Add citations to your document

Adding citations and a bibliography to documents can be time-consuming. You can quickly add these right from Google Docs using your preferred citation format (MLA, APA, or Chicago). Note: Some autogenerated text is not translated and remains in English, for example the Bibliography title. Examples Add your sources and in-line citations to your research, papers, proposals, projects, grants, and more. Automatically add a bibliography based on your added sources.

Open the citation tool

1. In Docs, open a document.
2. Click ToolsCitations.
3. Select a formatting style.

Add a citation source

1. In the Citations sidebar, click + Add citation source.
2. Select the source type and how you accessed the source.
3. Enter the citation details. To add multiple contributors, click + Contributor.
4. If a contributor is an organization rather than an individual, click Corporation/organization.
5. Click Add citation source.

Add an in-text citation

1. In your document, place your cursor where you want the citation to appear.
2. In the Citations sidebar, point to the source and click Cite.
3. If # appears in your citation, replace it with the page number for your citation or delete it.

Edit a citation source

1. In the Citations sidebar, point to the source that you want to edit and click More Edit.
2. Edit any details and click Save source.

Delete a citation source

In the Citations sidebar, point to the source that you want to delete and click More Delete.

Add a bibliography

1. In your document, place your cursor where you want the bibliography to appear.
2. In the Citations sidebar, at the bottom, click Insert bibliography.