Citation formats at a glance
| Style | Used mostly in | In-text |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Psychology, education, social sciences, nursing | (Doe & Chen, 2024) |
| MLA 9 | English, languages, humanities | (Doe and Chen 12) |
| Harvard | Many UK and Australian universities, business | (Doe and Chen, 2024) |
| Chicago 18 | History, arts, some sciences (author-date) | (Doe and Chen 2024) |
Always follow the style your teacher or journal asks for. "Harvard" in particular has many local versions; this tool follows the widely used Cite Them Right version.
Examples of each style
Website
Journal article
In the real output, titles of websites, books and journals are in italics, as each style requires.
Where to find the details
- Author: at the top or bottom of an article, on the title page of a book, or under the title of a journal article. If a website names no person, the organisation is often the author.
- Date: the publication or "last updated" date. For a book, the year on the copyright page. If there's none, APA uses "n.d." (no date).
- DOI: a permanent link for journal articles, usually printed on the first page, like
10.1111/jsr.14012. Paste it in the URL box: the tool addshttps://doi.org/for you. - Volume, issue and pages: in the article's header or the journal's table of contents.
Number of authors
- APA: list up to 20 authors; the in-text citation uses "et al." from three authors.
- MLA: one or two authors are written out; three or more become the first author plus "et al."
- Harvard: up to three authors are listed; four or more become "et al."
- Chicago: up to six authors in the bibliography; seven or more list the first three plus "et al."
Capitalising titles
APA uses sentence case for article, web page and book titles: only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns get capitals. MLA and Chicago use title case, capitalising the main words. The tool keeps your typing exactly as it is, so type titles in the case your style needs, or fix them with the case converter.
Avoiding plagiarism
Every quotation, statistic, image or idea you take from someone else needs an in-text citation and a full reference in your reference list or bibliography. Put direct quotes in quotation marks and add the page number. Paraphrasing still needs a citation. Building your references as you research saves a lot of time at the end. Check your word count: in most courses, the reference list doesn't count towards it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I cite a website in APA 7?
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page (in italics). Site Name. URL. If there is no author, start with the title.
How do I cite a book in MLA 9?
Last name, First name. Title of Book (in italics). Publisher, Year.
What is the difference between a reference and an in-text citation?
The in-text citation is the short note in your sentence, like (Doe, 2024). The reference is the full entry in the list at the end.
What if a source has no date?
APA uses (n.d.). Harvard uses (no date). MLA leaves the date out and adds the date you accessed it.
Will the italics be kept when I paste?
Yes. Copy reference puts formatted text on the clipboard, so italics stay when you paste into Word, Google Docs or Pages.
Last updated October 2026 · More student tools