Responsible Use of Citation Generators

Make sure the information you input is correct.

No citation generator is perfectly insulated against user error. If you give a citation generator incorrect information, it will probably give you an inaccurate citation. Check your input information carefully as you enter it to ensure the accuracy of the final product.

• check to make sure you’ve spelled the author’s name correctly. Capitalization and punctuation also matter. For instance, here is an MLA8 citation for a poem by E. E. Cummings:

• Cummings, E. E. “anyone lived in a pretty how town.” Complete Poems: 1904-1962, edited by George J. Firmage, 1st ed, Liveright, 2016.

In this example, the unconventional lowercase title of the poem is maintained. You would want to ensure that a spellchecker (or the citation generator itself) has not incorrectly “fixed” the capitalization in the title before inputting that information.

• Work from the copy of the source you have available, rather than from secondary information about the source (like a web page selling the source on an online store). It’s easy to miss minor details like edition number and editors’ names in the latter case.

Make sure you designate the correct medium, version, and/or edition for each source.

Citation generators can’t judge whether the information they receive about a source “makes sense.” They can’t tell, for instance, if you’re accidentally citing an academic journal article as a magazine article (and thus likely leaving out important information like volume number). They also can’t tell if the paperback and hardcover releases of the book you’re citing use different page numbers. Thus, to avoid unnecessary confusion for your readers, it’s always wise to double-check that you’ve indicated precisely the source you’re using (and not a source that’s “close, but no cigar”).

• This advice is especially important if you’re using a citation generator that automatically searches for information about your source online. In this case, it’s crucial to make sure the generator has grabbed the correct edition, version (e.g., paperback vs. hardcover), etc. These minor differences can affect the page numbers and publication dates of sources, which means that getting this information wrong can lead to inaccurate citations.

• Don’t forget that edited collections usually have at least one editor who needs to be credited in the citation in addition to the author of the piece you’re using. Keep this in mind if you’re citing a small work that appears in a bigger collection.

• If you can’t figure out precisely what medium your source should be categorized as, consult the general formatting rules for the citation style you’re using. Usually, you will be able to assemble a usable citation simply by putting as much information as you have into the generic pattern your style specifies. 

Make sure to use reputable, accurate sources.

Citation generators work with the sources you give them. They can’t evaluate whether those sources are good or not. Be sure to evaluate whether each source you use is accurate, reputable, and unbiased. Below are some questions to consider for each source. Is your source peer-reviewed?

• Is your source primary (i.e., does it come directly from the person providing the information, or is it mediated by someone else’s opinions and commentary)? If it is a secondary source, does it seem like the author is referencing primary sources when possible?

• Does the source come from an organization with a vested interest in having an unbiased, authoritative reputation?

• Does the source reference clear, unambiguous evidence? Is this evidence well-documented (for instance, in a bibliography)? 

• Does the source acknowledge a range of viewpoints even as it makes its own argument?

• Does the source use emotionally-charged language or make broad generalizations?

• Does the source come from a lone individual, particularly an individual without a reputation for careful, objective, or well-reasoned claims (or a motivation to preserve that reputation)?

• Is the source commercially sponsored? Does the sponsor have a vested interest in the audience’s perception of the source’s topic?

For more help, consult the OWL's “Evaluating Sources: Overview” resource.

Double-check the citation you receive against a reference.

After you’ve finished inputting information and you’ve received a citation, resist the urge to copy and paste the citation into your document without first doing a quick check for accuracy. In the event that the citation generator has made an error (a rare but real possibility), you will be glad that you took an extra few seconds to verify its accuracy.

• Pay particular attention to the way the generator has handled capitalization and formatting.

• If you couldn’t find certain pieces of information (e.g., publication date) for your source, check to ensure that the information has been left out rather than being rendered as a generic placeholder (e.g., “[DATE]”).

Make sure you cite each source in the text in a way that makes sense.

Remember that bibliographies are not the end of the story when it comes to citations. Citations must also be used in the text to indicate when information is being borrowed from a source. The good news is that many modern citation generators can automatically generate in-text citations once you’ve provided bibliographic information. The bad news, however, is that the correct usage of in-text citations is much more context-dependent than it is for bibliographic entries. This means that, when you use an in-text citation you’ve generated from a citation generator, you should check that you’re using it logically, rather than simply copying and pasting.

Remember, when using citation generators, remember that they can do much of your work for you, but they cannot (and should not) do any of your thinking for you