Citation Generator
Generate APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard citations for websites, books, and journals.
This is an AI tool. The text you enter is sent to our AI service to generate your result. Our own server doesn't store it or use it for training; if it's down, a backup AI provider may handle it. How we handle your input
How to Use Citation Generator
- 1Choose your source type: Website, Book or Journal Article. The fields change to match, because a journal article needs a volume and issue where a website needs an access date.
- 2Pick the style your department requires — APA 7th, MLA 9th, Chicago or Harvard.
- 3Fill in what you have. For a website, a URL or a page title is enough to start, though author, site name and publication date all improve the result.
- 4Generate the citation.
- 5You get the full reference list entry and a matching in-text citation — including, for some styles, the different form used for subsequent citations. Check both against your style guide before submitting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which citation styles does it support?
APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, Chicago and Harvard. Harvard in particular varies between institutions, so check the output against your own department's guide — there is no single canonical Harvard.
Does it give me the in-text citation too?
Yes. Every result includes both the reference list entry and an in-text example, and where the style distinguishes between a first citation and later ones, both forms are shown.
Should I trust the citation without checking it?
No. Verify every generated citation against your style guide and against the source itself. AI can get punctuation, capitalisation and author-name order wrong, and it cannot see the source you're citing — it only knows what you typed. An incorrect citation is a mark lost at best.
Can it fetch the details from a URL automatically?
No — it does not visit the URL. It formats what you give it. That means if you only paste a link, you'll get a citation built from the link alone; filling in author, title and date produces a far more complete entry.
What if my source isn't a website, book or journal article?
Pick the closest type and adjust the output by hand against your style guide. Films, datasets, legislation and interviews all have their own formats that this tool doesn't cover as separate source types.
About Citation Generator
The Citation Generator formats references in APA 7th, MLA 9th, Chicago and Harvard for websites, books and journal articles, and returns both the reference list entry and a matching in-text citation. Where a style uses a different form for repeat citations, that's included too — which is the detail most people get wrong.
The form changes with the source type, because the required fields genuinely differ. A journal article citation needs volume, issue and page range; a website needs the site name and often an access date. Filling in more fields produces a more complete entry — a bare URL produces a thin one.
It formats what you type; it does not visit your source. That's a real limitation worth knowing: it cannot confirm the author's name is spelled correctly, that the date is right, or that the page says what you think it says. Everything it produces is only as accurate as the details you enter.
Check every citation against your department's style guide before you submit. Harvard especially varies between institutions, and AI can get punctuation, capitalisation and name order subtly wrong in ways that cost marks. Your source details are sent to our own AI server over HTTPS, used once to format the citation, and never stored or used for training. If our server is down, a backup AI provider may handle the request under its own data policy.