Reference list
Import BibTeX
Check every reference against the style guide your school or publisher requires.
Cites a journal article in APA 7: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name in italics, volume in italics(issue), page range. Then the DOI as https://doi.org/ followed by the number. Article titles are not italicized.
How to use
- Pick a style (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE or BibTeX) and a source type.
- Fill in the authors and details. Leave the first name empty for an organization as author. The reference and in-text citation update as you type.
- Tap the reference to copy it with italics, or add it to your list. The list is sorted alphabetically (IEEE: numbered in order) and follows the style you pick.
- Copy the whole list into Word or Google Docs, or export and import BibTeX.
- Always check the result against the guide your teacher, school or journal requires; local versions of these styles differ in details.
- Auto capitalization switches titles to sentence case or title case as the style needs, but it can’t know proper nouns. Check names, places and acronyms, or turn it off and type titles exactly.
- Looking up a DOI or ISBN automatically would need an internet connection to outside databases, so this tool doesn’t do it. Enter the details from the source itself.
- Your list stays in this browser and is never uploaded. Output follows the English rules of each style (“et al.”, “Retrieved from”, month names).
How the main styles differ
APA 7 (psychology, education, social sciences) puts the year right after the author and writes titles in sentence case: Lee, M. (2021). The quiet city. Northfield Press. In-text citations look like (Lee, 2021). MLA 9 (literature and humanities) ends with the year and uses title case: Lee, Maria. The Quiet City. Northfield Press, 2021, cited in the text as (Lee 45) with a page number. Chicago offers two systems: author-date, close to APA, and notes-bibliography with footnotes, common in history. IEEE (engineering, computing) numbers sources [1], [2] in the order they are first cited. Harvard is a family of author-date styles, and universities publish their own variants.
For three or more authors, APA and MLA shorten in-text citations to the first author plus et al.; APA lists up to 20 authors in the reference list itself.
Getting references right
Take the details from the source itself: the title page of a book, the first page of an article, or the byline and date of a web page. A DOI is the most stable link to an article; APA and MLA both prefer https://doi.org/ links over database URLs. Proper nouns, acronyms and brand names are not recognised by automatic sentence case, so check titles after the case is changed. When no author is given, the title moves into the author position; leave the first name empty to enter an organization as author.
Frequently asked questions
Which citation style should I use?
The one your instructor, department or journal requires. Without guidance: APA for social sciences, MLA for humanities, Chicago for history, IEEE for engineering and computer science.
How do I cite a website with no author?
Start the reference with the page title instead of the author. In APA the in-text citation then uses a shortened form of the title and the year, formatted like the title in the reference.
Can it look up a DOI or ISBN automatically?
No. Lookups would send your data to outside databases, so all details are entered by hand from the source. The DOI field is still used to build the link.
How do I put the list into Word or Google Docs?
Copy the list and paste it into your document; italics are kept. Then apply a hanging indent of 0.5 inch (1.27 cm), which most styles require.
Is my reference list saved?
Yes, in this browser on this device. It is never uploaded; export BibTeX to keep a backup or move it to a reference manager.