Citation Generator

What this tool covers

Three styles — APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, and Chicago 17th edition's Author-Date system (the version used in the sciences and social sciences, not Chicago's Notes-Bibliography system used in some humanities fields) — across three source types: a website or webpage, a book, and a journal article. Formats are based on current official style-guide rules for single authors and organizational authors. Titles that should be italicized (books, journal names, whole websites) are italicized automatically; article and webpage titles are quoted or left plain per each style's rules.

Known limitations

This first version handles one author (or one organization) per source — it doesn't yet build the "three or more authors" or "et al." formatting for multi-author works. It also doesn't cover other source types like videos, interviews, social media posts, or government reports. Always spot-check a generated citation against your instructor's or publication's style guide, especially for edge cases.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between APA, MLA, and Chicago?

APA (American Psychological Association) is common in psychology, education, and the sciences, and uses author-date in-text citations like (Smith, 2024). MLA (Modern Language Association) is common in literature and the humanities, and uses author-page citations like (Smith 45) with a "Works Cited" list. Chicago's Author-Date system, common in the social sciences and sciences, is similar to APA but with its own punctuation and date placement, e.g. (Smith 2024).

Do I need to italicize anything myself?

No — italics for book titles, journal names, and whole-website titles are applied automatically in the reference entry shown above. When you copy the citation, most word processors preserve formatting if you paste directly from this page; a plain-text paste (like into a plain text field) will drop the italics, so double-check book and journal titles are italicized in your final document.

What if my source has no listed author?

Check "No individual author" and, if the source has an organizational author (a company, agency, or group credited as a whole), enter its name. If there's truly no author or organization, leave that field blank and the title will move into the author position instead, which is the standard rule across all three styles.

Does this support multiple authors or other source types?

Not yet. This version supports one author (or one organization) for a website, book, or journal article. Multi-author formatting and other source types like videos or interviews aren't covered, so those still need to be built manually against your style guide.