Which citation styles are supported?

APA (7th edition basics), MLA (9th edition basics), Chicago (notes-bibliography style), and a plain numbered footnote format. Each reorders author, title, year, and URL into that style's standard pattern.

What fields do I need to provide?

Author, title, year, and an optional URL per source. Missing fields are simply omitted from the formatted output rather than left as blank placeholders.

Is this a full reference manager?

No — it is a fast formatter for the common author/title/year/URL case that LLM answers produce. For complex sources like multi-author journal articles with DOIs and page ranges, a dedicated manager like Zotero is more precise.

Why do LLM citations need reformatting?

Models cite inconsistently — sometimes bracketed numbers, sometimes inline links, rarely in a real academic style. Pasting the underlying sources here gives you a single consistent reference list you can hand in or publish.

Does it number the references?

Yes. Every formatted entry is numbered in the order you enter the sources, so the list matches inline markers like [1], [2] in your text.

What is the AI Citation Formatter?

Takes LLM-generated text with bracketed or numbered citations and reformats the source list into APA, MLA, Chicago, or plain numbered footnotes. Paste your sources, pick a style, and copy a clean reference list. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

AI Citation Formatter

Name: AI Citation Formatter
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Format your citations consistently

LLMs cite sources in whatever shape they feel like — a bracketed [1], an inline link, a half-formed footnote. When you’re writing something that needs real citations, you want one consistent style: APA, MLA, Chicago, or clean numbered footnotes. This tool takes your source list and reformats every entry into the style you choose.

How it works

You enter each source’s author, title, year, and optional URL. The formatter then reorders those fields into the chosen style’s standard pattern — APA leads with author and year, MLA leads with author and title, Chicago uses its notes pattern — and numbers the entries in order.

Smith, J. · The Web · 2024 · example.com

APA:  Smith, J. (2024). The Web. example.com
MLA:  Smith, J. "The Web." 2024. example.com

How each style orders the fields

The four supported styles handle the same information in distinct orders, which is why the same source looks so different from one style to another:

Style	Order	Typical use
APA 7th	Author (Year). Title. URL	Psychology, social sciences, education
MLA 9th	Author. “Title.” Year. URL	Literature, humanities, language arts
Chicago	Author. “Title.” Year. URL (notes style)	History, arts, some social sciences
Plain footnote	[N] Author. Title. URL (Year)	Reports, journalism, general writing

APA places the year immediately after the author so readers can quickly judge currency. MLA prioritises the title. Chicago in its notes-bibliography form looks similar to MLA at a surface level but follows different punctuation and italicisation conventions in longer academic work. The plain footnote format is style-agnostic and works anywhere a numbered list of sources is acceptable.

Practical workflow

The most common scenario is polishing an AI-assisted research draft. A model might write: “According to researchers at the university [1], outcomes improved markedly.” You then have a list of URLs or source names to formalize. The process is:

Work through the sources referenced in the text and note their author, title, and year.
Enter each one here in source order so the numbers match the inline markers.
Choose your required style.
Copy the reference list and paste it into the bibliography or footnote section.

Leave a field blank and it is dropped cleanly rather than printed as an empty slot, so a source with no known author still formats correctly. The numbering matches inline markers like [1] in your prose, so the references line up. To pull the citation markers and footnotes out of an existing LLM answer first, run it through the Footnote Extractor, then paste the sources here to format.

Common mistakes to avoid

Inconsistent author format. APA uses “Last, F.” while MLA uses “Last, First” spelled out. The formatter handles this given the fields you enter, but if you mix formats across sources the output may be inconsistent — keep author entry uniform.

Missing year. The year is one of the most important fields in APA because it drives in-text citations like (Smith, 2024). If you do not know it, note “n.d.” (no date) manually in the author field rather than leaving year blank.

Using this for complex academic sources. This tool covers the common author/title/year/URL pattern that LLM answers generate. For multi-author journal articles with volume, issue, page numbers, and DOIs, a full reference manager like Zotero produces more precise output aligned with journal submission requirements.