how do you create a bibliography for websites

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How to Add a Website to a Bibliography

Last Updated: March 19, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Diane Stubbs and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Diane Stubbs is a Secondary English Teacher with over 22 years of experience teaching all high school grade levels and AP courses. She specializes in secondary education, classroom management, and educational technology. Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware and a Master of Education from Wesley College. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 173,652 times.

As much information as is available on the internet, you may want to use a website as a source for a research paper. When you do, you have to include an entry in your list of references at the end of your paper. Most of the information contained in that entry will be the same regardless of what citation style you use. However, the format varies depending on whether you're writing a Works Cited entry in Modern Language Association (MLA) style, a Reference List entry in American Psychological Association (APA) style, or a Bibliography entry in Chicago style.

Quick Steps

• List the author’s full name, starting with their last name first.
• Type the site title in italics, followed by the affiliated organization in regular font.
• Include the date that the website was created or last updated.
• Close your bibliography by adding the URL for the website.

• Individual author example: Lovegood, Luna.
• Institutional author example: Wizarding World Publications.

• Example: Lovegood, Luna. The Daily Cauldron , Wizarding World Publications,

• Example: Lovegood, Luna. The Daily Cauldron , Wizarding World Publications, 18 May 2019,

• Example: Lovegood, Luna. The Daily Cauldron , Wizarding World Publications, 18 May 2019, www.thedailycauldron.org.

MLA Works Cited Format – Website

LastName, First Name. Title of Website , Affiliated Organization, Day Month Year, URL.

• For example, you might write "The Daily Cauldron provides muggles with insight into happenings in the wizarding world."

• Example: Lovegood. L.

• Example: Lovegood. L. (2017).

• Example: Lovegood. L. (2017). Voldemort's influence among teachers and students at Hogwarts.

• Example: Lovegood. L. (2017). Voldemort's influence among teachers and students at Hogwarts. Retrieved from http://www.thedailycauldron.org/V_influence_Hogwarts

APA Reference List Format – Webpage

LastName, A. (Year). Title of webpage in sentence case. Retrieved from URL.

• Example: Lovegood, Luna.

• Example: Lovegood, Luna. "Descent into Darkness."

• Example: Lovegood, Luna. "Descent into Darkness." The Daily Cauldron .

• Example: Lovegood, Luna. "Descent into Darkness." The Daily Cauldron . Accessed June 23, 2018.

• Example: Lovegood, Luna. "Descent into Darkness." The Daily Cauldron . Accessed June 23, 2018. http://www.thedailycauldron.org/descent.

Chicago Bibliography Format – Website

LastName, FirstName. "Title of Specific Page, if Any." Name of Website . Month Day, Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL.

Expert Q&A

You might also like.

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://libguides.up.edu/mla/common/websites
• ↑ http://libanswers.snhu.edu/faq/8627
• ↑ https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing/7Webpages
• ↑ http://libanswers.snhu.edu/faq/48009
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/web_sources.html

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Guides & Resources

Complete guide to mla format.

Everything you need to know about MLA format is in this guide. Brush up on MLA basics and break down citations for multiple source types each with a real-life citation example to help you learn.

Useful guide to APA format

Take the uncertainty out of citing in APA format with our guide. Review the fundamentals of APA format and learn to cite several different source types using our detailed citation examples.

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Free APA Citation Generator

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🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

• Save a considerable amount of time
• Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
• Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

• Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
• MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
• Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
• Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

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Cite a Website

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, citing a website in apa.

Once you’ve identified a credible website to use, create a citation and begin building your reference list. Citation Machine citing tools can help you create references for online news articles, government websites, blogs, and many other website! Keeping track of sources as you research and write can help you stay organized and ethical. If you end up not using a source, you can easily delete it from your bibliography. Ready to create a citation? Enter the website’s URL into the search box above. You’ll get a list of results, so you can identify and choose the correct source you want to cite. It’s that easy to begin!

If you’re wondering how to cite a website in APA, use the structure below.

Author Last Name, First initial. (Year, Month Date Published). Title of web page . Name of Website. URL

Example of an APA format website:

Austerlitz, S. (2015, March 3). How long can a spinoff like ‘Better Call Saul’ last? FiveThirtyEight. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-long-can-a-spinoff-like-better-call-saul-last/

Keep in mind that not all information found on a website follows the structure above. Only use the Website format above if your online source does not fit another source category. For example, if you’re looking at a video on YouTube, refer to the ‘YouTube Video’ section. If you’re citing a newspaper article found online, refer to ‘Newspapers Found Online’ section. Again, an APA website citation is strictly for web pages that do not fit better with one of the other categories on this page.

