Free student tool · no sign-up
Free Citation Generator — APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, IEEE & Vancouver
Build a perfectly formatted reference list in seconds. Paste a DOI, ISBN or link and FinalYear fills in the authors, title, journal and year for you — then gives you the reference and the matching in-text citation. Works for students anywhere in the world, on any device, completely free.
Build a citation
Live preview
APA 7Start typing (or auto-fill) and your citation appears here instantly, formatted correctly for APA 7th edition.
Your reference list (0)
Nothing saved yet. Everything you add stays in this browser — no account needed.
Which referencing style does your department use?
Every faculty has its own house style, and marks are lost for the wrong one. Here is what each style is for — click through for a dedicated generator with worked examples.
APA 7th edition generator
The American Psychological Association style, 7th edition. Author–date in-text citations and a reference list ordered alphabetically.
Used by: Psychology, education, nursing, business, social sciences
Open generatorMLA 9th edition generator
Modern Language Association style, 9th edition. Author–page in-text citations and a Works Cited list.
Used by: English, languages, literature, humanities, arts
Open generatorHarvard referencing generator
The author–date system used across most African, UK and Australian universities. Reference list ordered alphabetically.
Used by: Most Nigerian, Ghanaian, Kenyan, South African and UK universities
Open generatorChicago 17th (notes & bibliography) generator
Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. Footnote-style notes plus a bibliography.
Used by: History, theology, fine arts, philosophy
Open generatorIEEE generator
Numbered citations in square brackets, references listed in citation order.
Used by: Computer science, engineering, electrical/electronic engineering
Open generatorVancouver generator
Numeric style used in biomedical and health science writing, references listed in citation order.
Used by: Medicine, nursing, pharmacy, biomedical sciences
Open generatorAPA 6th edition generator
The previous APA edition, still required by some departments. Includes the publisher location.
Used by: Departments still on the older APA template
Open generatorHow to reference a source in three steps
1. Choose your style
Pick the style your handbook names. If it just says “author–date”, that is normally Harvard or APA.
2. Add the source
Paste a DOI, ISBN, link or the paper title. The tool pulls the metadata from Crossref and Open Library, so you never mistype a volume number.
3. Copy or export
Copy one reference, copy the whole alphabetised list, or download it as a Word file and paste it straight into your chapter.
Citation generator FAQ
Is this citation generator really free?
Yes. The FinalYear citation generator is completely free, with no sign-up, no daily limit and no watermark. You can generate as many references as your project needs and copy or download the full reference list.
Which referencing styles are supported?
APA 7th edition, APA 6th edition, MLA 9th edition, Harvard, Chicago 17th (notes and bibliography), IEEE and Vancouver. Most universities require one of these; check your department handbook before you submit.
Can I cite a website, YouTube video or thesis?
Yes. Journal articles, books, book chapters, websites, theses and dissertations, conference papers, newspaper articles, reports and videos are all supported, and the form changes to ask only for the fields that style needs.
How does the DOI and ISBN auto-fill work?
Paste a DOI and the tool pulls the authors, title, journal, volume, issue, pages and year from the Crossref database. Paste an ISBN and it pulls the book details from Open Library. You can still edit anything before you add it to your list.
Does it also give me in-text citations?
Yes. Alongside every reference-list entry you get the matching in-text citation — author-date for APA, Harvard and Chicago, author-page for MLA, and bracketed numbers for IEEE and Vancouver.
Can I use it for my final year project or dissertation?
That is exactly what it was built for. Generate your references here, then use FinalYear to plan, write and format the whole project, chapter by chapter, with your reference list attached.
References sorted. Now finish the project.
FinalYear helps students in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, the UK and beyond go from a blank page to a submitted project — topic selection, chapters 1–5, formatting, plagiarism and AI checks, and defence preparation. Create a free account and your reference list travels with you.
Also useful: topics by department · project writing guides · how FinalYear works