Citing sources correctly is one of those time-sinks that doesn't make your writing better but absolutely will sink a grade if you skip it. The three big styles — MLA, APA, and Chicago — each have their own rules about author order, date placement, italicization, and which punctuation goes where, and each gets a major revision every few years.

This generator handles the five source types you'll actually use most often: books, websites, journal articles, newspaper articles, and YouTube videos. Pick a style, pick a source type, and the form adapts to ask only for the fields that style needs. The citation renders live as you type so you can see what's missing.

For a full project bibliography, use Zotero or another reference manager — they organize sources, store PDFs, and integrate with Word and Google Docs. For one or two citations or for quickly converting a paper between styles, this tool is faster.