Social media:

When adding the text of a post, keep the original capitalization, spelling, hashtags, emojis (if possible), and links within the text.

Facebook posts:

Structure: Facebook user’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Monday Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of Facebook post [Source type if attached] [Post type]. Facebook. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached]

Post type examples: [Status update], [Video], [Image], [Infographic]

Gomez, S. (2020, February 4). Guys, I’ve been working on this special project for two years and can officially say Rare Beauty is launching in [Video]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/Selena/videos/1340031502835436/

Life at Chegg. (2020, February 7) It breaks our heart that 50% of college students right here in Silicon Valley are hungry. That’s why Chegg has [Images attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/LifeAtChegg/posts/1076718522691591

Twitter posts:

Structure: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [Twitter Handle]. (Year, Month Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of tweet [source type if attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached], [Poll attached]

Example: Edelman, J. [Edelman11]. (2018, April 26). Nine years ago today my life changed forever. New England took a chance on a long shot and I’ve worked [Video attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Edelman11/status/989652345922473985

Instagram posts:

APA citation format: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [@Instagram handle]. (Year, Month Day). Up to the first 20 words of caption [Photograph(s) and/or Video(s)]. Instagram. URL

Example: Portman, N. [@natalieportman]. (2019, January 5). Many of my best experiences last year were getting to listen to and learn from so many incredible people through [Videos]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsRD-FBB8HI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If this guide hasn’t helped solve all of your referencing questions, or if you’re still feeling the need to type “how to cite a website APA” into Google, then check out our APA citation generator on CitationMachine.com, which can build your references for you!

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APA Citation Generator  |  Website   | Books | Journal Articles | YouTube | Images | Movies | Interview | PDF

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What is Cite This For Me’s APA Reference Generator?

Cite This For Me’s open-access reference generator is an automated citation machine that turns any of your sources into references in just a click. Using a bibliography generator helps students to integrate referencing into their research and writing routine; turning a time-consuming ordeal into a simple task.

A referencing generator is essentially a citation machine that accesses information from across the web, drawing the relevant information into a fully-formatted bibliography that clearly presents all of the sources that have contributed to your work.

If you don’t know how to reference a website correctly, or have a fast-approaching deadline, Cite This For Me’s accurate and intuitive reference generator will lend you the confidence to realise your full academic potential. In order to get a grade that reflects all your hard work, your references must be accurate and complete. Using a bibliography generator not only saves you time but also ensures that you don’t lose valuable marks on your assignment.

Not sure how to write a bibliography, what in-text referencing is, or just want to find out more about Cite This For Me’s reference generator? This guide outlines everything you need to know to equip yourself with the know-how and confidence to research and cite a wide range of diverse sources in your work.

Why Do I Need To Reference?

Simply put, referencing is the citing of sources used in essays, articles, research, conferences etc. When another source contributes to your work, you have to give the original owner the appropriate credit. After all, you wouldn’t steal someone else’s possessions so why would you steal their ideas?

Regardless of whether you are referencing a website, an article or a podcast, any factual material or ideas you take from another source must be acknowledged in a reference unless it is common knowledge (e.g. The Second World War started in 1939). Failing to credit all of your sources, even when you’ve paraphrased or completely reworded the information, is plagiarism. Plagiarising will result in disciplinary action, which can range from losing precious marks on your assignment to expulsion from your university.

What’s more, attributing your research infuses credibility and authority into your work, both by supporting your own ideas and by demonstrating the breadth of your research. For many students, crediting sources can be a confusing and tedious process, but it’s a surefire way to improve the quality of your work so it’s essential to get it right. Luckily for you, using Cite This For Me’s reference generator makes creating accurate references easier than ever, leaving more time for you to excel in your studies.

In summary, the citing process serves three main functions:

• To validate the statements and conclusions in your work by providing directions to other sound sources that support and verify them.
• To help your readers locate, read and check your sources, as well as establishing their contribution to your work.
• To give credit to the original author and hence avoid committing intellectual property theft (known as ‘plagiarism’ in academia).

How Do I Cite My Sources With The Cite This For Me Referencing Generator?

Cite This For Me’s reference generator is the most accurate citation machine available, so whether you’re not sure how to format in-text referencing or you don’t know how to write a bibliography, this bibliography generator will solve all of your citing needs.

