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Citation Generator: APA, MLA, Chicago & Harvard
References and in-text citations for web pages, books, articles and videos, with a bibliography you can sort and copy.
Free tools that run in your browser. Nothing you type, open or create is uploaded to NerdBible or anyone else.
Your bibliography
Saved citations stay in this browser only and are not uploaded. Titles are kept exactly as you type them: APA wants sentence case for the titles of articles, books, pages and videos (only the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns capitalised), while MLA, Chicago and Harvard use title case. Check each entry against your institution's guide before you hand work in; tutors and journals sometimes ask for their own variations.
How to use it
- Pick the citation style your course or publisher asks for and the type of source.
- Add each author as a person (given and family names) or an organisation, in the order they appear on the source.
- Fill in the title, the website, journal or newspaper name, the date and the other details you have.
- Copy the reference and the in-text citation, or add it to your bibliography, sort it A to Z and copy it all at once.
Questions
When is et al. used?
APA 7 names up to 20 authors in the reference list and uses et al. in the text for three or more. MLA 9 names one or two authors and uses et al. for three or more, in both places. Chicago 18 lists up to six authors in the bibliography (the first three and et al. for seven or more) and uses et al. in notes and author-date citations for three or more. Harvard (Cite Them Right) names up to three and uses et al. for four or more.
Does it change my title to title case or sentence case?
No. Automatic recasing gets proper nouns, acronyms and names wrong, so titles are printed exactly as typed. Type them the way your style wants: sentence case for APA titles of works, title case for MLA, Chicago and Harvard, and for journal and newspaper names in every style.
Why is there no access date in APA?
APA 7 only asks for a retrieval date when the page is designed to change over time, such as a live dictionary entry or a social media profile. If your source is like that, add "Retrieved Month Day, Year, from" before the URL yourself. MLA, Chicago and Harvard use the access date the way their guides describe.
Will the italics survive when I paste?
Copy puts both formatted text and plain text on the clipboard. Word processors such as Word, Google Docs and Pages take the formatted version, so titles stay in italics. Plain text fields get the plain version without italics.
Where is my bibliography kept?
In this browser on this device, in local storage. It is not sent anywhere and not synced, so clearing your browser data removes it. Copy the list into your document as you go.
About this tool
About the citation generator
Every course and journal asks for references in a particular style, and each style has its own rules for names, dates, italics and punctuation. Enter the details of your source once and this tool formats the reference list entry and the in-text citation for the style you pick.
Styles and sources
- APA 7th edition, common in psychology, education and the social sciences.
- MLA 9th edition, used across the humanities.
- Chicago 18th edition, both notes and bibliography and author-date.
- Harvard, following the Cite Them Right conventions used by many UK universities.
It covers web pages, books, journal articles, newspaper articles and online videos, with as many authors or organisations as you need.
Rules it follows
Names are inverted where each style asks, initials are used for APA and Harvard, and et al. appears at the thresholds each style sets. Titles are never recased automatically, because automatic recasing gets names and acronyms wrong; the page tells you when a title looks like the wrong case for the style.
Your bibliography
Add entries to a list kept only in this browser, switch style and the whole list reformats, sort it A to Z and copy it with italics intact into Word or Google Docs.
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