Citation Checker for Harvard and APA Essays

What the citation checker does

It reads your text, finds the in-text citations in the author-date style used by Harvard and APA, such as (Smith, 2020) or Smith and Jones (2019), and compares them with the reference list at the end. It then tells you what does not line up.

• Sources cited in the text that are missing from the reference list.
• Sources where the author matches but the year does not, including a missing a or b after the year.
• Reference list entries you never cite in the text.
• Things to double-check, such as a missing year, a list that is not in alphabetical order, duplicates, and web addresses with no accessed date.

How to get the best result

1. Paste your full essay, including the reference list.
2. Put a heading such as References or Reference list above the list, on its own line.
3. Start each reference with the author's surname or the organisation name, and put each reference on its own line or in its own paragraph.
4. Press Check my citations, then fix the items in red first, then the ones in amber.

What it cannot do

• It only matches names and years. It does not check that a source exists, that you quoted it correctly, or that a page number is right.
• It works for author-date styles such as Harvard and APA. It does not check numbered styles such as IEEE or Vancouver, and it does not judge legal styles such as OSCOLA.
• Styles differ between universities, so it cannot tell you the exact format your department wants. Always compare your list with your own style guide.
• Names written in unusual ways, such as an organisation with a long name, may be missed or matched wrongly. Treat the result as a helpful checklist, not a mark.

Why matching citations matters

Markers notice sources that are cited but missing from the list, and the other way round. Both can cost marks for referencing, and an unreferenced source can look like missing credit. Checking before you submit is quick and removes an easy way to lose marks.