Crediting your source material with a bibliography maker doesn’t just prevent you from losing valuable marks for plagiarism, it also provides all of the information to help your reader find for themselves the book, article, or other item you are citing. The accessible interface of the reference generator makes it easy for you to identify the source you have used – simply enter its unique identifier into the citation machine search bar. If this information is not available you can search for the title or author instead, and then select from the search results that appear below the reference generator.

Don’t know how to reference a website? The good news is that by using tools such as Cite This For Me’s reference generator, which help you work smarter, you don’t need to limit your research to sources that are traditional to cite. In fact, there are no limits to what you can cite with this bibliography maker, whether you want to reference a website, a YouTube video or a tweet.

To use the reference generator, simply:

• Select your style from Harvard, APA and many more*
• Choose the type of source you would like to cite (e.g. website, book, journal, video)
• Enter the URL , DOI , ISBN , title, or other unique source information to find your source
• Click the ‘Cite’ button on the reference generator
• Copy your new citation straight from the referencing generator into your bibliography
• Repeat for each source that has contributed to your work.

*If you require another style for your paper, essay or other academic work, you can select from over 1,000 styles by creating a free Cite This For Me account.

Once you have created your Cite This For Me account you will be able to use the reference generator to create multiple references and save them into a project. Use the highly-rated iOS or Android apps to generate references in a flash with your smartphone camera, export your complete bibliography in one go, and much more.

What Will The Reference Generator Create For Me?

Cite This For Me’s reference generator will create your reference in two parts; an in-text citation and a full reference to be copied straight into your work.

The reference generator will auto-generate the correct formatting for your bibliography and in-text referencing depending on your chosen style. For instance, if you select a parenthetical style to format in-text referencing, the bibliography maker will generate an in-text citation in parentheses along with a full reference to slot into your bibliography. Likewise, if the reference generator is set to a footnote style then it will create a fully-formatted reference for your reference list, as well as a corresponding footnote to insert at the bottom of the page containing the relevant source.

Parenthetical examples:

In-text referencing example: A nation has been defined as an imagined community (Anderson, 2006).* Alternative format: Anderson (2006) defined a nation as an imagined community.

*The reference generator will create your references in the first style, but this should be edited if the author’s name already appears in the text.

Reference list example: Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities. London: Verso.

What Are Citation Styles?

A citation style is a set of rules that you, as an academic writer, must follow to ensure the quality and relevance of your work. There are thousands of styles that are used in different academic institutions around the world, but in Australia the most common are Harvard and APA.

The style you need to use will depend on the preference of your lecturer, discipline or academic institution – so if you’re unsure which style you should be using, consult your department and follow their guidelines exactly, as this is what you’ll be evaluated on when it comes to marking. You can also find your university’s style by logging into your Cite This For Me account and setting your institution in ‘My Profile’.

Citing isn’t just there to guard against plagiarism – presenting your research in a clear and consistent way eases the reader’s comprehension. Each style has a different set of rules for formatting the page, in-text referencing and your reference list. Be sure to adhere to formatting rules such as font type, font size and line spacing to ensure that your work is easily legible. Furthermore, if your work is published as part of an anthology or collected works, each entry will need to be presented in the same style to maintain uniformity throughout. Even when using a citation machine, it is important to make sure that you don’t jump from one style to another, so follow the rules carefully to ensure your reference list and bibliography are both accurate and complete.

If you’re unsure about how to reference and need a hand with your in-text referencing or reference list, why not try Cite This For Me’s reference generator? It’s the quickest and easiest way to cite any source, in any style. The reference generator above will create your citations in the Harvard style as standard, but the bibliography maker can also generate fully-formatted references in over 1,000 styles – including university variations of each style. So, whether your lecturer has asked you to adopt Harvard referencing , or your subject requires you to use APA referencing , AMA or MLA we’re sure to have the style you need. To access each style’s reference generator, simply go to Cite This For Me’s website to create your free Cite This For Me account and search for your specific style.

How Do I Format A Reference List Or Bibliography?

Drawing on a wide range of sources greatly enhances the quality of your work, and reading above and beyond your recommended reading list – and then using these sources to support your own thesis – is an excellent way to impress your reader. As well as in-text referencing, a clearly presented reference list and bibliography demonstrate the lengths you have gone to in researching your chosen topic.

