Citation Machine
Free citation generator with plagiarism and grammar checks
About Citation Machine
Citation Machine is a Chegg-owned web tool that generates citations and bibliographies in MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and thousands of other styles. Its Writing Assistant adds AI-powered grammar, clarity, and plagiarism checks, and the paid Citation Machine Plus plan removes ads and unlocks full plagiarism scans and advanced grammar feedback.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Free citation generator covers the common styles (MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard) without an account
- Over 7,000 citation styles for niche journal and department requirements
- Handles many source types, including websites, books, journals, films, images, and PDFs
- Bibliographies export straight to Google Drive or Microsoft Word
- Plus bundles citations, grammar checks, and plagiarism scanning in one subscription
- Extensive free formatting guides for MLA, APA, and Chicago
Cons
- Free version is heavily ad-supported, including sponsored content blocks
- Plagiarism scans and advanced grammar checks require the paid Plus plan
- Plus price is only shown after creating a Chegg account
- Auto-filled citation data from URLs can be incomplete and needs manual checking
- Subscription billing runs through Chegg, so cancellation goes through a Chegg account
Key Features
Citation generator
Builds citations for websites, books, journal articles, films, images, interviews, and PDFs from a URL, title, or manual entry.
7,000+ citation styles
Supports MLA 9th edition, APA 7th edition, Chicago 18th edition (Turabian), Harvard, and thousands of other styles.
Bibliography export
Compiles a works cited or reference list and exports it to Google Drive or Microsoft Word.
In-text citations
Creates matching in-text citations and lets Plus users save them alongside the bibliography.
Writing Assistant
AI-powered editor that flags spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors and suggests clarity and flow improvements; built with Meta Llama 3.
Plagiarism checker
Scans a paper against billions of sources and reports the percentage of text similar to existing content.
Paraphrasing tool
Rewrites sentences until the phrasing reads the way you want.
Citation and writing guides
Free guides on MLA, APA, and Chicago formatting, annotated bibliographies, grammar, and avoiding plagiarism.
Pricing
- Citation generator for MLA, APA, Chicago, and more
- Bibliography export to Google Drive or Word
- Free grammar checks in the Writing Assistant
- Ad-supported
- Free 3-day trial, cancel anytime
- No ads
- MLA and APA plus 7,000+ more citation styles
- Plagiarism scans
- Checks for 400+ advanced grammar errors
- Create and save in-text citations
Best For
Student bibliographies
High school and college students build MLA or APA works cited pages for essays and export them into Word or Google Docs.
Pre-submission plagiarism check
Students scan a draft against billions of sources to find passages that need quoting or citing before handing it in.
Proofreading academic papers
The Writing Assistant catches grammar, punctuation, and clarity problems in essays and lab reports.
Learning citation formats
Students and teachers use the free guides to learn how in-text citations and reference lists work in each style.
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