Verified metadata from Crossref & OpenLibrary — we never fabricate sources.
Not sure what to paste? See how to cite a website, book, or journal article.
Example · APA 7th Edition
Tian, J., Wang, Y., & Chen, Z. (2021). An improved single particle model for lithium-ion batteries based on main stress factor compensation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 278, 123456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123456
In-text: (Tian et al., 2021)
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How APA citations work
APA Style comes from the American Psychological Association. It is the default in psychology, education, nursing, business, and most social sciences. The current version is the 7th edition (2019).
- Author–date in-text citations: the author and year in brackets, like (Tian et al., 2021). Three or more authors shorten to the first author plus “et al.” from the very first citation.
- The list is titled References, sorted alphabetically by the first author's surname, with a hanging indent.
- Authors are written as surname plus initials, and the reference list names up to 20 authors before shortening.
- Journal names and volume numbers are italic, and the DOI is written as a full https://doi.org/ link.
Instant DOI to Citation
Don't waste time typing. Just paste the DOI, ISBN, or URL, and our system will fetch the exact metadata to build a flawless reference.
In-Text Citation Generator
Every reference you create comes with a perfectly formatted in-text citation, ready to be copied and pasted directly into your academic paper.
Batch Citation Style Converter
Have a messy list of sources? Paste your entire bibliography and let our AI automatically correct punctuation, italicize journal names, and format your references in seconds. Every entry is checked against Crossref, and anything we can't confirm is clearly flagged, not silently guessed.
Frequently asked questions
Still stuck? See how to cite a website, a book, or a journal article, or write to support@makecitation.org.
Do I need a retrieval date in APA 7?
Only for pages designed to change over time, such as a live dashboard or a constantly updated wiki. For a normal article or web page, APA 7 leaves the retrieval date out.
What changed in APA 7 references compared with APA 6?
APA 7 drops the publisher's city for books, no longer writes “Retrieved from” before most URLs, shows DOIs as https://doi.org/ links, and lists up to 20 authors instead of 7. MakeCitation formats to APA 7.
Can I generate a citation directly from a DOI or ISBN?
Yes. Paste a DOI or ISBN and MakeCitation fetches the metadata automatically from Crossref and OpenLibrary, so you don't have to type out authors, titles, or publication details by hand.
Does this tool make up sources like some AI chatbots do?
No. For single-source lookups, every detail comes from verified academic databases, never from the AI's memory. The AI only handles formatting — it never invents authors, dates, or DOIs.
Can I convert a whole reference list to a different citation style?
Yes. Paste your existing list into the batch tool, choose a new style, and MakeCitation normalizes every entry — punctuation, italics, and order — to match it.
Can I remove duplicate references and sort my bibliography alphabetically?
Yes. Batch formatting can remove duplicate entries and sort your list alphabetically by author with one click, for the styles where alphabetical order applies.
Can I export my citations to Word with correct formatting?
Premium accounts can download a .docx file with hanging indents and italics already applied, ready to drop into your paper.
Is there a citation generator for legal (OSCOLA) or medical (Vancouver, CSE) sources?
Yes. Alongside APA, MLA, Chicago, and IEEE, MakeCitation supports Harvard, Vancouver, OSCOLA, ASA, Turabian, and CSE — covering law, medicine, and the social sciences.
What happens if a source's metadata is missing or incomplete?
MakeCitation only fills in details it can verify from Crossref or OpenLibrary. If a field like the publication date is missing from the source itself, we won't guess — you'll be prompted to add it manually, so your citation stays accurate.