Typically, a reference list starts on a new page at the end of the main body of text and includes a complete list of the sources you have actually cited in your paper. This list should contain all the information needed for the reader to locate the original source of the information, quote or statistic that directly contributed to your work. On the other hand, a bibliography is a comprehensive list of all the material you may have consulted throughout your research and writing process. Both provide the necessary information for readers to retrieve and check the sources cited in your work.

Each style’s guidelines will define the terminology of ‘reference list’ and ‘bibliography’, as well as providing formatting guidelines for font, line spacing and page indentations. In addition, it will instruct you on how to order each list – this will usually be either alphabetical or chronological (meaning the order that these sources appear in your work). Even if you’ve used a bibliography generator, be sure to check that you have formatted your whole paper according to your style’s formatting guidelines before submitting your work.

Sound complicated? Citing has never been so easy. If you don’t know how to write a bibliography, Cite This For Me’s bibliography generator will automatically generate fully-formatted references for your reference list and bibliography in your chosen style. Sign in to your Cite This For Me account to save and export your bibliography.

How Do References Actually Work?

Although the bibliography maker will cite your sources for you in record time, it is still useful to understand how a reference generator works behind the scenes. Understanding how a citation machine actually generates references will greatly increase the quality of your work.

As well as saving you time with its referencing generator, Cite This For Me provides the learning resources to help you fully understand the citing process and the benefits of adopting great referencing standards.

The referencing process:

• Find a book, journal, website or other source that will contribute to your work
• Save the quote, image, data or other information that you will use in your work
• Save the source information that enables you to find it again (i.e. URL, ISBN, DOI etc.)
• Format the source information into a reference
• Copy and paste the citation into the body of the text
• Export or copy and paste the fully-formatted reference into your bibliography
• Repeat for each source that contributes to your work

Manage all your references in one place

Create projects, add notes, cite directly from the browser and scan books’ barcodes with a mobile app.

Sign up to Cite This For Me – the ultimate reference management tool.

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Mla format guide.

This is the total package when it comes to MLA format. Our easy to read guides come complete with examples and step-by-step instructions to format your full and in-text citations, paper, and works cited in MLA style. There’s even information on annotated bibliographies.

Works Cited | In-Text Citations | Bibliography | Annotated Bibliography | Website | Book | Journal | YouTube | View all MLA Citation Examples

APA Format Guide

Get the facts on citing and writing in APA format with our comprehensive guides. Formatting instructions, in-text citation and reference examples, and sample papers provide you with the tools you need to style your paper in APA.

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Chicago Format Guide

Looking to format your paper in Chicago style and not sure where to start? Our guide provides everything you need! Learn the basics and fundamentals to creating references and footnotes in Chicago format. With numerous examples and visuals, you’ll be citing in Chicago style in no time.

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Harvard Referencing Guide

Learn the requirements to properly reference your paper in Harvard style. The guides we have provide the basics and fundamentals to give credit to the sources used in your work.

In-Text Citations | Books | Article | YouTube | View all Harvard Referencing Examples

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Our Writing Center is jam-packed with tons of exciting resources. Videos, infographics, research guides, and many other citation-related resources are found here. Check it out to find what you need to succeed!

