Citation Generator

Build perfect APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago and Harvard references in seconds — websites, books, journal articles, YouTube videos and newspapers. Free, no signup, and your work never leaves your device.

1. Citation style

2. Source type

3. Source details

Separate multiple authors with a semicolon. "Smith, Jane" also works. Leave blank if there is no author.

Reference / bibliography entry

Fill in the fields above to see your citation.

In-text citation

—

Reference list (0)

    Nothing added yet. Fill in a source and click "Add to reference list" — you can mix source types and the list stays alphabetised.

    Formatting note: reference lists in every style use a hanging indent — the first line sits flush left and every following line is indented by 0.5 inch (1.27 cm). The preview above shows it. In Word or Google Docs, select the list and set Paragraph → Indentation → Special → Hanging. Italics are applied where the style requires them and are preserved when you copy into a word processor.

    How to use the Citation Generator

    1. Pick your citation style: APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, Chicago 17th (notes-bibliography) or Harvard.
    2. Choose the source type — website, book, journal article, YouTube video or newspaper. The form changes to ask for exactly the fields that style needs.
    3. Fill in what you have. The reference and the matching in-text citation update live as you type.
    4. Click "Add to reference list" to keep it, then cite your next source. The list is alphabetised automatically.
    5. Copy any single citation, copy the whole list, or export it as a .txt file to paste into your essay.

    Why use ZillaKit's Citation Generator?

    Referencing is the part of an assignment where marks quietly disappear. Get a comma in the wrong place in APA, forget the "pp." in Harvard, or italicise the article title instead of the journal name in MLA, and you lose points for work you actually did. This generator handles the fiddly mechanics for you: author inversion and initials, ampersands versus "and", et al. rules (three or more authors in APA, three or more in MLA), sentence case versus title case, italics on the right element, and the correct date format for each style — day-month-year for MLA, month-day-year for Chicago, year-first for APA. It supports the five source types students actually cite: web pages, books, journal articles, YouTube videos and newspaper articles. Everything runs in your browser: no account, no paywall after three citations, no "upgrade to export", and nothing you type is uploaded or stored on a server. Build the whole reference list in one sitting, export it as plain text, and paste it straight into Word or Google Docs with the italics intact.

    APA vs MLA vs Chicago vs Harvard — which one do I need?

    Your department will tell you, and its choice is usually disciplinary. APA 7 dominates psychology, education, nursing and the social sciences; it is author-date, puts the year in parentheses right after the author, and uses sentence case for article and page titles. MLA 9 is the standard in English, literature, philosophy and the humanities; it is author-page, so the in-text citation is (Smith 42) with no comma and no year. Chicago 17 is common in history, art history and publishing; the notes-bibliography flavour shown here uses numbered footnotes plus a bibliography, and it is the only one of the four that routinely wants a place of publication. Harvard is not a single fixed standard but a family of author-date styles used widely in the UK and Australia; it looks like APA at a glance but uses single quotation marks around article titles, "pp." for page ranges, and an explicit "Available at: … (Accessed: …)" for online sources. When in doubt, follow your institution's own style sheet — those always win over any generator.

    FAQ

    Is the citation generator really free?

    Yes — unlimited citations, unlimited reference lists, no account, no card, and no "export is a premium feature" wall. The whole thing is JavaScript running in your browser tab.

    What if my source has no author or no date?

    Just leave the field blank. Each style has a rule for it and the generator applies it: with no author, the title moves into the author position; with no date, APA and Harvard use "n.d." (no date). The citation still comes out valid.

    How do I enter multiple authors?

    Separate them with a semicolon: Jane Smith; John A. Doe; Maria Garcia. You can type them naturally ("Jane Smith") or inverted ("Smith, Jane") — both are understood. The generator applies the right inversion, initials and et al. rules for the style you picked.

    Do the italics survive when I paste into Word?

    Yes. The copy buttons place both a rich-text (HTML) and a plain-text version on the clipboard, so pasting into Word, Google Docs or Pages keeps the italics on book, journal and website titles. Pasting into a plain text editor gives you the unformatted version.

    What is a hanging indent and do I have to use one?

    A hanging indent means the first line of each reference starts at the margin and every subsequent line is indented half an inch. All four styles require it in the reference list. Your word processor applies it in one click: select the list, then Paragraph → Special → Hanging.

    Will my citations be saved if I close the tab?

    Your reference list is kept in your browser's local storage, so it survives a refresh and is still there when you come back on the same device. It is never sent anywhere, and "Clear list" removes it permanently.