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Use the citation style and edition required by your instructor, department, journal or publisher; when none is specified, start with your discipline’s usual system. APA is common in psychology and education, MLA in literary studies, Chicago notes in history, IEEE in engineering and computing, and AMA in medical publishing. The AnswerThis citation generator helps you format verified source details in your selected style and export references for a final check.
TL;DR
Choose the required citation style before using a citation generator; discipline conventions are a fallback.
APA 7 uses author–date citations; MLA 9 usually pairs the author with a passage locator.
A website citation identifies the specific page, not just the website homepage.
AnswerThis citation pages are free to try for the first 3 sources per browser.
BibTeX and RIS carry bibliographic records; inspect imported fields before using the resulting references.
Which citation style should I use?
A department can require a style different from its discipline’s common choice. Use one citation system consistently throughout your document.
This table covers 24 selected styles and variants, not 24 universal standards or the entire generator catalog. Some rows are older editions retained for specific requirements; others are journal or proceedings styles rather than discipline-wide rules.
APA 7
Discipline or document context: Psychology, education and many social sciences
What to check before choosing: Author–date system; institutional requirements
APA 6
Discipline or document context: Assignments explicitly requiring the older APA edition
What to check before choosing: Not the current APA edition
MLA 9
Discipline or document context: Literature, languages and related humanities
What to check before choosing: Author and passage locator; works-cited core elements
MLA 8
Discipline or document context: Assignments explicitly requiring the older MLA edition
What to check before choosing: Do not choose it merely because an old example uses it
Chicago author–date
Discipline or document context: Social sciences and some scientific publications
What to check before choosing: Required edition and reference-list rules
Chicago notes and bibliography
Discipline or document context: History, arts and humanities
What to check before choosing: Full notes, shortened notes and bibliography differ
Turabian author–date
Discipline or document context: Student research using Turabian instructions
What to check before choosing: Turabian’s manual is not identical to the latest Chicago manual
Harvard, Cite Them Right variant
Discipline or document context: Cross-disciplinary university work
What to check before choosing: Harvard has institutional variants; name the required one
IEEE
Discipline or document context: Electrical engineering, electronics and computing
What to check before choosing: Numbered references and the venue’s instructions
Vancouver
Discipline or document context: Biomedical journals using numbered references
What to check before choosing: The journal’s specific implementation
AMA 11
Discipline or document context: Medical and health-science publishing
What to check before choosing: Numbering, journal abbreviations and quotation locators
NLM grant-proposal variant
Discipline or document context: Documents explicitly requesting this variant
What to check before choosing: Not interchangeable with every Vancouver implementation
ACS
Discipline or document context: Chemistry publications
What to check before choosing: The journal’s requested citation system
ASA
Discipline or document context: Sociology
What to check before choosing: Edition required by the institution or journal
APSA
Discipline or document context: Political science
What to check before choosing: Manual version and journal instructions
CSE citation-sequence
Discipline or document context: Biology and other scientific publications
What to check before choosing: CSE also has citation-name and name-year systems
OSCOLA
Discipline or document context: UK legal scholarship
What to check before choosing: Required edition, legal-authority fields and pinpoints
Nature
Discipline or document context: Submissions to Nature or a venue requesting its style
What to check before choosing: The specific journal’s author instructions
Bluebook law-review style
Discipline or document context: US legal scholarship
What to check before choosing: Academic versus practitioner rules and required edition
ABNT author–date
Discipline or document context: Brazilian academic work
What to check before choosing: Applicable standards and institutional adaptations
AAA
Discipline or document context: Anthropology using AAA-related instructions
What to check before choosing: Journal instructions and Chicago author–date relationship
AGLC
Discipline or document context: Australian legal scholarship
What to check before choosing: Edition, authority type and pinpoint details
ACM SIG proceedings
Discipline or document context: Computing proceedings requesting this style
What to check before choosing: The actual conference’s template and reference instructions
Academy of Management Review
Discipline or document context: Management scholarship submitted to that journal
What to check before choosing: Its current submission instructions
A source type is not a citation style. A website, book or video can be cited in APA, MLA or another system. First identify the work you used; then apply the requested style.
What is a citation?
A citation is a reference that credits a source and lets readers identify it. Academic documents commonly use a short in-text marker or a note alongside the passage, plus a full reference or bibliography entry. The full entry supplies the relevant author, title, publication details and locator, such as a DOI or URL.
