How to Cite Sources Using an APA Citation Generator Guide

The APA citation generator is one of those lifesaving tools you don’t realize you need until you’re knee-deep in research and reference details.

Sure, there’s no shortage of citation tools in the market, but two big problems make many of them less practical.

First, a lot of them are priced so high that young researchers and students can’t realistically afford them.

Second, many of these tools are packed with advanced features that come with a steep learning curve. 

A focused APA citation generator strips away the complexity, delivers exactly what you need, i.e., fast, accurate APA citations, and doesn’t cost a dime. 

In this article, I’ll discuss what an APA citation generator is, how it works, its key features, best practices, and why Undetectable AI is a smarter alternative to expensive citation software.

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Key Takeaways

• The APA citation generator creates accurate, APA 7th edition–formatted references for books, articles, websites, videos, and more.

• Unlike general citation tools that cover multiple formats (MLA, Chicago, Harvard, etc.) and risk confusion, an APA-specific generator is laser-focused on one style.

• Undetectable AI’s free APA 7 citation generator is a fast, AI-powered solution that supports APA 6th and 7th editions, allows manual editing, covers all source types, and will soon offer a Chrome extension for in-browser citation creations.

• To use it, you simply have to select the correct source type, enter a few details (DOI, URL, or title), and let the tool auto-generate a citation. 

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What Is the APA Citation Generator?

The APA citation generator is a digital assistant that creates perfectly formatted citations for you in the American Psychological Association’s 7th edition style. 

It requires you to simply enter your source details.

The source could be a book, a journal article, a website, a video, you name it, and then it creates a citation that’s ready to drop into your reference list.

Now, the APA 7th edition is the current standard for citing sources in the social and behavioral sciences. 

It outlines some rules for how to credit ideas, structure references, and avoid plagiarism in research.

However, there are certain technicalities about what details should go in and how they should be formatted.

When using the APA citation generation tool, you outsource these headaches to a machine that never forgets the rules.

How It Differs From General Citation Generators

A general citation generator tool usually gives you every format option under the sun, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, Turabian, and so on.

Although it sounds quite convenient, the problem is that when you have that many formats bundled together, it’s surprisingly easy to click the wrong one.

The APA citation generator avoids this trap by being laser-focused on one format: APA 7th edition. It knows the ins and outs of the rules and also reduces the chance of mistakes slipping in.

Key Features of Our APA Citation Generator

The Undetectable AI APA Citation Generator is built to take the stress out of referencing.

Here are some of its key features: 

• First off, it’s fast. You don’t have to waste ten minutes typing every tiny detail into a rigid form. Drop in a DOI, URL, title, or even an ISBN, and the tool’s smart detection pulls out the details and formats them perfectly in APA.

• It’s updated to handle both APA 6th and 7th editions, so you’ll never be caught using outdated rules. And since it’s powered by AI, the formatting is checked for consistency.

• If you’re the kind of person who needs more control, there’s a manual mode too, using which you can edit citations yourself.

• Undetectable AI supports pretty much any source you’ll ever need to cite, i.e., books, journal articles, websites, PDFs, etc. Once you’ve got your citations ready, you can copy, download, or organize them into projects.

• Undetectable AI is also planning to drop a Chrome extension for the APA citation generator that will let you generate APA citations directly from your browser. Imagine reading an article online and creating a perfect citation in two clicks without ever leaving the page. How convenient would that be! 

How to Use Our APA Citation Generator

The APA citation generator at Undetectable AI is one of the easiest-to-use you’ll come across.

Here’s a quick rundown on how to use it; 

Step 1: Choose Your Source Type

The first thing you’ll see when you open the APA citation generator is the option to pick your source type. 

A book, a journal article, a website, or a YouTube video each has its own unique citation rules in APA style. For example, journal articles require volume and issue numbers, while websites need a retrieval link.

If you pick the wrong type here, you’ll end up with the wrong fields later. So, take a second to select the right type of source. The generator will give you relevant subsequent fields depending on what you select. 

Let’s use a blog post on How to Write a Research Proposal as an example and generate its citation in APA.

Step 2: Enter Your Source Information

Now, depending on your source type, you will need to paste in a title, URL, DOI (Digital Object Identifier), or ISBN (International Standard Book Number).

