APA Citation Check: citations and references that match
It checks your in-text citations, your reference entries and whether they match, and marks every finding as a correction or a point to review.
Short breaks are linked to better concentration (Smith 2019).
Short breaks are linked to better concentration (Smith, 2019).
APA 7 separates the author and the year with a comma in a parenthetical citation. Only the punctuation changes.
Structured breaks may support learning (Weber, 2023).
Weber, L. (2022). Learning with structure. Example Press.
The citation says 2023, the reference says 2022. That can be a typo or two editions. Check the original source before you change either date.
Illustrative sample with fictional citations written for this page. Your report lists every finding in this format, either as a correction or as a point to review.
Check the citation, then check its source
A second pair of eyes for the details that are easy to miss after many revisions.
Citation to reference
Finds citations without a reference entry and references that no citation uses, and flags differing years or authors.
APA 7 in-text citations
Reviews punctuation, "et al.", year suffixes such as 2020a and page numbers for direct quotations.
Reference entries
Checks the formatting of each entry and points out missing information such as a year or a publisher.
Corrections before and after
A pure formatting fix appears as a correction, with the citation or entry shown before and after.
Review points
Where only the original source can settle it, the finding is marked for review. The tool never changes authors, titles, years, pages or DOIs.
A report to keep
Download all findings as a text file and go through them in your own editor. One payment per text, no account.
From draft to checked references in three steps
Add text and references
Paste or upload your text, then paste your reference list. You see the price before you pay.
Pay and wait a moment
After card payment the check runs right away. We email you a private link to the result.
Correct and verify
Apply the corrections you agree with, check every review point against the original source, then fix your document.
What this tool does not do
It does not certify APA compliance
It works on plain text. Italics, hanging indents, page layout, footnotes and text inside images are out of reach, and it can miss errors or flag correct entries. AI can make mistakes.
It does not look up your sources
There is no internet lookup, so it does not verify that a source exists or supports your claim. To see whether a reference exists, use the free Source Check.
Data handling: your text and reference list are processed only after payment. They are sent to Anthropic, the provider of the Claude AI model, to create the findings, stored encrypted on our server and deleted together with the result 72 hours after completion. Details in the privacy policy.
Other ways to finish your paper
Source Check
Free check of up to 20 references against Crossref. See the matched DOI, title, authors and year.
Open Source CheckCitation Generator
Free APA 7, MLA 9, Harvard, and Chicago citations. Fetch by DOI, export to Word, RIS and BibTeX.
Create a citationAI Proofreading
Spelling, grammar and punctuation corrections, each shown beside your original with a reason.
Proofread textQuestions about the APA Citation Check
$0.19 per page of 1,800 characters, with a minimum order of $2.90. Your text and your reference list count together. You can submit up to 60,000 characters of text and 30,000 of references. You see the exact price before you pay. It is a one-off payment, not a subscription.
Short texts are usually ready within about a minute after payment. We also email you a private link to the result, so you can come back to it later.
No. It catches common problems and points to them, but it does not certify compliance. APA also has details that depend on layout, such as italics and hanging indents, which plain text cannot show. Your style guide and your instructor come first.
No. There is no internet lookup. It compares your citations with your own reference list and checks the formatting. To look up whether a reference exists, use the free Source Check, which compares entries with Crossref records.
That depends on your university and your instructor. Some courses allow AI help with formatting and require you to disclose it, others do not. Check your course rules first. If disclosure is required, the free AI usage statement tool helps you document it.
After payment your text and reference list are sent to Anthropic, the provider of the Claude AI model, to create the findings. We store them encrypted and delete them together with the result 72 hours after completion. If processing fails, we refund your payment in full.
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