Citation Generator

Generate APA, MLA, and Chicago citations instantly — pick your source type, fill in the fields, and copy the formatted citation directly into your paper. Works for websites, books, journal articles, and YouTube videos. All three formats follow current edition guidelines: APA 7th, MLA 9th, and Chicago 17th. No login, no ads blocking the tool, nothing to install.

APA vs MLA vs Chicago — which do I use?

APA (American Psychological Association) is standard in psychology, education, sociology, and other social sciences. MLA (Modern Language Association) is used in literature, language, arts, and humanities courses. Chicago style is common in history, philosophy, and some business fields. When in doubt, check your course syllabus or ask your instructor — they'll specify which format is required.

What if I'm missing information?

Fill in what you have. The generator skips fields that are left blank. For missing authors, most formats start with the title instead. For websites with no date, APA uses "n.d." (no date) automatically. For missing page numbers in journal articles, simply omit the pages field — the rest of the citation is still valid.

Do I need to italicize the output?

Yes — book titles, journal names, and website names should be italicized in your final document. This generator shows which parts to italicize (displayed in italic). When you paste into Word or Google Docs, manually apply italic formatting to those portions if they don't carry over automatically.