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Speaker 1: In this video I'm going to show you what might be the world's easiest bibliography creator, and it's found in Microsoft Word's Researcher tool. In Microsoft 365 versions of Microsoft Word, and also perhaps some of the newest other versions of Word, you can go here to the References tab and click Researcher to activate the Researcher panel here at the right. So let's say I'm working on this document and I would like to add some research or some other sources that I could cite to back up what I'm saying in this document. Now that I've activated the Researcher panel, I can just go over here to the right where it says Start Here, I can click and type in what I would like to research or include in my document. So I'm going to search for Questioning Strategies, and it brings up several research references that I could look through. In addition to this list of resources that I'll show you in just a minute, we also have a suggestion of a relevant other topic that I might look into. For now though, I'm just going to go down here and take a look at what Researcher found. Here's a website. It looks like an educational website that has some information about Questioning Strategies. Here's another one. Here's a .gov website, again with more information about Questioning Strategies. Now what if I want to focus in not just on websites, but on journals, academic journals, other journals? I can just click here where it says Journals, and now I'm targeting specifically academic journals and other types of academic articles. So here's one from the journal Literacy. It looks promising, and I can click on it to read at least part of that article. If I want to, I can click to open it in a browser, or I can continue to read it here in the Researcher panel. Now I can include perhaps a quote from the article. I can just highlight it, copy. I'm going to paste that in just as text, and of course, instead of an exact quote, I could just summarize what the article says, but in either case, I should cite my source. And this is where the Researcher really comes in extremely handy. To cite my source here in the very place where I've quoted the article, I can just go up here and click on this plus sign. When I click the plus sign, look what it does. It adds a citation for this journal article. That's just magical. I wish I had had this when I was in college. Now look what also popped up here. Create a bibliography. I'm going to say Create. So now, at the bottom of my document, here on the last page, a bibliography is being formed. When I'm done with this particular article, I can just click this arrow to go back to the full list of articles. Maybe I do want to use this article here. Again, I can read that. I'll go back to the place in the document where I was working. Maybe I'll highlight this text. I'll copy it, paste it in, and cite my source. Do I want to update my bibliography? Yes, I do. I'll click Update. Now let's browse down and look at the bibliography. Notice that the bibliography is being organized in alphabetical order. So even though I put the Wilson article in first, the Sun article appears first. So I could simply continue to work on my document, changing my search terms if I want to find other types of research, other information, and then summarizing other people's thinking or directly quoting their thinking and their writing, adding the citation, and updating the bibliography. Let's look now at how websites are cited in the document. I want to use this document here. I'll click it, click the plus sign. So far, it looks pretty similar. I'll update the bibliography, and here's the citation for that website. And you can see that it's handled a little bit differently, but the Microsoft Word researcher took care of it for me. I'm going to click the back arrow and then browse back up to the top here, and I want you to see that in addition to the topic that I searched for, there's also this other relevant topic of Socratic questioning. And then also I could click this button here for more topics. So this research that I'm doing on questioning strategies can really open up a whole can of worms of other types of research or other information that I can learn from, draw from, and include, perhaps, in my document. So I could click around reciprocal teaching. This gives me some information from Wikipedia or Socratic questioning. Again, there's some information from Wikipedia, but as I browse down, there's also a book that I can draw from. There's a journal article, another book, et cetera. So what a powerful feature to have in Microsoft Word, especially Microsoft 365 versions of Word, to be able to compose your document and do research for your document in the same program. Side by side. It's amazing. And my favorite thing about this is as I'm working on the document, the bibliography is being created. When I was in college, one of my weaknesses was that I would type up my paper, get all the quotes in there, and then I'd have to scramble to get the bibliography put together after the fact. Well, Researcher takes care of that for me, and the bibliography is automatically created, organized, and developed while I'm working on my paper. Thanks for watching. I hope you found this tutorial to be helpful. If you did, please like, follow, and subscribe. And when you do, click the bell so you'll be notified when I post another video. If you'd like to support my channel, consider clicking the thanks button below the video. Or you can support me through my Patreon account or by buying channel merch, and you'll see information about those options in the description below the video.

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• Knowledge Base
• Citing sources

How to Cite Sources | Citation Generator & Quick Guide

Citing your sources is essential in  academic writing . Whenever you quote or paraphrase a source (such as a book, article, or webpage), you have to include a  citation crediting the original author.

Failing to properly cite your sources counts as plagiarism , since you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.

The most commonly used citation styles are APA and MLA. The free Scribbr Citation Generator is the quickest way to cite sources in these styles. Simply enter the URL, DOI, or title, and we’ll generate an accurate, correctly formatted citation.

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Table of contents

When do you need to cite sources, which citation style should you use, in-text citations, reference lists and bibliographies.

Scribbr Citation Generator

Other useful citation tools

Citation examples and full guides, frequently asked questions about citing sources.

Citations are required in all types of academic texts. They are needed for several reasons:

• To avoid plagiarism by indicating when you’re taking information from another source
• To give proper credit to the author of that source
• To allow the reader to consult your sources for themselves

A citation is needed whenever you integrate a source into your writing. This usually means quoting or paraphrasing:

• To quote a source , copy a short piece of text word for word and put it inside quotation marks .
• To paraphrase a source , put the text into your own words. It’s important that the paraphrase is not too close to the original wording. You can use the paraphrasing tool if you don’t want to do this manually.

Citations are needed whether you quote or paraphrase, and whatever type of source you use. As well as citing scholarly sources like books and journal articles, don’t forget to include citations for any other sources you use for ideas, examples, or evidence. That includes websites, YouTube videos , and lectures .

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Usually, your institution (or the journal you’re submitting to) will require you to follow a specific citation style, so check your guidelines or ask your instructor.