A citation does not establish that a source is reliable or that it supports your claim. Read the original and distinguish its findings from your interpretation.
Which citation generator supports AMA 11, CSE, OSCOLA or ABNT?
AnswerThis offers named selections for AMA 11, CSE 9 citation-sequence, OSCOLA 4 and ABNT author–date. Its AMA 11 citation generator is useful when you need medical references from a DOI, PMID, ISBN, public URL or manually checked details. The limitations matter: a generic source editor is not a complete editor for cases, statutes or treaties, and a named style selection does not guarantee compliance with newer editions or local adaptations.
The live public selector lists 2,681 styles, including journal-specific options. The homepage separately describes 2,000+ styles in the app’s document workflow; identical source, edition and field coverage across the two interfaces is not established.
The citation pages are free to try: the first 3 sources per browser, shared across citation pages. Style changes, edits, copies and exports of saved records do not consume another source. The reference converter currently has a separate first-10-reference allowance shared across converter pages; neither allowance means unlimited use.
What are the current editions of each style?
In 2026, the current major manuals include APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18, and AMA 11. A generator preset is a separate question: it can deliberately implement an older edition or a particular variant. Confirm both before relying on the output.
APA
Current manual or governing guidance: Publication Manual, 7th edition; released in 2019
Generator or selection caution: APA 6 is a legacy selection
MLA
Current manual or governing guidance: MLA Handbook, 9th edition, 2021
Generator or selection caution: MLA 8 is a legacy selection
Chicago, both systems
Current manual or governing guidance: Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition, 2024
Generator or selection caution: Check the selected file’s edition; the system label alone is insufficient
Turabian
Current manual or governing guidance: A Manual for Writers, 9th edition, 2018
Generator or selection caution: The publisher says this edition reflects Chicago 17
Harvard, Cite Them Right
Current manual or governing guidance: Cite Them Right, 13th edition, 2025
Generator or selection caution: The prominent AnswerThis preset is labeled Cite Them Right 12
AMA
Current manual or governing guidance: AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition, 2020
Generator or selection caution: Check additional journal instructions
CSE
Current manual or governing guidance: The CSE Manual, 9th edition, 2024
Generator or selection caution: The named preset is citation-sequence, not every CSE system
OSCOLA
Current manual or governing guidance: 5th edition, published in 2026
Generator or selection caution: The dedicated AnswerThis page is explicitly OSCOLA 4
Bluebook
Current manual or governing guidance: The Bluebook, 22nd edition, 2025
Generator or selection caution: Confirm the selected style file’s edition and law-review context
ABNT
Current manual or governing guidance: NBR 6023:2025 for references; NBR 10520:2023 for citations
Generator or selection caution: Confirm the author–date preset against applicable standards and local rules
AGLC
Current manual or governing guidance: Australian Guide to Legal Citation, 4th edition, 2018
Generator or selection caution: Check your court, course or publisher’s instructions
ASA
Current manual or governing guidance: ASA Style Guide, 7th edition, 2022
Generator or selection caution: The prominent AnswerThis preset is labeled ASA 6; do not assume it implements ASA 7
APSA
Current manual or governing guidance: Style Manual for Political Science, 2018 revised edition with July 2020 revisions
Generator or selection caution: The prominent generator label says APSA 4; compare it with the required manual and revisions
Vancouver and NLM
Current manual or governing guidance: NLM’s Citing Medicine, 2nd edition, is a reference resource
Generator or selection caution: Follow journal or grant instructions; NLM grant-proposal is a specific variant
IEEE
Current manual or governing guidance: Publisher-maintained reference and author guidance
Generator or selection caution: Check the venue’s current instructions rather than assuming a universal edition number
ACS
Current manual or governing guidance: Publisher and journal guidance
Generator or selection caution: Use the citation system requested by the target journal
Nature
Current manual or governing guidance: Journal-specific author guidance
Generator or selection caution: Check the particular journal, not just the family name
AAA
Current manual or governing guidance: Anthropology publication guidance, associated with Chicago author–date
Generator or selection caution: Verify the target journal’s current requirements
ACM SIG proceedings
Current manual or governing guidance: Conference and proceedings instructions
Generator or selection caution: Select the actual venue’s required template
Academy of Management Review
Current manual or governing guidance: Journal-specific submission instructions
Generator or selection caution: Check current author guidance
Oxford’s announcement of OSCOLA 5 confirms the legal-style edition change. Journal-specific styles do not necessarily have numbered manuals; consult their author instructions.
