📚 MLA to Chicago Citation Converter
Convert MLA citations to Chicago Notes-Bibliography & Author-Date styles instantly
| Element | MLA 9th Format | Chicago NB Format | Chicago AD Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Author (Bibliography/Works Cited) | Last, First. | Last, First. | Last, First. |
| 1 Author (Footnote/In-Text) | (Last page#) | First Last, Title, page#. | (Last Year, page#) |
| 2 Authors | Last, First, and First Last. | Last, First, and First Last. | Last, First, and First Last. |
| 3+ Authors | Last, First, et al. | Last, First, et al. | Last, First, et al. |
| Book Title | Italicized Title | Italicized Title | Italicized Title |
| Article / Chapter Title | "Quoted Title." | "Quoted Title," | "Quoted Title." |
| Journal Name | Italicized Journal | Italicized Journal | Italicized Journal |
| Publication Place | Omitted (MLA 9th) | City: Publisher | City: Publisher |
| Year Position | Near end | Near end / after publisher | After author name |
| URL / DOI | doi:... or URL. | https://doi.org/... | https://doi.org/... |
| Source | MLA Works Cited | Chicago NB Bibliography | Chicago NB Footnote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-author book | Smith, John. Title. Publisher, 2021. | Smith, John. Title. City: Publisher, 2021. | 1. John Smith, Title (City: Publisher, 2021), page. |
| Journal article | Garcia, Maria. "Title." Journal vol. 15, no. 3, 2022, pp. 45–62. | Garcia, Maria. "Title." Journal 15, no. 3 (2022): 45–62. | 1. Maria Garcia, "Title," Journal 15, no. 3 (2022): 47. |
| Chapter in book | Williams, Robert. "Chapter." Book, edited by Sarah Davis, Publisher, 2020, pp. 88–110. | Williams, Robert. "Chapter." In Book, edited by Sarah Davis, 88–110. City: Publisher, 2020. | 1. Robert Williams, "Chapter," in Book, ed. Sarah Davis (City: Publisher, 2020), 90. |
| Website article | Taylor, Lisa. "Title." Site Name, 2023, URL. Accessed March 15, 2024. | Taylor, Lisa. "Title." Site Name. 2023. Accessed March 15, 2024. URL. | 1. Lisa Taylor, "Title," Site Name, 2023, accessed March 15, 2024, URL. |
| Newspaper | Anderson, James. "Title." The New York Times, 2024, p. A1. | Anderson, James. "Title." The New York Times, 2024. | 1. James Anderson, "Title," New York Times, 2024. |
| Thesis | Martinez, Elena. "Title." PhD diss., Harvard University, 2022. | Martinez, Elena. "Title." PhD diss., Harvard University, 2022. | 1. Elena Martinez, "Title" (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2022), page. |
| Feature | Notes-Bibliography (NB) | Author-Date (AD) | Typical Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-text citation | Superscript number (footnote) | (Author Year, page) | — |
| End list title | Bibliography | References | — |
| Year position (book) | After publisher | After author name | — |
| Common in | Humanities, History, Arts | Sciences, Social Sciences | Varies |
| Repeated citations | Ibid. / shortened note | (Author Year) | — |
| Long quotation indent | Block quote, indented 0.5 in | Block quote, indented 0.5 in | Both same |
Citation converters do only one basic task: they take your references and change them from one style to another. Say that you have quotes in APA format, but the next essay needs MLA style… This is where such programs really shine.
DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, I receive a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
They also work to convert identifiers, like PMIDs, into a form that Excel can use. Instead of manually rewriting your whole bibliography at every change of format these programs handle the trouble and help you save hours of boring work.
What Citation Generators Do
How do most of these programs work? Very simply. You enter a title, URL, ISBN or DOI, and it finds the needed information from those sources.
The program searches the names of authors, date of publication and all other parts that you need for a correct quote. Best of all, some of them work as extensions for browsers, while you read an article and want a quote, one tap creates it right on the spot.
Finding free versions is not a problem. There is a wide range of citation programs that support APA, MLA Citation, Chicago Citation, Turabian, Harvard and IEEE formats. One of them, especially notable, accepts more than 10 000 different citation styles, without ads, without needing to download a program and without having to create an account.
Another one covers more than 1 000 styles, making sure that APA, MLA Citation, Chicago Citation and ASA are all covered. These generators work well with books, journal artilces, websites and videos, without any troubles.
It is worth noting that new generators follow the updates of style guides. Some match the standards of APA 7th edition. Others accept both MLA 7th and 8th editions.
There is even one that supports APA 6th and 7th, MLA 7th and 8th, Chicago Citation 17th and Vancouver style, all at once. That matters, because rules about citation format commonly change, sometimes a lot, from one edition too the next.
Beyond the basic features, some programs add useful extras. Live preview viewers let you check how the quote will look before you finish it. One of them goes across several sources at once and can add in-text quotes right into your document.
Others go further, checking your quotes and references for mistakes using artificial intelligence or human experts.
But here is the main warning, citation generators are not perfect. Sometimes they make mistakes that are totally clear. If you do not understand the rules of citation, noticing such mistakes becomes almost impossible.
Learning the basics of citation styles, at least as backup, is really worth the effort.
One problem that commonly comes up is the need to manually type in all details about authors, first letters, full names, everything down to the last detail. The ideal would be a program that takes rough notes and automatically fills in the citation info. Some do that better than others, but the problem still stays.
Citation guides help to work together with these generators. They lead you through the format of papers, building of a working bibliography, creation of pages about cited works and writing of full and in-text quotes, with clear samples at every stage. Pairing a good guide withyour generator gives the best chance for getting everything done right.
