Citation checker for APA, MLA and Chicago
Paste your reference list or Works Cited page. Each entry is checked against the guide’s format, element by element, and the AI fixer can rewrite entries into the correct format without inventing anything.
- Journal articleNeeds fixing
Walker, Matthew, & Stickgold, R. (2004). Sleep-Dependent Learning And Memory Consolidation. Neuron, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 121-133. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2004.08.031
- !Format the DOI as a URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2004.08.031
- !Use initials for given names: Smith, J. A., not Smith, John.
- !Article and book titles use sentence case in APA references: capitalise only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.
- !APA journal entries use Journal, 12(3), 45–67. with no “vol.”, “no.” or “pp.”.
- Journal articleNeeds fixing
Carskadon, M. A. et al. 2011. Adolescent sleep patterns. Journal of Adolescent Health, 49(2), 115–123.
- !APA reference lists name up to 20 authors; “et al.” belongs only in in-text citations.
- !Missing “(Year).” after the author element, e.g. Smith, J. A. (2020).
- ?Include the DOI when the article has one.
- Journal articleLooks right
Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2010). The memory function of sleep. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 114–126. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2762
Fix entries with AI
Rewrites each entry into the selected format and lists what changed. Missing elements are marked, never invented.
The same article in three reference formats
| APA 7 | Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2010). The memory function of sleep. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 114–126. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2762 |
|---|---|
| MLA 9 | Diekelmann, Susanne, and Jan Born. “The Memory Function of Sleep.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, vol. 11, no. 2, 2010, pp. 114–26, https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2762. |
| Chicago | Diekelmann, Susanne, and Jan Born. “The Memory Function of Sleep.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11, no. 2 (2010): 114–26. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2762. |
Notice what moves. APA puts the year straight after the authors, uses initials, and writes the article title in sentence case without quotation marks. MLA and Chicago use full given names, put the article title in quotation marks and title case, and move the date toward the end. MLA labels volume and issue with “vol.” and “no.”; Chicago uses “no.” only for the issue.
The mistakes this catches most often
- Title case in APA titles. APA references use sentence case for article and book titles; only journal names keep title case.
- Old DOI formats. “doi:10.xxxx” and “dx.doi.org” should be written as https://doi.org/10.xxxx in APA 7 and MLA 9.
- “et al.” in the reference list. APA lists up to 20 authors in the reference entry; et al. is for in-text citations only.
- Mixed formats. A journal entry with “vol.” and “pp.” in an APA list usually means it was copied from an MLA generator.
For the in-text side, see APA and MLA in-text citations, or Chicago footnotes.
Questions
What does the citation checker validate?
For APA: author initials and the “, &” before the last author, the (Year). element, sentence-case titles, journal volume(issue) and page formatting, DOIs as https://doi.org/ links and the obsolete “Retrieved from”. For MLA and Chicago: quotation marks around article titles, vol. and no. labels, date position, and “and” between authors.
Does it check that the source is real?
No. It checks formatting only. It does not look up DOIs or verify that the author, year or pages are correct; check those against the source itself. The AI fixer is instructed never to invent missing details and marks them [missing: …] instead.
How do I paste several references?
Paste your whole reference list. Put each entry on its own line or separate entries with a blank line; each is checked separately.
Can it generate citations from a URL or DOI?
No. This site checks and corrects citations you already have. If an entry is incomplete, the checker tells you which element is missing.