Free Citation Generator
Instantly create, edit, and save citations in over 1,000 different styles, for free and without limits.
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Citation Generator lets you organize, edit, and create entire bibliographies for free.
Citation Generator is trained by experts and always up to date with the latest styles.
Our citation maker is simple and instant, so you can create a full bibliography in minutes.
Need to edit a source? Just click the pencil icon to make edits, and your citation will be updated instantly.
Once you’re done with Citation Generator, just copy or export your citation list.
With a QuillBot account, all of your citations are automatically saved forever.
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We’re more than just a Citation Generator. We offer a variety of different AI writing tools to help you with every step of the writing and editing process. Explore more of what we offer below.
Citation Generator FAQs
Looking for more information about QuillBot’s Citation Generator? We’ve answered your questions here!
Yes! Our online Citation Generator is free to use. In fact, all 7 of our other writing tools are also available for free. Don’t forget to explore those, too.
Yes. In addition to copy/pasting your citations, you can export them to Word.
No, you can use most QuillBot tools, including Citation Generator, without an account. However, if you’d like to save your citations for later, you should create an account.
The terms “citation,” “reference,” and “bibliography” have some overlap, but there are nuances in their definitions and in how they are used in different styles.
- Citation is the most common term used to refer to in-text documentation of sources, such as parenthetical citations in APA, MLA, or Chicago author-date style. These in-text citations typically give only partial information about a source (such as author and date). The term citation can also refer to the full source information given in a footnote or a reference list, works cited, or bibliography entry.
- Reference is often used interchangeably with citation, although the term reference is more likely to be used to refer to the full source information given at the end of a document rather than a parenthetical citation. In APA Style, the full list of sources at the end of the document is known as the reference list and has the title “References.”
- Bibliography always refers to a full list of sources used or consulted in a work. It is used with Chicago notes and bibliography style and sometimes with other styles as well.
For starters, QuillBot supports over 1,000 citation styles, so you’re sure to find whatever you need for your writing project. However, the most popular citation formats are APA, MLA, and Chicago. Here’s a brief overview of each:
APA stands for the American Psychological Association. It’s most often used in the social and behavioral sciences, which include fields such as psychology, education, business, anthropology, economics, and geography.
MLA stands for the Modern Language Association. This style is mostly used in the humanities, such as history, languages, literature, philosophy, and the arts.
Chicago-style citations are used in the natural and physical sciences, social sciences, and math and for manuscript editing and publication. Fun fact: QuillBot follows Chicago-style formatting conventions. This is because our office is headquartered in Chicago.
A citation is a formal way to acknowledge a source that you used in creating a piece of content.
There are two types of citations: full and in-text citations.
A list of full citations is given on a:
- “References” page (APA Style, Chicago author-date style)
- “Works Cited” page (MLA format, Chicago author-date style)
- “Bibliography” page (Chicago notes and bibliography style)
These pages contain all of the information necessary (such as author, title, and publisher) for someone else to find the material you referenced.
In-text citations are the condensed forms of full citations, and they are used within the body of your written work. They are placed at any point in a sentence (in parentheses or as a footnote indicator) when you bring up an idea or piece of information that you found in another source.
QuillBot’s Citation Generator is carefully tested and monitored by experts to ensure its results are always consistent with the latest styles.
However, if you’d like to double-check your work, you can confirm your formatting is correct using the MLA Handbook, Chicago Manual of Style, Harvard University’s website, the Official Guide to APA Style, or any other official guide for the citation format of your choosing.
Bibliographies, reference pages, and works cited pages are all terms that refer to a list of sources used to create a text. This list typically comes at the end of a document. The term you should use depends on which citation style you are using.
- APA Style uses the term “reference list,” and the title “References” appears at the top of the page.
- MLA style uses the term “list of works cited,” and the title “Works Cited” appears at the top of the page.
- Chicago notes and bibliography style uses the term “bibliography,” and the title “Bibliography” appears at the top of the page.
- Chicago author-date style uses the term “reference list,” and the title “References” or “Works Cited” appears at the top of the page.