How do I cite common sources in APA and MLA?
The MLA Style Center’s core-element guide explains how to assemble an entry from the applicable author, source title, container, contributors, version, number, publisher, date and location. Include only elements that describe the source.
The templates below are copyable field patterns, not citations to invented publications. Replace every placeholder with information from the source. An asterisk in a plain-text template marks text that should be italicized in the final reference; remove the asterisks after applying italics in your document.
How do I cite a website in APA 7?
For a specific webpage, use the author, publication date, page title, site name and URL. If an organization is the credited author, use that organization; do not automatically make the site owner the author. Omit the site name when it is identical to the author. Use n.d. when no publication date is available; when no author is credited, move the page title into the author position.
APA 7 template:
MLA 9 template:
Copyable APA and MLA entries for a verified webpage:
Italicize the page title in APA and HuffPost in MLA. The MLA entry is a formatting adaptation of the same page record.
To build and check your own reference:
Open the exact page you used and record its credited author.
Identify its publication date; do not substitute the footer copyright year.
Record the page title and website name separately.
Format the APA 7 entry, omitting the duplicate site name when appropriate.
Compare the finished entry with the page and add the matching in-text citation.
The website citation generator retrieves public page metadata for review and also accepts manual details. Blocked or incomplete pages require manual checking. APA retrieval dates belong to relevant changing, unarchived content, not automatically to every website citation.
How do I cite a book in APA and MLA?
Cite the edition you actually read. APA 7 omits the publisher’s location, and an edition other than the first follows the title. Add an available DOI; a print book without a DOI does not need a made-up URL.
A copyable APA book example:
Italicize the book title, but not the edition information, after pasting.
A real MLA book example from the MLA Style Center is:
Italicize Wolf Hall in the finished entry. Use the book source type or the Book Citation Generator for ISBN lookup, then compare the returned edition, author and publisher with the title and copyright pages.
How do I cite a journal article in APA and MLA?
Keep the article title separate from the journal title. Check author order, year, volume, issue, pages or article number, and DOI. A DOI is an identifier, not evidence that the findings are valid.
A copyable APA article example documented on the article generator:
A real MLA journal example from the MLA Style Center is:
Italicize The Georgia Review and JSTOR in the MLA entry; in the APA example, italicize Psychology of Popular Media Culture and the volume number. The Grady article’s APA in-text form is (Grady et al., 2019). The Journal Article Citation Generator accepts DOI or PMID lookup and manual details. If a publication uses an article number, do not force it into a fictitious page range. Add all authors according to the style’s rules; these one-author templates are not permission to omit coauthors.
How do I cite a YouTube video?
In APA 7, use the uploader as author, the upload date, italicized video title, [Video], YouTube and the URL. When the uploader’s real name and different channel name are known, place the channel name in brackets after the personal name.
The second APA line is a format pattern, not a named source; retain the brackets around the verified channel name. In MLA, include a relevant identified creator before the title when appropriate, and do not duplicate identical creator and uploader credits.
Real video example: APA’s common reference examples guide documents this channel, title, date and URL. The MLA entry below applies the uploaded-video pattern to that same record.
Italicize the video title in APA and YouTube in MLA. This is a formatting example, not an endorsement of the video’s findings.
The YouTube Citation Generator looks up the title and channel, but you must add the upload date yourself. It does not watch or transcribe the video.
How do I cite an image?
Credit the image creator and use the original collection or repository record. A website that displays an image is not necessarily its creator. For an untitled APA image, use a factual bracketed description instead of inventing a title.
Retain square brackets around the untitled-image description and replace Photograph with the actual medium. Include collection and institution details only when they describe the image you used. The Image Citation Generator formats supplied details or inspected page metadata; it does not identify an unknown image. Creator, title and creation date need manual confirmation.
Real visual-source example: APA’s common-reference guide identifies its Data sharing infographic with no publication date. Cite the infographic itself, even though it is delivered as a PDF.
Italicize Data sharing in APA and Data Sharing in MLA. APA omits a repeated publisher identical to the author; the MLA pattern avoids repeating the same corporate creator and publisher. Do not supply a guessed year.
When reproducing an image, check the separate permission and figure-note questions in the FAQ below.
In-text citations, multiple authors and direct quotes
What is an in-text citation?
An in-text citation is a short marker beside material taken from a source that points to its full reference. APA normally uses (Surname, Year); MLA normally uses (Surname Page) when the source has pages. A narrative citation names the author in the sentence; a parenthetical citation puts the relevant details in parentheses.
