Build your citation
Pick a source type, fill in the fields, and get all three styles at once. Nothing you type ever leaves this page.
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Your citations
Copy any style, or all three. Each card also shows the matching in-text citation.
Worked examples: one source, three styles
Each example shows exactly what to type and the citation each style produces — verified character-for-character against Purdue OWL rules.
Example 1 — Book with two authors (APA / MLA / Chicago)
- Authors, one per line: Smith, John A. Doe, Jane B.
- Year 2020 · Title The Craft of Research · Publisher Academic Press · Place Boston
- Click Generate citations — all three appear instantly:
APA 7th
Smith, J. A., & Doe, J. B. (2020). The Craft of Research. Academic Press.
MLA 9th
Smith, John A., and Jane B. Doe. The Craft of Research. Academic Press, 2020.
Chicago 17th
Smith, John A., and Jane B. Doe. 2020. The Craft of Research. Boston: Academic Press.
Example 2 — Journal article with a DOI
- Authors: Garcia, Maria Chen, Peter · Year 2023
- Article Climate feedbacks in boreal forests · Journal Nature Climate Change · Vol 13 · Issue 4 · Pages 321-335
- DOI 10.1038/s41558-023-01624-9 (preferred over the URL when you have one):
APA 7th
Garcia, M., & Chen, P. (2023). Climate feedbacks in boreal forests. Nature Climate Change, 13(4), 321–335. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01624-9
MLA 9th
Garcia, Maria, and Peter Chen. "Climate feedbacks in boreal forests." Nature Climate Change, vol. 13, no. 4, 2023, pp. 321-335, doi:10.1038/s41558-023-01624-9.
Chicago 17th
Garcia, Maria, and Peter Chen. 2023. "Climate feedbacks in boreal forests." Nature Climate Change 13 (4): 321–335. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01624-9.
Example 3 — Website with no author
- Leave the author field empty · Date 2025-06-01
- Page title Global temperature records · Site Climate Data Portal · URL https://climatedata.example.org/records
- Each style handles a missing author differently — note the title moving into the author’s slot:
APA 7th
Global temperature records. (2025, June 1). Climate Data Portal. https://climatedata.example.org/records
MLA 9th
"Global temperature records." Climate Data Portal, 1 June 2025, climatedata.example.org/records.
Chicago 17th
"Global temperature records." 2025. Climate Data Portal. June 1, 2025. https://climatedata.example.org/records.
APA vs MLA vs Chicago — at a glance
The three styles answer the same question — who wrote what, when, and where can I find it? — in different dialects. Here is how they differ on the details that trip students up.
| Detail | APA 7th | MLA 9th | Chicago 17th (author-date) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Used by | Psychology, education, social sciences | Literature, languages, humanities | History, some social sciences |
| List title | References | Works Cited | Reference List / Bibliography |
| Author names | Last, F. M. (initials) | Last, First Middle (full names) | Last, First Middle (full names) |
| 3+ authors | List all (up to 20) | First author, et al. | List all (up to 10), then et al. |
| Date placement | Right after author: (2020). | Near the end: Publisher, 2020. | Right after author: 2020. |
| Book titles | Italic, sentence case | Italic, title case | Italic, headline style |
| In-text | (Smith & Doe, 2020) | (Smith and Doe 23) | (Smith and Doe 2020) |
| URLs | Full https://, no trailing period | Omit https:// | Full https:// |
Methodology & rule sources
How these citations are built — and the honest limits.
- Rule sources. Every format rule in the engine is taken from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): the APA 7th style guide, the MLA 9th formatting and style guide, and the Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (author-date system) pages. 48 format vectors (16 source scenarios × 3 styles) are frozen and tested character-for-character — every period, comma and italic.
- Author-name math. Names typed as Last, First M. are converted per style: APA uses initials (Smith, J. A., joined with &), MLA and Chicago use full names. Three or more authors become et al. in MLA and Chicago (11+), while APA 7th lists up to 20. Suffixes (Jr., III) and hyphenated first names (J.-P.) are handled.
- Dates. A missing date renders as (n.d.) in APA and n.d. in Chicago, per the manuals; MLA simply omits it. Access/retrieval dates are optional and only added when you provide one.
- Honest limits. Title capitalization is preserved exactly as you type it — APA wants sentence case, so adjust if your source title is in title case. Chicago book entries need a place of publication. There is no DOI/ISBN lookup: that would require a server, and this tool is 100% client-side by design. Always spot-check critical citations against the official manual or Purdue OWL.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the citation questions students ask most.
A note on accuracy: this generator follows Purdue OWL’s published rules for APA 7th, MLA 9th and Chicago 17th (author-date), and every template is machine-tested. Citation rules have edge cases no generator covers perfectly — for theses, legal sources or archival material, confirm against the official manual. Your input never leaves your browser.