Create correctly formatted references in APA 7, MLA 9, and Harvard style — for websites, books, and journal articles — all three styles at once. Free, instant, no signup.
Use whichever your unit guide or lecturer specifies — that instruction overrides everything. As a rule of thumb, APA 7 dominates psychology, education, business, and the sciences; MLA 9 is the humanities standard (literature, languages, media); and Harvard is common across Australian and UK universities, though it varies by institution since "Harvard" is a family of styles rather than one official manual — check your university's own Harvard guide for quirks.
Remember these are the reference list entries; in-text citations differ per style — APA and Harvard use (Author, Year), MLA uses (Author page). When pasting into your document, keep the italics on titles and journal names (paste-with-formatting), and let your word processor apply the hanging indent. For multiple authors with surname particles like "van der Berg", enter them as "van der Berg, Anna" so the tool knows where the surname starts.
A citation is a formatted reference to a source — enough detail that a reader could find that exact website, book, or article themselves. A citation generator takes the raw details (author, title, date, publisher or URL) and formats them correctly for a chosen referencing style, since each style has its own precise rules for punctuation, capitalisation, and author-list formatting that are easy to get wrong by hand.
This tool generates APA 7, MLA 9, and Harvard formats simultaneously from one set of details, so you can see all three and copy whichever your course requires — useful when switching between units with different referencing requirements.
| APA 7 | MLA 9 | Harvard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-text citation | (Author, Year) | (Author page) | (Author, Year) |
| Reference list name | References | Works Cited | Reference List / Bibliography |
| Common in | Sciences, education, business | Humanities, literature, languages | Many Australian & UK universities |
| Accessed date for web sources | Only for pages designed to change | Always included | Always included |
| Who | Common Use |
|---|---|
| 🎓 University & high school students | Format references correctly for assignments and essays |
| 📝 Researchers | Build a reference list without manually applying style rules |
| ✍️ Bloggers & content writers | Cite sources professionally in articles and reports |
| 👩🏫 Educators | Quickly generate example citations for teaching referencing |
How do I enter multiple authors?
Separate them with semicolons: Jane Smith; John Doe; Mei Chen. The tool formats each style's author list correctly — including APA's ampersand and MLA's "et al" for three or more.
What if there's no author?
Most styles move the title into the author position. Generate the citation, then delete the author part and lead with the title — or use the organisation as the author if one is responsible for the page (e.g. Australian Taxation Office).
What if there's no published date on a website?
Leave the date blank — the tool inserts n.d. ("no date") for APA and "no date" for Harvard, which is the correct convention.
Why does MLA include an accessed date?
Web pages change, so MLA 9 recommends recording when you viewed the source. The tool adds today's date automatically; APA 7 only requires a retrieval date for pages designed to change, so it's omitted there.
Do italics copy across?
Titles and journal names are italicised in the output. Copy-paste keeps formatting into Word and Google Docs in most browsers; if it pastes plain, italicise the title manually — the correct words are already in the correct places.
What is a citation?
A citation is a formatted reference to a source you've used — a website, book, or journal article — that lets a reader find that exact source themselves. It has two parts: an in-text citation (a short pointer within your writing) and a full reference in the reference list or works cited page at the end, which this tool generates.
What is a works cited page or reference list?
It's the list of full source details at the end of an assignment — called "References" in APA, "Works Cited" in MLA, and "Reference List" or "Bibliography" in Harvard. Each entry generated by this tool is formatted to drop straight into that list, in alphabetical order by author surname.
How do I cite a PDF or an image?
Treat a standalone PDF or image the same way you'd cite the web page it came from — use the Website source type, with the page title, site name, and URL. If the PDF or image has its own separate author and publication date (like a report), use those details instead of the hosting page's.
What's the difference between APA, MLA, and Harvard referencing?
They differ mainly in in-text citation style and small formatting details: APA and Harvard use (Author, Year); MLA uses (Author page number). APA is common in sciences and business, MLA in humanities, and Harvard across many Australian and UK universities — but always follow your unit guide over any general rule, since Harvard in particular varies by institution.