Citation generators can quickly create bibliography entries in academic styles like APA and MLA. It's important to know that citation generators are not always--and frequently are not--100% accurate all the time. They can be useful to get students started with the overall content and organization of a citation entry, but the generated citation should always be double-checked against the appropriate style guide or with a writing tutor.
If choosing to utilize a citation generator, it's important to check for these common errors:
Frequently missing information:
Frequent formatting errors relating to:
Ivy Tech Library databases include built-in citation generators that allow students to create, email, and export citation entries for sources within the databases. These tools can be located in different places depending on the database, but look for buttons that say "Cite," "Citation," or "Email" to access these time-saving citation generators.
Although you can quickly copy and paste the created citation, it's important to double check its accuracy using the tips above.
NoodleTools is a specialized research software that can format the citations of your sources in APA, MLA, or Chicago style and save any citations you create in your own online account. NoodleTools is especially helpful when organizing citations and source notes for long-term research projects.
The statewide webpage for Using NoodleTools to Cite Sources provides in-depth instructions for how to register your account, manage projects, generate citations, and add saved citations to your writing using NoodleTools. See the NoodleTools video tutorial on the left to learn how you can leverage this software on your next research-writing project.
