Accurate APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard citations, verified by experts, trusted by millions Scribbr for Chrome: Your shortcut to citations Cite any page or article with a single click right from your browser. The extension does the hard work for you by automatically grabbing the title, author(s), publication date, and everything else needed to whip up the perfect citation. Perfectly formatted references every time Inaccurate citations can cost you points on your assignments, so our seasoned citation experts have invested countless hours in perfecting Scribbr’s citation generator algorithms. We’re proud to be recommended by teachers and universities worldwide. Citation Generator features you'll love Look up your source by its title, URL, ISBN, or DOI, and let Scribbr find and fill in all the relevant information automatically. APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard Generate flawless citations according to the official APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard style, or many other rules. When your reference list is complete, export it to Word. We’ll apply the official formatting guidelines automatically. Lists and folders Create separate reference lists for each of your assignments to stay organized. You can also group related lists into folders. Export to Bib(La)TeX Are you using a LaTex editor like Overleaf? If so, you can easily export your references in Bib(La)TeX format with a single click. Change the typeface used for your reference list to match the rest of your document. Options include Times New Roman, Arial, and Calibri. Industry-standard technology Scribbr’s Citation Generator is built using the same citation software (CSL) as Mendeley and Zotero, but with an added layer for improved accuracy. Describe or evaluate your sources in annotations, and Scribbr will generate a perfectly formatted annotated bibliography . Citation guides Scribbr’s popular guides and videos will help you understand everything related to finding, evaluating, and citing sources. Your work is saved automatically after every change and stored securely in your Scribbr account. Working with sources is an important skill that you’ll need throughout your academic career. It includes knowing how to find relevant sources, assessing their authority and credibility, and understanding how to integrate sources into your work with proper referencing. This quick guide will help you get started! Finding relevant sources Sources commonly used in academic writing include academic journals, scholarly books, websites, newspapers, and encyclopedias. There are three main places to look for such sources: Research databases: Databases can be general or subject-specific. To get started, check out this list of databases by academic discipline . Another good starting point is Google Scholar . Your institution’s library: Use your library’s database to narrow down your search using keywords to find relevant articles, books, and newspapers matching your topic. Other online resources: Consult popular online sources like websites, blogs, or Wikipedia to find background information. Be sure to carefully evaluate the credibility of those online sources. When using academic databases or search engines, you can use Boolean operators to refine your results. Scribbr Citation Generator Generate APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard citations in seconds Evaluating sources In academic writing, your sources should be credible, up to date, and relevant to your research topic. Useful approaches to evaluating sources include the CRAAP test and lateral reading. CRAAP is an abbreviation that reminds you of a set of questions to ask yourself when evaluating information. Currency: Does the source reflect recent research? Relevance: Is the source related to your research topic?

Authority: Is it a respected publication? Is the author an expert in their field? Accuracy: Does the source support its arguments and conclusions with evidence? Purpose: What is the author’s intention? Lateral reading Lateral reading means comparing your source to other sources. This allows you to: Verify evidence Contextualize information Find potential weaknesses If a source is using methods or drawing conclusions that are incompatible with other research in its field, it may not be reliable. Integrating sources into your work Once you have found information that you want to include in your paper, signal phrases can help you to introduce it. Here are a few examples: Following the signal phrase, you can choose to quote, paraphrase or summarize the source. Quoting : This means including the exact words of another source in your paper. The quoted text must be enclosed in quotation marks or (for longer quotes) presented as a block quote . Quote a source when the meaning is difficult to convey in different words or when you want to analyze the language itself. Paraphrasing : This means putting another person’s ideas into your own words. It allows you to integrate sources more smoothly into your text, maintaining a consistent voice. It also shows that you have understood the meaning of the source. Summarizing : This means giving an overview of the essential points of a source. Summaries should be much shorter than the original text. You should describe the key points in your own words and not quote from the original text. Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a source, you must include a citation crediting the original author. Citing your sources is important because it: Allows you to avoid plagiarism Establishes the credentials of your sources Backs up your arguments with evidence Allows your reader to verify the legitimacy of your conclusions The most common citation styles are APA, MLA, and Chicago style. Each citation style has specific rules for formatting citations. Scribbr Citation Generator Generate APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard citations in seconds Tools and resources Scribbr offers tons of tools and resources to make working with sources easier and faster. Take a look at our top picks: Citation Generator: Automatically generate accurate references and in-text citations using Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator, MLA Citation Generator , Harvard Referencing Generator , and Chicago Citation Generator . Plagiarism Checker : Detect plagiarism in your paper using the most accurate Scribbr plagiarism software available to students. AI Proofreader: Upload and improve unlimited documents and earn higher grades on your assignments. Try it for free! Paraphrasing tool: Avoid accidental plagiarism and make your text sound better. AI Humanizer : Make your AI-generated texts sound like you. Grammar checker : Eliminate pesky spelling and grammar mistakes. Summarizer: Read more in less time. Distill lengthy and complex texts down to their key points. AI detector: Find out if your text was written with ChatGPT or any other AI writing tool. ChatGPT 2 & ChatGPT 3 supported. Proofreading services : Have a human editor improve your writing. Citation checker: Check your work for citation errors and missing citations. Knowledge Base : Explore hundreds of articles, bite-sized videos, time-saving templates, and handy checklists that guide you through the process of research, writing, and citation.