Softonic

Bibliography Generator

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Every citation style has its own commas, italics and author-date order rules. Missing a colon between volume and issue in APA or getting the publisher location wrong in Chicago is the sort of thing that loses marks. This generator fills in an entry template for each source type — book, journal article, website, film, interview — and formats it correctly for the style you pick.

How to generate a citation

  1. 1

    Pick a citation style

    APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 17 (Notes-Bibliography or Author-Date), or Harvard.

  2. 2

    Pick a source type

    Book, journal article, website, newspaper, film, podcast, report, thesis, interview — each needs different fields.

  3. 3

    Fill in the form

    Author, title, year, and the style-specific extras (DOI, URL, publisher, page range, volume, issue).

  4. 4

    Copy the formatted entry

    Output is punctuated and italicised ready to paste into a Word document or reference list.

Style differences at a glance

A book by Jane Smith titled A Short History of Time, published 2019 by Penguin in London, cited in each style:

APA 7:

Smith, J. (2019). A short history of time. Penguin.

MLA 9:

Smith, Jane. A Short History of Time. Penguin, 2019.

Chicago 17 (Author-Date):

Smith, Jane. 2019. A Short History of Time. London: Penguin.

Harvard:

Smith, J., 2019. A Short History of Time. London: Penguin.

Notice the punctuation, the order of title and year, and whether first names are spelled out or initialised. Every difference is deliberate and every one is marked against in assessment.

Required fields by source type

Source type Minimum fields
Book Author, year, title, publisher
Journal article Authors, year, article title, journal, volume, issue, pages, DOI
Website Author/organisation, year, page title, site name, URL, access date (MLA)
Newspaper Author, date, article title, newspaper, URL if online
Film Director, year, title, studio
Chapter in edited book Chapter author, year, chapter title, editor(s), book title, pages, publisher

In-text citation styles

  • APA (Author, Year) — (Smith, 2019)
  • MLA (Author Page) — (Smith 42)
  • Chicago Author-Date — (Smith 2019, 42)
  • Chicago Notes-Bibliography — Footnote numbered reference
  • Harvard — (Smith, 2019, p. 42)

DOIs and access dates

Modern APA 7 and Chicago 17 prefer DOIs over URLs when available, and do not require access dates for stable DOI-linked sources. MLA 9 still asks for an access date on most web sources.

Frequently Asked Questions

APA 7 drops the publisher location, simplifies DOI formatting (https://doi.org/... only), allows singular “they”, and changes citation rules for more than 20 authors. If your course specifies a version, check which edition it wants.

Use the organisation name as author (e.g. “World Health Organization, 2024”). If truly anonymous, use the title in place of the author and alphabetise under the first significant word.

MLA 9 still requires them. APA 7 only asks for access dates on pages that may change without notice (e.g. Wikipedia). Chicago is flexible — include if the page is time-sensitive.

Yes — fill in the original language title and, for APA/Chicago, add a translated title in square brackets. Diacritics and non-Latin scripts pass through unchanged.

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