Check Your Citations Against
Your Reference List — Free
The fastest free online citation checker for students. Paste your academic document or upload a PDF / DOCX file and instantly detect every mismatch between your in-text citations and your reference list — author errors, year errors, missing entries, unreferenced items, and style warnings.
Supports APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, and more. No credit card required.
Free plan: 2 checks/day · First 10 citations shown · Uploaded documents: first 5 pages
What Our Citation Checker Detects
Our AI-powered citation validator identifies every type of citation error that examiners and supervisors look for — the same checks performed by tools like ReciteWorks, but completely free.
Matched Citations
In-text citation found in the reference list with the correct author name and publication year. No action needed.
Missing References
Citation appears in the body of your document but has no corresponding entry in your reference list — a common cause of marks being deducted.
Author Name Mismatch
The year matches a reference entry but the author name is spelled differently or is missing a co-author.
Year Mismatch
The author matches a reference entry but the publication year cited in the text is different from the year in the reference list.
Style / Format Warning
Citation found but has formatting issues — missing comma, wrong bracket style, incorrect use of 'et al.', or inconsistent punctuation.
Unreferenced List Entry
A reference list entry that is never cited anywhere in the body of the document. May indicate a ghost reference or a forgotten deletion.
How to Check Your Citations in 3 Steps
Our free citation checker is designed to be as simple as possible — no complex setup, no software to install, no account required to try.
Paste text or upload your document
Copy and paste your full academic document — including the References or Bibliography section — into the text box. Or upload a PDF, DOCX, or TXT file directly. Free users can upload documents up to 5 pages.
Our AI cross-checks every citation
The AI extracts all in-text citations (e.g., Smith, 2021; Jones et al., 2019) and all reference list entries, then matches each citation to its corresponding reference — flagging any discrepancies.
Review colour-coded results and fix errors
Results are displayed with colour-coded badges: green for matched, red for missing or mismatched, orange for year errors, and yellow for style warnings. Fix each issue before submitting your work.
Why Students Choose Our Free Citation Checker
Compared to ReciteWorks and other paid tools, our citation cross-checker gives you the same core validation completely free — with no word limits on pasted text and support for all major citation styles.
APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago & More
Automatically detects the citation style in your document. Supports APA 7th, MLA 9th, Harvard, Chicago 17th, Vancouver, IEEE, and AMA.
PDF & DOCX Upload
Upload your dissertation, essay, or research paper directly as a PDF or DOCX file. No copy-pasting required. Free plan checks the first 5 pages.
Results in Under 30 Seconds
Our AI processes your entire document and returns colour-coded citation results in seconds — far faster than manual checking.
"Cited in document" Count
Each reference entry shows exactly how many times it is cited in the body text — helping you spot over-cited and under-cited sources.
Score Out of 100
Get an overall citation accuracy score so you can quickly assess the health of your reference list before submission.
Free — No Credit Card Needed
The free plan gives you 2 checks per day with the first 10 citations and 10 references shown. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited checks.
Free Citation Checker vs ReciteWorks vs Manual Checking
See how our free tool compares to ReciteWorks and the alternative of checking citations manually.
| Feature | Our Free Tool | ReciteWorks | Manual Checking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (Pro from $9.99/mo) | Paid subscription | Free |
| PDF / DOCX Upload | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago | ✅ All styles | ✅ All styles | ⚠️ Error-prone |
| Author mismatch detection | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Time-consuming |
| Year mismatch detection | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Time-consuming |
| Missing reference detection | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Easy to miss |
| Unreferenced entry detection | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Easy to miss |
| Citation accuracy score | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Results in seconds | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ Hours |
| No account required to try | ✅ Yes | ❌ Account required | ✅ Yes |
Supported Citation Styles
Our citation checker automatically detects which style your document uses and validates accordingly. No manual style selection required.
APA 7th
American Psychological Association — most common in social sciences, psychology, and education.
MLA 9th
Modern Language Association — standard for humanities, literature, and language arts.
Harvard
Author-date system widely used in UK and Australian universities across all disciplines.
Chicago 17th
Notes and bibliography or author-date — used in history, arts, and humanities.
Vancouver
Numbered reference system used in medicine, nursing, and health sciences.
IEEE
Numbered citation style used in engineering, computer science, and technology.
Who Uses Our Citation Checker?
Undergraduate Students
Check essays, lab reports, and coursework before submission to avoid losing marks for citation errors.
Postgraduate Researchers
Validate dissertations, theses, and research papers with long reference lists before final submission.
Academic Writers
Ensure journal article manuscripts have perfectly matched citations and references before peer review.
Lecturers & Supervisors
Quickly check student submissions for citation consistency before providing feedback.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about our free citation cross-checker.