Citations might not be the most thrilling part of writing, but they’re crucial if you want your work to be taken seriously, and to steer clear of plagiarism. Whenever you’re working on a research project or building a bibliography, figuring out the right citation style can get confusing fast. Luckily, you don’t
have to do it all manually. In this guide, I’ll take you through how to use EasyBib citation maker, a simple, reliable tool that gives you accurate citations.
What Is EasyBib and What Can It Do?
EasyBib is a widely used online tool for generating citations quickly and accurately. It supports major citation styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago, and works with a range of source types like books, websites, PDFs, and journal articles. The interface is simple, and you don’t need to create an account to use the free citation features. Signing in gives access to extras like grammar checks and plagiarism detection. I’ve used EasyBib for everything from quick website citations to building full bibliographies under deadline pressure. It usually formats sources well, though it’s always a good idea to double-check against specific assignment requirements.
Pros:
Completely free to use for basic citation generation
No sign-up needed
Supports multiple citation styles
Cons:
Ads can clutter the interface
Manual entry sometimes required for less common sources
How to Use EasyBib for Different Citation Needs
Whenever you’re switching between MLA for one class and EasyBib Chicago for another, EasyBib’s interface remains consistent and easy to navigate. It doesn’t change based on the type of assignment or academic level, which makes it reliable across different writing tasks. You can use it to generate citations for a wide variety of sources, including websites, books, PDFs, journal articles, and more. The process is the same each time, enter the source information, review the autofilled details, and generate the citation. It’s especially helpful when you’re citing multiple formats in one paper. The steps below will walk you through how to use EasyBib citation maker.
Citing a Website in MLA
Citing a webpage in Easybib MLA format is quick and straightforward, especially if you have the URL ready. EasyBib can automatically pull details like the page title, author, and publication date from most websites. Just paste the link, choose the correct result, and your citation is ready to go in under a minute.
Step 1: Go to Easybib’s Website Citation Tool
Step 2: Paste the full URL of the page you’re citing, then click “Search.” EasyBib will scan the page and pull relevant citation info.
Step 3: Review the details, fill in any missing fields (like the author or publication date), and click “Complete Citation.” Your formatted MLA citation will appear on screen.
Even when metadata is missing, EasyBib still works well as an MLA source citation generator, giving you full control over citation accuracy. I’ve used this when I needed to cite a government webpage for a policy report. It saved me at least 10 minutes.
Citing a Book Using ISBN
Books are just as simple to cite with EasyBib, especially if you have the ISBN on hand. Entering the ISBN lets EasyBib automatically fill in details like the title, author, and publisher. This saves you the time of typing everything manually and reduces the chance of errors. You can also search by title if the ISBN isn’t available.
Step 1: Go to Easybib’s Book Citation Page.
Step 2: Type or paste the ISBN, then click “Search”. EasyBib will automatically fetch the book title, author, and publisher.
Step 3: Make sure the edition and year are correct, then hit “Complete Citation”
This was especially useful for me when I had to build a source list for a literature review that pulled from five different editions of the same text.
Citing a PDF or Nontraditional Source
Some sources don’t have automatic metadata, like older documents, scans, or certain PDFs. In these cases, EasyBib’s manual citation option is the best solution. You simply choose the source type and enter the details yourself, author, title, date, and so on.
It takes a bit more time, but it ensures your citation is complete and accurate.
On EasyBib, choose “Manual Entry” and select the source type (book, article, or website).
Fill in the author, title, and publication details you can find within the PDF.
Mark the file type as PDF or indicate where the document was accessed if online. Finally click “Complete Citation” to generate the citation from there.
I’ve had to do this when citing PDFs shared by a professor or a research article scanned from a library archive.
Export Options
Once you’ve created your citations, you’ll want to get them into your document.
Step 1: After generating a citation, click “Copy & Paste” to grab the text. Alternatively you can click “Export” and either copy to Clipboard, Download as .docx, or “Save to Google Drive.”
Step 2: Paste your citations into your word processor.
For me, copying into WPS Writer was the easiest and most consistent option.
Formatting EasyBib Citations in WPS Writer
Once you’ve created your citations, you still need to make sure they look right on the page. WPS Writer is a great alternative to Microsoft Word, especially because it’s free and supports all the formatting you’ll need. WPS runs smoothly on most devices, doesn’t take up much space, and works just as well for academic papers as it does for casual note-taking. I’ve used it to finalize reference pages, especially when I wanted a clean layout without fumbling through menus. Here’s how to format your EasyBib citations cleanly in WPS Writer:
Step 1: If a source has no author, use the title instead. Shorten long titles in in-text citations and place them in quotation marks. The full title should appear in the Works Cited list.
Step 2: If there are no page numbers, include only the author’s name in the in-text citation. If it's mentioned in the sentence, there's no need to repeat it in parentheses.
Step 3: If a source doesn’t list a publication date, MLA recommends including the date you accessed the material instead. This should be added at the end of the Works Cited entry. The example below shows the proper formatting for this type of citation.
FAQs
Q1: Do I need to create an account to use EasyBib?
No, you can generate citations without logging in.
Q2: Can I cite PDFs or offline sources with EasyBib?
Yes. Use the “Manual Entry” option for sources like scanned books or offline documents.
Q3: How accurate are EasyBib citations?
They’re generally reliable, but you should still compare them with the official MLA or APA style guide.
Q4: Can I use EasyBib on mobile?
Yes, the site is mobile-friendly and works well on both iOS and Android browsers.
Q5: Does WPS Writer support citation management?
Not directly, but it works perfectly for formatting citations you’ve already created in EasyBib.
