matching in-text citation: a parenthetical and narrative version for author-date styles, a first and shortened footnote for Chicago notes, and a bracketed number for IEEE.
Autofill saves most of the typing. Paste a DOI and the tool asks Crossref’s public API for the article or chapter details. Paste an ISBN and it asks Open Library for the book’s title, authors, publisher and year. Only that identifier is sent; the formatting itself happens in your browser. The rules come from the style guides: author lists and et al. thresholds, initials versus full names, sentence case versus title case, abbreviated months, italics for journals and books, quotation marks for articles, and page ranges shortened the way MLA and Chicago require.
It is built for coursework, theses, lab reports and articles. Add each source to the bibliography and the list is saved in your browser and re-sorted by the style’s rules. Two works by the same author in the same year get the 2019a and 2019b letters APA and Harvard expect. Switch styles at any time and the whole list reformats, which helps when a journal rejects a manuscript and the next one wants a different style.
A few tips give better results. Enter author names exactly as the source shows them; the tool builds initials and inverts names for you. Choose Organization for a group author such as the World Health Organization. Wrap proper nouns in curly braces so sentence case keeps their capitals. Add an access date for web pages that may change: MLA and Harvard show it, and Chicago uses it when a page has no date.