Free Citation Generator
Create accurate, copy-paste-ready references in APA, MLA, IEEE, Chicago, AMA, Harvard and Vancouver — for journal articles, books, websites and more.
- Pick your citation style and source type.
- Fill in the fields (or paste a DOI / messy reference into Smart parse).
- Click generate, then copy the formatted citation into your paper.
Free citation generator for APA, MLA, IEEE, Chicago, AMA and Harvard
A citation generator creates correctly formatted references so you can credit your sources and avoid plagiarism. Getting citations right matters: journals and universities reject or penalise work with inconsistent referencing, and every style has its own rules for author order, punctuation, italics and dates.
How the SubmitWise citation generator works
This free APA format citation generator — which also handles MLA, IEEE, Chicago style, AMA, Harvard and Vancouver — formats references for journal articles, books, book chapters, websites and conference papers. Enter the source details and it produces a clean, copy-paste-ready citation in your chosen style. You can also paste a DOI or a messy reference into smart-parse mode and let it fetch verified details from CrossRef.
Which citation style should you use?
- APA and Harvard — common in the sciences and social sciences.
- MLA and Chicago style — common in the humanities.
- IEEE — standard in engineering and computer science.
- AMA and Vancouver — standard in medicine and the health sciences.
How to cite a source
- Choose your style — APA format, MLA, IEEE, Chicago, AMA, Harvard or Vancouver.
- Select the source type — the fields update to match what that reference needs.
- Enter the details — authors, year, title, journal or publisher, volume, pages and DOI.
- Generate and copy — paste the formatted reference straight into your bibliography.
Manual formatting is unlimited and free. The AI smart-parse feature is free up to 5 uses per day; for unlimited AI use across all SubmitWise tools you can upgrade to Premium.