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Getting citation formatting exactly right — punctuation, author name order, element order — is easy to get subtly wrong when done by hand, and small formatting errors are a common source of lost points on academic papers.
This tool generates properly formatted APA (7th edition) and MLA (9th edition) citations for the three most common source types: websites, books, and journal articles.
How it works
Choose a citation style and source type, then enter the author, title, year, publisher (or site/journal name), and URL if applicable. The tool formats the citation according to the selected style's rules for that source type.
- Enter citation style.
- Enter source type.
- Enter author (First Last).
- Enter title.
- Enter year published.
- Enter publisher / site name / journal name.
- Enter uRL (websites only, optional).
- Click Calculate to see your results.
Examples
An APA website citation
A website by Jane Smith titled "Understanding Climate Data" (2023) formats as: Smith, Jane (2023). Understanding Climate Data. Climate Research Institute. [URL]
Who should use it
- Generating a reference-list or works-cited entry for a research paper.
- Quickly formatting a citation without memorizing style-specific punctuation rules.
Industry applications
- Academic writing and research
- Education
Advantages
- Covers both APA and MLA for the three most common source types.
- Handles author name reordering (Last, First) automatically per style rules.
Limitations
- Doesn't cover every possible source type (interviews, videos, social media, etc.) or generate in-text citations.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Mixing up APA and MLA author name formatting rules when switching between styles.
- Forgetting that in-text citations follow different formatting rules than the full reference-list entry generated here.
Best practices
- Double-check your instructor's or publication's specific style requirements, since some institutions have minor variations on standard APA/MLA rules.
Tips
- Keep a running list of sources as you research, generating each citation right away — it's much faster than trying to reconstruct full citation details from memory at the end of a paper.