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Citation Generator

Generate accurate citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago format. Supports websites, books, journal articles, YouTube videos, and newspapers. Free and instant.

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What is Citation Generator?

A citation generator formats source references according to established academic style guides — automatically and accurately. Citations serve two critical purposes: academic integrity (giving proper credit to original authors and avoiding plagiarism) and credibility (allowing readers to verify your sources and trace the intellectual lineage of your arguments). APA (American Psychological Association) is standard in social sciences and psychology, using author-date in-text citations. MLA (Modern Language Association) is common in humanities and literature, using author-page format. Chicago style is preferred in history and some humanities, offering both footnote and author-date systems. Each format has precise rules governing punctuation, capitalisation, and element order that differ in ways that matter to academic reviewers.

How to use

  1. Select your citation format (APA 7th, MLA 9th, or Chicago 17th) using the tabs at the top.
  2. Choose the source type — website, book, journal article, YouTube video, or newspaper.
  3. Fill in the available fields: author names, title, publication year, URL, and any other relevant details.
  4. Your formatted citation appears instantly in the output box as you type.
  5. Click 'Copy Citation' to copy the formatted reference to your clipboard, ready to paste into your reference list.

Why it matters

Incorrect citations are one of the most common reasons academic papers lose marks or are rejected. Different citation styles are not interchangeable — submitting an MLA-formatted paper to an APA-required journal signals a lack of attention to detail that reviewers notice immediately. Beyond academics, proper attribution is a mark of intellectual honesty in journalism, research, and professional writing. This generator handles the formatting rules automatically — comma placement, italics, edition formatting, and access date conventions — so you can focus on your writing rather than memorising style manual rules that change with each edition.

Pro tip

ABNT citation format (Brazilian academic standard NBR 6023) is available only in the Portuguese locale of this tool, as it is exclusively used in Brazilian academic institutions. If you are writing in Portuguese for a Brazilian university, switch to the Portuguese version of ToolNotch to access ABNT formatting alongside APA, MLA, and Chicago.

Frequently Asked Questions

APA (American Psychological Association) format is widely used in social sciences and education. The 7th edition uses author-date in-text citations (Smith, 2021) and a reference list. For books: Author, A. A. (Year). Title. Publisher.
In MLA 9th edition: Last, First. "Title of Page." Site Name, Day Month Year, URL. If no author, start with the title. If no date, omit the date.
Chicago 17th edition is common in history and humanities. This generator uses the Notes-Bibliography system. Basic book format: Last, First. *Title*. City: Publisher, Year.
ABNT (NBR 6023) is the Brazilian academic citation standard. For books: SOBRENOME, Nome. *Título*. Edition. City: Publisher, Year. Available in Portuguese locale only.
Yes — completely free, no sign-up, no usage limits. All citations are generated instantly in your browser with no data sent to servers.