Reference generator
Build a correctly formatted reference and its matching in-text citation in Harvard, APA 7, MLA 9, Vancouver, IEEE or OSCOLA. Choose your source type, fill in what is printed on the source, and copy the result — or keep adding sources and copy the whole bibliography, already sorted, when you are done.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Works offline
- Nothing stored
Referencing style
Cite Them Right — the default across most UK universities.
Styles vary between departments — Harvard especially. Always check the output against your course handbook or library guide before you submit.
Reference list entry
HarvardStart typing and your reference builds itself here.
In-text citation
Your matching citation appears here.
Drop this straight after the idea you have borrowed, before the full stop.
Your list (0)
Nothing saved yet. Build a reference, hit “Add to my list”, and keep going — everything stays in this browser tab and is never sent anywhere.
Three steps, about ninety seconds
- 1
Pick your style and source type
Harvard is the UK default, but check your handbook — psychology usually wants APA 7, law wants OSCOLA, nursing wants Vancouver. The fields change to match what that source type actually needs.
- 2
Type what is on the source
Authors in the order they are printed, the year, the title exactly as written. For an organisation like the Office for Students, put the whole name in the surname box and leave the forename empty.
- 3
Copy the reference and the citation
You get the reference-list entry and the matching in-text citation together. Keep adding sources and copy the whole bibliography at the end, already sorted.
What actually loses marks in a reference list
Referencing is worth real marks and it is the easiest place on the paper to pick them up. Here is what markers see most often.
Mismatched lists. The single most common deduction is a citation in the text with no entry in the reference list, or an entry that is never cited. Before you submit, read your reference list and tick each entry off against the body of the essay. It takes ten minutes and it is free marks.
Mixing styles. Half a list in Harvard and half copied out of Google Scholar in APA is instantly visible. Pick one style, run everything through the same generator, and stay consistent even when a source is awkward.
Wrong et al. thresholds. Every style draws the line in a different place, and the rule for the reference list is often different from the rule for the in-text citation. APA 7 is the classic trap: three authors becomes “Smith et al.” in your paragraph but all three are named in the list.
Missing access dates on web sources. Anything that could change needs a date you consulted it. Harvard, MLA and OSCOLA all require it; APA 7 only asks for it when the page is genuinely unstable, such as a live statistics dashboard.
Secondary citations left undeclared. If you read Smith’s account of Durkheim rather than Durkheim himself, say so: “Durkheim (1895, cited in Smith, 2024)”. Passing off a secondary reading as a primary source is the kind of thing that turns a referencing slip into an academic-integrity conversation.
The six styles at a glance
Harvard (Cite Them Right)
The default at most UK universities, especially business, social sciences and education.
Smith, J. (2024) Title of book. 3rd edn. London: Routledge.
Names up to three authors, then et al. from four.
APA 7
Psychology, education, health and increasingly business schools.
Smith, J. (2024). Title of book (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Ampersand before the last author; et al. in-text from three, and in the reference list only from 21.
MLA 9
English, modern languages, film, theatre and much of the humanities.
Smith, John. Title of Book. 3rd ed., Routledge, 2024.
Full forenames. et al. from three authors, and no year in the in-text citation — page numbers instead.
Vancouver
Medicine, nursing, midwifery and the health sciences.
Smith JA. Title of book. 3rd ed. London: Routledge; 2024.
Up to six authors listed, then et al. Sources are numbered in the order you first cite them.
IEEE
Engineering, computer science and the physical sciences.
J. A. Smith, Title of Book, 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2024.
Initials first, bracketed numbers in the text: [1], [2], [3].
OSCOLA
UK law — undergraduate LLB through to postgraduate.
John Smith, Title of Book (3rd edn, Routledge 2024).
Footnotes rather than brackets, minimal punctuation, and “and others” instead of et al.
One caveat worth repeating. No generator can know your department’s house style. Treat the output as a near-perfect first draft, then check it once against your course handbook or your library’s referencing guide — and if the two disagree, your handbook wins every time.
Reference generator FAQ
Is this reference generator really free?
Yes — there is no account, no trial and no export limit. Everything runs in your browser, so it costs us nothing to run and there is nothing to charge for. We make our money from students who later ask a subject expert for help.
Why does my university's Harvard look different?
Because Harvard is not a single standard. It is a family of author-date styles, and individual departments publish their own variants — some italicise the journal, some the article, some use round brackets for the year and some do not. We follow Cite Them Right, the most widely adopted UK version, and you should always check the output against your course handbook or library guide.
Do you store the references I create?
No. The tool never sends anything to a server. Your list lives in the browser tab you are using and disappears when you close it, so copy your bibliography before you leave the page.
How many authors should I list before using et al.?
It depends on the style, which is exactly why people get it wrong. Harvard names up to three authors and switches to et al. from four. MLA 9 switches from three. APA 7 lists up to twenty in the reference list but uses et al. in the text from three. Vancouver lists six. The generator applies the right rule automatically for whichever style you have selected.
Want the argument handled too?
If the referencing is the easy part and the argument is the problem, that is what our named subject experts are for. Work researched and written from scratch to your brief, editing and 1-to-1 guidance across every major subject — with referencing in your required style included at no extra cost.
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