📚 Citation Generator: APA, MLA and Chicago References in Seconds
By Shihab Mia · Updated 2026-07-13
A citation generator turns the details of a source (author, title, year, publisher or website) into a correctly formatted reference in the style your assignment requires. This free tool builds APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago author-date citations for websites, books and journal articles, and updates the output live as you type so you can copy a clean, ready-to-paste reference in seconds. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is uploaded, stored or shared.
What is the Citation Generator?
Every citation style is really just a fixed recipe: the same facts about a source, arranged in a specific order with specific punctuation and formatting. APA 7 leads with the author and the year in parentheses because it is an author-date system used mainly in the sciences and social sciences. MLA 9 leads with the author and pushes the date deeper into the entry because it prioritises authorship and page-level location for close reading in the humanities. Chicago author-date sits between the two, placing the year immediately after the author name. Once you know which recipe you need, generating a reference is mechanical, and that is exactly what this tool automates.
The differences are small but graded, and graders notice them. In APA a journal article shows the volume in italics with the issue in parentheses, like 45(3), and the article title is in sentence case. In MLA the same article uses vol. 45, no. 3 and wraps the article title in quotation marks. In Chicago author-date it becomes 45, no. 3: 210-225 with the year sitting right after the author. Miss one of these and the citation still communicates the source, but it is no longer in the style you were asked for, which is where marks are lost.
The most reliable way to get citations right is to separate the data from the formatting. You supply the raw facts once (who, what, when, where), and the formatting engine applies the correct rules for the style you pick. That is why this generator asks for author, title, container, publisher, year, volume, issue, pages and URL as discrete fields rather than one free-text box: clean inputs produce clean output, and switching from APA to MLA becomes a single dropdown change rather than a rewrite.
Two practical habits make a bibliography trustworthy. First, record the author name as Last, First so the tool can generate initials for APA and re-order names for MLA and Chicago without guessing. Second, capture the access date for web pages that can change, because MLA still recommends an Accessed date for undated or frequently updated online content. Get those two inputs right and the rest is just choosing a style and copying the result.
When to use it
- Students assembling a reference list or works cited page the night before a deadline.
- Researchers who need the same source formatted in more than one style for different journals.
- Bloggers and content writers adding credible, properly attributed sources to improve E-E-A-T.
- Editors and proofreaders checking that an existing citation matches APA 7, MLA 9 or Chicago rules.
- Teachers preparing example references to show a class the difference between the major styles.
- Anyone citing a website, book or journal article who wants a clean, copy-ready reference fast.
How to use the Citation Generator
- Choose your citation style: APA 7, MLA 9 or Chicago author-date.
- Pick the source type (Website, Book or Journal article) so the right fields appear.
- Enter the author as Last, First, then add the title, year and the other details you have.
- Read the formatted reference in the output box; it regenerates automatically as you type.
- Click Copy citation and paste it straight into your reference list or works cited page.
Formula & method
APA 7 website: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of page. Site Name. URL
APA 7 journal: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal, Vol(Issue), pages. URL
MLA 9 website: Author Last, First. "Title of Page." Site Name, Year, URL. Accessed Day Month Year.
MLA 9 journal: Author. "Title of Article." Journal, vol. X, no. Y, Year, pp. Z.
Chicago (author-date) website: Author Last, First. Year. "Title of Page." Site Name. URL.
Chicago (author-date) journal: Author. Year. "Title." Journal Vol, no. Issue: pages. URL.
Worked examples
You are citing a journal article by two authors, Maria Chen and David Okafor, titled "Urban Heat and Public Health," in the Journal of Environmental Studies, volume 45, issue 3, pages 210 to 225, published in 2023. You need it in APA 7.
- Select APA 7 and set the source type to Journal article.
- Enter Author 1 as Chen, Maria and Author 2 as Okafor, David.
- Add the title, the journal name, year 2023, volume 45, issue 3 and pages 210-225.
- The tool formats the names as Chen, M., & Okafor, D. and italicises the volume.
Result: Chen, M., & Okafor, D. (2023). Urban heat and public health. Journal of Environmental Studies, 45(3), 210-225.
