Online Learning Support

Citation generators can be useful tools if used correctly. Most citation generators require the user to have expert level knowledge of citation styles in order to pick out the mistakes. In addition, most citation generators work best if the user inputs all of the information manually. Unfortunately, most students input a URL and then use the generated citation without verifying that the reference is correct.

Below we have listed some common mistakes to watch for and some specific mistakes for both APA and MLA styles. 

Common Mistakes

1. Article and website titles are often transcribed incorrectly (these are often taken from the coded information of a web page and are not standardized)
2. Dates are often not available in the code, so the date is either omitted or incorrect
3. Website titles are often changed in the code, often the website titles are replaced with slogans or other information
4. You will often see a straight line like this: |. This makes it the most obvious that a generator created the reference.

APA Style

1. Titles will always be incorrectly capitalized; when sentence case is required the generator will use title case.
2. Retrieved from statement will be included when it's not necessary. 
3. Sometimes, the date is displayed in the third position instead of the second.

MLA Style

1. Titles of webpages and websites will sometimes be in the wrong places.
2. Authors and dates are sometimes omitted.
3. Access dates will be omitted