Based on the info you provide, the generator will scan databases and automatically pull in the following information:

• Authors
• Publication year
• Publisher
• Page numbers
• Journal details, etc.

In most cases, a simple title or link will usually be enough to track down a source. 

That said, no system is, of course, perfect. So if you try to cite an obscure PDF from a university archive, the auto-detection may not catch every single detail.

Step 3: Review and Edit if Needed

No automation can ever be a substitute for your eyes.

Once the generator has created the citation, make sure you review it carefully to catch small errors before they slip into your reference list.

Check if the author names are spelled correctly and in the right order. 

Look at the title formatting to confirm if it uses sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized), as APA requires. 

For journal articles, make sure the journal name is italicized and fully spelled out, and for online sources, confirm that the DOI is clickable.

Every detail in the generated citation from Undetectable AI APA citation generator is editable.

Anything you want to tweak about your citation, you can do it directly inside the tool.

Step 4: Copy or Save Your APA Citation

Now your citation is ready. You just have to put your freshly minted citation to work. With a single click, you can copy the citation and paste it directly into your reference list.

If you’re citing only a few sources, it’ll be all you need.

However, for longer projects with dozens of references, use the save and export options. You can group citations into projects and download them as a reference list.

They will also stay neatly organized for later use.

And when the Chrome extension rolls out (which is coming soon), the process will be even faster. You’ll be able to generate citations directly from your browser while reading your source. 

What Is the Best APA Citation Generator?

There are certain criteria that make an APA citation generator tool of good use.

1. It goes without saying, the tool must be accurate enough to follow APA 7th edition rules to the letter. If it messes up anything, italics, capitalization, formatting, it’s just not reliable.

2. The tool should do the job in seconds. It takes anything more than a few seconds to generate a citation, it’s not worth spending time on.

3. A good generator should feel intuitive and easy to use, such that you only paste a title or DOI, hit a button, and you’re done.

4. The tool should also let you edit details manually, so you can fix edge cases and match specific instructor requirements.

And all of these criteria are exactly what make the Undetectable.ai APA Citation Generator stand out. It ticks every box.

The AI it is built on understands both APA 6th and 7th editions, its lightning-fast, and is laser-focused on APA, which means no accidental slips into any other citation style.

And on top of that, it gives you full editing control with all major source types supported, and will soon integrate directly into your browser with a Chrome extension.

Benefits of Using APA Citation Generator

Manually generating APA citations is one of those time-taking academic chores that easily eat away hours of your life.

And after typing out ten references by hand, the odds of making a mistake also shoot up really fast.

The benefits of using a reliable APA citation generator are many, but two of them top the list: 

1. Time
2. Value 

A reliable tool saves you hours you can put back into reading, analyzing, and actually writing your paper.

In other words, you get to focus on the substance of your work instead of obsessing over how to format a referenced article.

Many APA citation generators, including ours, are free. You get accurate, consistently formatted references without spending a cent.

Why burn precious time on something a tool can do instantly and for free when you could be using that same time to improve your actual research and maybe get some sleep?

Best Practices for Using APA Citation Generator

You’ll get the most out of your APA citation generator if you know the following best practices.

First, always double-check the details of the citation produced against your actual source.

Citation generators are great, but sometimes, they may miss certain details that you can add manually. 

Also, keep track of your references as you go instead of waiting until the night before submission. 

If you generate citations while you’re still in the research phase, you’ll avoid that awful “what article did I read this from?” panic at 2 a.m.

Plus, you’ll end up with a neat, organized list that only needs minor polishing at the end.

Make use of project or folder features since grouping citations by paper saves you from digging through a random pile later.

It’s also a lifesaver when you’re working on multiple assignments at once and don’t want your sociology sources mixing with your psychology ones.

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Conclusion

Citations are not the most glamorous part of academic writing, but they’re unavoidable.

That’s why it makes sense to lean on tools that save you time without cutting corners. 

An APA citation generator is a reliable shortcut that gives you perfectly formatted references in seconds, asks nothing in return, and frees you up to focus on the real research. 

Unlike paid software like EndNote or Mendeley, a free APA citation generator delivers the same core benefit without the financial burden.

It’s one of those rare tools that gives you value for nothing, and it only takes a few clicks to see the difference.

Try it out for free at Undetectable AI today!