Which citation styles does the generator support?
It produces APA (7th edition), MLA (9th edition), Chicago (17th edition, both notes-bibliography and author-date), and IEEE. APA is standard in psychology and the social sciences, MLA is used in the humanities, Chicago is common in history and publishing, and IEEE is the default for engineering and computer science. Pick the style your instructor or journal requires and the generator formats authors, italics, and punctuation accordingly.
What source types can I cite?
The tool handles books, journal articles, websites, newspaper articles, book chapters, conference papers, and online videos. Each type asks for the specific fields that style guides require, such as DOI for journals, URL and access date for websites, or editor names for chapters. Filling in only the fields you have is fine; the generator omits empty pieces rather than producing broken brackets.
Do I need a DOI or URL for journal articles?
APA 7 requires a DOI when one exists, formatted as a clickable https link. If there is no DOI, include the journal URL only if the article is freely available online. MLA 9 also asks for a DOI or permalink when possible. For print-only articles, leaving these fields blank is correct and the generator will produce a print-style entry instead.
How do I cite multiple authors correctly?
Enter authors in the order they appear on the source, separated by commas. APA lists up to 20 authors before using an ellipsis, MLA lists the first author followed by et al. when there are three or more, and Chicago notes use et al. after four authors but list all of them in the bibliography. The generator applies each rule automatically based on the style you pick.
Can I export citations into Word or Google Docs?
Yes. Each citation can be copied as plain text or rich text, which preserves italics on book and journal titles when pasted into Word, Google Docs, or Pages. There is no proprietary export format, so you do not need a plugin. For a full reference list, use the bibliography builder to combine multiple citations into one alphabetized block.
Is the generator accurate enough for a graded paper?
It follows the published rules of each style guide, so output is reliable as long as your input is accurate. Always verify author names, capitalization, and page numbers against the original source, since the generator cannot detect a typo in your data. For a thesis or journal submission, also cross-check against your institution's style sheet, which sometimes overrides general rules.
