Citation generator

Choose the source type, enter its details and copy the reference.

On your device · No account

Privacy details

Citation generator processes your input in this browser. Inputs and results are excluded from analytics. Recent tools save tool names, visit counts and last-visit times. Saved tools store only their names. Draft saving is optional and stays on this device; delete saved text with the draft controls. Loading text from a URL is optional and contacts that server; its URL and your IP address are visible to the server. An optional “Use in” action keeps a handoff in this tab. The next tool removes it on arrival and ignores it if more than a minute has passed.

Copy link includes the inputs you choose to share in the address. Anyone with that link can reopen them. Files and generated results are excluded. Password and key tools share settings only.

Source type

Citation style

Title

Authors, year and publication details

Authors: family name, given name; next author

Publication year (if known)

Publisher

Website or journal title

Journal volume

Journal issue

Page range

Source URL

DOI

Access date (YYYY-MM-DD, if required)

Reference

In-text citation or note

Check your course or publisher’s style requirements. Plain-text exports do not preserve italics or hanging indents.

Citation formatting by citeproc-js, Frank Bennett, with styles from Citation Style Language.

Reset reloads the tool with its starting values and releases open files and device controls. Saved drafts stay on this device until you delete them.

Links include your inputs and settings. Anyone with the link can see them, so leave out private text. Files and generated results are left out; random draws run again.

Keyboard shortcuts

Updated 2026-09-26

Make a citation

Choose Book, Website or Journal article before filling in the source details. Enter each person as family name, given name; separate authors with semicolons. Use an organization’s full name for a corporate author.

Leave an unknown publication year blank. The selected style decides how missing dates, authors and online details appear. Check the finished reference against the source.

Use the general generator to compare citation styles for the same source without entering its details again.

Next: APA citation generator

A worked example

Switch the Pride and Prejudice example from APA to MLA: the year moves from after the author to the end of the reference.

Before you use the result

Institutions and journals can require variants of a style. These are the bundled CSL styles for APA, MLA, AMA, Harvard Cite Them Right 12 and Chicago author-date or notes (17th edition). The output covers one reference at a time, so numbering and repeated-author disambiguation across a bibliography need review. Plain-text copying does not preserve italics or hanging indents. No source lookup is performed.

Next: Word counter

Cite this page

Citation style

ToolOctopus. “Citation generator.” Updated 2026-09-26. https://tooloctopus.com/citation-generator.

Add an access date if your instructions require one.

Citation formatting uses citeproc-js by Frank Bennett and Citation Style Language styles. Licence and source code.