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Citation Generator
Paste a DOI, an ISBN, or a title. Get the reference entry and the in-text citation, in the style your course requires.
Paste a DOI, ISBN, or title
Enter the details yourself
Use this for a web page, a lecture, or anything the databases do not hold. A browser cannot read another site's page details, so a URL has to be filled in by hand.
Your reference list
What this generator does with your source
Give it a DOI and it pulls the record straight from Crossref, the registry publishers themselves deposit metadata with. Give it an ISBN and it reads Open Library. Give it a title and it searches both. Nothing is invented: every field in the finished citation comes from the source record, and the tool names which database it came from so you can check it.
The result is a reference-list entry plus the matching in-text citation, because those are two different formats and getting one right while guessing the other is how marks are lost.
Why a generated citation still needs your eye
Database records have gaps. A journal may not have deposited page numbers; a book record may carry a reprint year rather than the original; an author's name may be stored with initials where the style wants the full name. The generator formats what it is given, so a missing field means a missing field, not a wrong one — but you are the one who notices it is missing.
APA needs particular care. It puts titles in sentence case, which means lowercasing most words, and no tool can tell reliably which of those words are proper nouns. Names, places, brands, and languages keep their capitals. Read the title once before you paste it.
- Check the author list against the source — databases sometimes truncate it.
- Check the year, especially for books that have been reprinted.
- Check capitalization in APA titles.
- Check that the DOI resolves; a broken link is worse than none.
Citing a web page
A browser cannot read another website's page details — the security model that protects your bank account also stops one site from silently reading another. That is why a URL cannot be looked up automatically here, and why any tool that claims to do it is running the request through its own server.
Use the manual form for web pages. You need the page title, the site name, the author or organization, the date the page was published or updated, and the URL. If no author is named, the organization running the site takes that slot.
Which style your course wants
Style is set by the discipline, not by preference. APA belongs to psychology, education, nursing, and the social sciences. MLA belongs to literature, languages, and cultural studies. Chicago covers history and much of the humanities, and comes in two systems — notes with a bibliography, which this tool produces, and author-date, which looks much like APA.
When an assignment sheet contradicts a general rule, the assignment sheet wins. Departments frequently modify a style, and a marker follows their own handout.
Related tools and guides
- APA citation generator APA 7th edition
- MLA citation generator MLA 9th edition
- Chicago citation generator CMOS 17, notes-bibliography
- How to write an annotated bibliography What goes in an annotation
- Page margins and layout Formatting the paper around the citations
Frequently asked questions
Is this citation generator free?
Yes, and there is no sign-up. The tool runs in your browser and looks sources up in public databases, so there is nothing to pay for and no account to create.
Where does the source information come from?
DOIs are resolved through Crossref, with OpenAlex as a fallback for preprints and records Crossref does not hold. ISBNs and book titles come from Open Library. Each result shows which database supplied it.
Can I cite a website by pasting the URL?
Not automatically. A browser is not allowed to read another site's page data, so web pages have to be entered through the manual form — title, site, author, date, and URL.
Does it produce in-text citations as well?
Yes. Every result includes the reference-list entry and the matching in-text form: a parenthetical citation for APA and MLA, and a first footnote for Chicago.
Which editions does it follow?
APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, and Chicago 17th edition in the notes-bibliography system.
Can I build a full reference list?
Yes. Add each source to the list as you go and copy the whole thing at once. Entries are sorted alphabetically by the first author's surname, which is what all three styles require.
Should I check what the generator produces?
Always. The tool formats the metadata it is given, and database records can be incomplete or carry the wrong year. Compare the entry against the source before you submit.