In some cases, you may have to choose a citation style for yourself. Make sure to pick one style and use it consistently:

• APA Style is widely used in the social sciences and beyond.
• MLA style is common in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography , common in the humanities
• Chicago author-date , used in the (social) sciences
• There are many other citation styles for different disciplines.

If in doubt, check with your instructor or read other papers from your field of study to see what style they follow.

In most styles, your citations consist of:

• Brief in-text citations at the relevant points in the text
• A reference list or bibliography containing full information on all the sources you’ve cited

In-text citations most commonly take the form of parenthetical citations featuring the last name of the source’s author and its year of publication (aka author-date citations).

An alternative to this type of in-text citation is the system used in numerical citation styles , where a number is inserted into the text, corresponding to an entry in a numbered reference list.

There are also note citation styles , where you place your citations in either footnotes or endnotes . Since they’re not embedded in the text itself, these citations can provide more detail and sometimes aren’t accompanied by a full reference list or bibliography.

A reference list (aka “Bibliography” or “Works Cited,” depending on the style) is where you provide full information on each of the sources you’ve cited in the text. It appears at the end of your paper, usually with a hanging indent applied to each entry.

The information included in reference entries is broadly similar, whatever citation style you’re using. For each source, you’ll typically include the:

• Author name
• Publication date
• Container (e.g., the book an essay was published in, the journal an article appeared in)
• Location (e.g., a URL or DOI , or sometimes a physical location)

The exact information included varies depending on the source type and the citation style. The order in which the information appears, and how you format it (e.g., capitalization, use of italics) also varies.

Most commonly, the entries in your reference list are alphabetized by author name. This allows the reader to easily find the relevant entry based on the author name in your in-text citation.

In numerical citation styles, the entries in your reference list are numbered, usually based on the order in which you cite them. The reader finds the right entry based on the number that appears in the text.

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The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

Because each style has many small differences regarding things like italicization, capitalization , and punctuation , it can be difficult to get every detail right. Using a citation generator can save you a lot of time and effort.

Scribbr offers citation generators for both APA and MLA style. Both are quick, easy to use, and 100% free, with no ads and no registration required.

Just input a URL or DOI or add the source details manually, and the generator will automatically produce an in-text citation and reference entry in the correct format. You can save your reference list as you go and download it when you’re done, and even add annotations for an annotated bibliography .

Once you’ve prepared your citations, you might still be unsure if they’re correct and if you’ve used them appropriately in your text. This is where Scribbr’s other citation tools and services may come in handy:

Plagiarism Checker

Citation Checker

Citation Editing

Plagiarism means passing off someone else’s words or ideas as your own. It’s a serious offense in academia. Universities use plagiarism checking software to scan your paper and identify any similarities to other texts.

When you’re dealing with a lot of sources, it’s easy to make mistakes that could constitute accidental plagiarism. For example, you might forget to add a citation after a quote, or paraphrase a source in a way that’s too close to the original text.

Using a plagiarism checker yourself before you submit your work can help you spot these mistakes before they get you in trouble. Based on the results, you can add any missing citations and rephrase your text where necessary.

Try out the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker for free, or check out our detailed comparison of the best plagiarism checkers available online.

Scribbr Plagiarism Checker

Scribbr’s Citation Checker is a unique AI-powered tool that automatically detects stylistic errors and inconsistencies in your in-text citations. It also suggests a correction for every mistake.

Currently available for APA Style, this is the fastest and easiest way to make sure you’ve formatted your citations correctly. You can try out the tool for free below.

If you need extra help with your reference list, we also offer a more in-depth Citation Editing Service.

Our experts cross-check your in-text citations and reference entries, make sure you’ve included the correct information for each source, and improve the formatting of your reference page.

If you want to handle your citations yourself, Scribbr’s free Knowledge Base provides clear, accurate guidance on every aspect of citation. You can see citation examples for a variety of common source types below:

And you can check out our comprehensive guides to the most popular citation styles:

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (Latin for “and others”) is used to shorten citations of sources with multiple authors.

“Et al.” is used in APA in-text citations of sources with 3+ authors, e.g. (Smith et al., 2019). It is not used in APA reference entries .

Use “et al.” for 3+ authors in MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.

Use “et al.” for 4+ authors in a Chicago in-text citation , and for 10+ authors in a Chicago bibliography entry.

The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.

You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .

APA format is widely used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social and behavioral sciences, including fields like education, psychology, and business.

Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in to double-check which style you should be using.

MLA Style  is the second most used citation style (after APA ). It is mainly used by students and researchers in humanities fields such as literature, languages, and philosophy.

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