You are citing a single-author web page by Tomas Reyes titled "How Tides Work," published on the site Ocean Facts in 2024, and your instructor uses MLA 9 with an access date of 13 July 2026.
- Select MLA 9 and set the source type to Website.
- Enter the author as Reyes, Tomas and add the page title and site name.
- Set the year to 2024 and choose the accessed date 2026-07-13.
- The tool wraps the page title in quotation marks and italicises the site name.
Result: Reyes, Tomas. "How Tides Work." Ocean Facts, 2024. Accessed 13 July 2026.
How the same journal article is formatted across the three styles
| Element | APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago (author-date) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author (one) | Chen, M. | Chen, Maria. | Chen, Maria. |
| Year position | In parentheses after author | Mid-entry, before pages | Directly after author |
| Article title | Sentence case, no quotes | In quotation marks | In quotation marks |
| Journal name | Italic, title case | Italic, title case | Italic, title case |
| Volume and issue | 45(3) | vol. 45, no. 3 | 45, no. 3 |
| Pages label | 210-225 | pp. 210-225 | : 210-225 |
Which fields each source type needs
| Field | Website | Book | Journal article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Recommended | Yes | Yes |
| Title | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Container name | Site name | Not used | Journal name |
| Publisher | Not used | Yes | Optional |
| Volume / issue | No | No | Yes |
| Pages | No | Optional | Yes |
| URL / accessed date | Yes | No | Optional |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Typing the author as First Last. The first author should be entered as Last, First so the tool can build APA initials (Chen, M.) and re-order names correctly. Enter Smith, John, not John Smith.
- Confusing sentence case and title case. APA 7 uses sentence case for article and book titles (only the first word and proper nouns capitalised). MLA and Chicago use title case. Copy the title in the case your style needs rather than however it appeared on the page.
- Leaving out the access date for changeable web pages. MLA 9 still recommends an Accessed date for online sources that are undated or can be updated. If the page has no clear publication date, the access date tells the reader when you saw that version.
- Mixing two styles in one list. A reference list must be internally consistent. Pick one style and generate every entry in it. Switching the dropdown regenerates the citation, so build the whole list in a single style before you copy.
Glossary
- Citation
- A short, formatted record that identifies a source so a reader can find it. It packages facts like author, title, year and location into a set order.
- Reference list vs works cited
- APA and Chicago call the final list of sources a reference list; MLA calls it a Works Cited page. Both list every source you cited, alphabetised by author.
- Container
- The larger work that holds the source, such as the website that hosts a page or the journal that holds an article. In MLA it is italicised.
- Author-date
- A citation system that places the publication year next to the author name. APA and Chicago author-date both use this approach.
- DOI
- A Digital Object Identifier, a permanent link for a journal article or dataset. When a DOI exists, cite it instead of a plain URL because it does not break.
- Sentence case
- Capitalisation where only the first word and proper nouns start with a capital letter. APA 7 uses sentence case for article and book titles.
Frequently asked questions
Is this citation generator free?
Yes. The citation generator is completely free with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many references you create. It runs entirely in your browser, so your source details are never uploaded or stored.
Which citation styles does it support?
It supports the three most widely required styles: APA 7 (common in the sciences and social sciences), MLA 9 (common in the humanities) and Chicago author-date. You switch between them with a single dropdown and the reference reformats instantly.
How do I cite a website with no author?
Leave the author fields blank. In APA 7 the tool moves the page title to the front of the entry, followed by the year. Enter the title, site name and URL, and the citation is built with the title in the author position, which is the correct rule for an unauthored web page.
What is the difference between APA and MLA citations?
APA is an author-date style that puts the year in parentheses right after the author and uses sentence case for titles. MLA puts the year later in the entry, wraps article and page titles in quotation marks, and uses vol. and no. labels for journals. APA suits research writing; MLA suits literature and language courses.
Can I add two authors?
Yes. Enter each author as Last, First in the two author fields. The tool joins them correctly for each style, for example Chen, M., & Okafor, D. in APA and Chen, Maria, and David Okafor in MLA and Chicago.
Does the generated citation copy with correct formatting?
The Copy citation button copies clean plain text, which is what you want when pasting into a document, because your word processor then applies its own font. Italics are shown on screen to help you check the entry; the pasted text stays plain so it inherits your document styling.