Numeric systems use numbered markers, but their typography differs: IEEE commonly uses brackets, while AMA uses superscripts. Do not treat bracketed numbers and superscript numbers as interchangeable without checking the required style.
How do I cite multiple authors in APA?
APA 7 names both authors every time for a two-author work: ([Surname] & [Surname], [Year]) in parentheses, or [Surname] and [Surname] ([Year]) in a sentence. For three or more authors, use the first surname and et al. from the first citation, unless the shortened forms would be ambiguous.
The reference-list rules are different. APA 7 includes up to 20 authors. For 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis and the final author. Preserve the complete source record rather than shortening its stored author list to match an in-text marker.
MLA 9 names two authors in a two-author citation and uses the first surname plus et al. for three or more. Keep any applicable locator.
How do I cite a direct quote?
Give a locator that lets readers find the exact passage. APA uses a page locator such as ([Surname], [Year], p. [Page]); MLA uses ([Surname] [Page]). If the author is already named in the sentence, avoid repeating information the style does not require.
For an APA webpage without page numbers, use a paragraph number, section heading or a suitable combination. For a video, use the passage timestamp. Do not assign page numbers from a printed webpage or confuse a book’s total length with the page quoted.
APA sets quotations of 40 words or more as an indented block without quotation marks. MLA uses block format for prose longer than four lines; poetry has separate rules. Both still need a source citation.
Exporting references to BibTeX and RIS
BibTeX and RIS are structured record formats, not citation styles. A bibliography processor or reference manager applies the display style after import. Changing APA to MLA changes formatting; converting BibTeX to RIS changes the record’s interchange format.
BibTeX
Useful next step: A compatible LaTeX workflow or reference manager
Check after export: Entry type, citation keys, names, capitalization and identifiers
RIS
Useful next step: Import into a reference manager that supports RIS
Check after export: Source type, author count, journal or publisher details and identifiers
Formatted APA or MLA text
Useful next step: Insert a reviewed entry into a document
Check after export: Layout, italics and consistency with the in-text citation
How do I convert a DOI to BibTeX?
Copy the DOI from the publication, not an unrelated publisher URL.
Choose DOI as the input and BibTeX as the output in the converter.
Look up the metadata and inspect each returned record.
Check its entry type, creator order, year, title and DOI against the publication.
Download the bibliography, import or compile a small sample, and inspect the final reference.
The DOI, PMID, BibTeX and RIS reference converter supports identifier lookup and bibliography-file conversion. Its DOI-to-BibTeX tool retrieves metadata and formats it; it does not reconstruct missing facts from a paper’s full text.
For the verified Jackson book record, the following is a core-field illustration, not a promise about the exact key or field order of a future export:
FAQs
How do I cite a PDF rather than a webpage?
Cite the work inside the PDF, not its file format: an article as an article, a report as a report, or a book as a book. Use its publication details and DOI or appropriate retrieval URL. The public PDF citation tool does not upload or read PDFs; enter verified details or use a supported identifier.
Should I cite a book chapter or the whole book?
Cite an individually authored chapter in an edited collection when that chapter is the source you used. Identify the chapter author and title, editors, book title and relevant publication details. For a chapter in a book written entirely by the same author or authors, cite the authored book and add the passage locator in the text.
What if a journal article has no DOI?
Do not invent a DOI. In APA 7, an article from a standard academic database without a DOI usually ends after its publication details; an article published on a publicly accessible website can require a URL. Check the source’s access context before adding a database or browser-session address.
Does citing an image give me permission to reproduce it?
No. A reference credits the source; reproduction rights depend on the license, permission or applicable legal exception. APA figure notes can require source and copyright attribution, while stock images whose licenses explicitly require no attribution are an exception. Check the image’s rights statement separately.
Do BibTeX and RIS exports include my PDFs and folders?
Do not assume they do. Bibliographic exports carry reference records; conversion does not promise to transfer attachments, folder structure, or working manuscript citation links. Inspect a small imported sample before moving an entire library.
Can I change citation styles in AnswerThis without adding the source again?
Yes. AnswerThis lets you change the citation style for a saved source without adding it again or using another source allowance. You can also edit, copy, and export that saved reference.
Format checked references, then save a reusable copy
Browser-stored references do not automatically move into the app when you sign up. Export a copy before leaving the public generator or converter, then Explore AnswerThis to continue working with your sources.
