Create accurate citations in APA, MLA, or Chicago format for academic papers, research, and bibliographies.
Our citation generator helps you create properly formatted citations for academic papers, research projects, and bibliographies in the most common citation styles.
Proper citations give credit to original authors, help readers find your sources, and demonstrate the depth of your research. Incorrect citations can lead to accusations of plagiarism and undermine your academic credibility. Our tool ensures your citations follow current style guide standards.
APA (American Psychological Association) is used in social sciences and emphasizes author-date format. MLA (Modern Language Association) is used in humanities and emphasizes author-page format. Chicago style offers two systems: notes-bibliography (humanities) and author-date (sciences).
Use the style required by your instructor or publication. Generally: APA for psychology, education, and social sciences; MLA for literature, arts, and humanities; Chicago for history, business, and fine arts. When in doubt, ask your instructor.
When no author is listed, use the website or organization name as the author. In APA, the site name becomes the author. In MLA, start with the article title. Always include the URL and access date for online sources.
Essential information varies by source type. For books: author, title, publisher, year. For websites: author/organization, page title, site name, URL, access date. For journals: author, article title, journal name, volume, issue, pages, DOI.
In APA: 2 authors use '&' (Smith & Jones); 3+ authors use first author et al. In MLA: 2 authors use 'and'; 3+ use first author et al. In Chicago: list all authors for up to 3, then use et al. for 4+.