Citing your sources is a vital part of writing, and Citation Machine helps organize your references. But how well does the platform work, and is the website worth your time? After all, you want a citation generator that is accurate, especially if you’re writing college essays.
You could always manually create the citations for your sources. However, that takes a lot of time. Although you’ll still have to enter the correct information for citation generators to work, it’s a lot faster than creating them manually.
And when you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, a generator to help build the works cited in your writing is exceptionally useful.
What Is Citation Machine?
Citation Machine is a tool that helps organize citations properly according to the requested output style. By inputting the recommended information, the app will put together a list you can copy or export to show cited sources within your essay, blog post, or other professional content.
You can use the app with or without signing up for a free account. However, upgrading to Citation Machine Plus removes ads and includes the use of the tool’s plagiarism checker and writing assistant, which I’ll mention here in a moment.
So, if you’re in college or otherwise planning to write a lot of essays in the near future, it may be worth the $9.99 per month to upgrade your account.
7 Pros and Cons of Citation Machine
Free Citation Generator
Citation Machine is a free generator to help you create source pages according to a variety of formats. The platform uses advertisements to keep the generator free to use, but has a paid service that removes those ads.
The generator has a very long list of supported citation styles, so there is a very good chance the style you need will be available for your specific project.
I would list them, but seriously, that would take all day. The bottom line is that there are a lot of styles available for free.
Easy to Use
Citation Machine is relatively simple to use. The only real issue is how the style defaults to APA when you first visit the site, which I’ll go over in a moment.
As long as you have the relevant information on hand for your source, the app will put it together according to the format you need. You can select the format from the available drop-down box.
One element that makes this particular reference citation generator user-friendly is that the app uses yellow colored boxes to highlight required fields for most citations. You can fill in as much as you want, but the highlighted fields are often necessary for college work and beyond.
Of course, this also depends on the format you’re using. Not all source pages will require the same fields. For instance, APA and MLA are very different formats.
Many Sources to Choose From
Citation Machine has a long list of source types you can choose from, such as website, book, journal, newspaper, online database, film, and many more. This list of sources you can cite is quite long, and all of them have the pertinent information you’ll need to properly cite your work.
Essentially, you just pick what source you need, input the base information, locate the source in the list from Citation Machine, and input as much information as you can, starting with the highlighted fields. It’s quite an easy process, as long as you have the source’s information on hand.
If you can’t find a source type, you can always enter the information manually by selecting “Write/paste citation” from the bottom of the list. Then, you can input the information yourself, but it’s advisable that you know how to format your citation for the correct style.
For instance, APA is not the same as MLA, and professors will dock you points in college. No one else will really notice if this is for a blog post or a web page.
Nonetheless, correctly creating citations does lend to credibility and expertise. So, make sure you’re formatting your work correctly, regardless of the content you’re creating.
Temporary Citation Memory
As I pointed out earlier, you don’t need to sign up for an account on Citation Machine to use the app. And the system will remember you for a short period of time, saving your list of citations even without an account.
It doesn’t last very long, as I’ve only seen it work for about a week or so before the citations are cleared. However, it’s nice to know that I can go back to the page tomorrow and copy the citations again should something happen to my paper.
Of course, I never shut down my computer, so the citations could have been stored within the browser session itself. Yet, I have closed the browser window and returned to the site to see the list available.
Copy or Export All
There are two ways you can use Citation Machine to retrieve your references. You can either use the “Copy All” option, which copies the citations to your computer’s clipboard. Or, you can use the Export All option, which allows you to save the sources as a DOCX file.
Most writing apps can use DOCX file types, so it’s a good choice if you just want a single page outside of your essay or writing project.
When I copy all and then paste the sources into LibreOffice, they come out clean and organized. In one instance, however, I had to change half of the sources back to Times New Roman after pasting. The copy function only did this the one time, but I wanted to point out that it’s possible.
The issue could have come from LibreOffice itself, but I am unable to duplicate what happened. So, I’m not entirely sure where the fault lies when pasting the source.
Dealing with Advertisements
With most free citation generators, you’ll have to deal with a level of advertisements that help the developer keep those tools free. However, Citation Machine seems to take it a step further.
Not only do you have several ads along the sides and bottom of the site, but you also have the occasional pop-up, full-screen ad that you have to close. In one instance, I had to shut down one immediately after another. Periodically, you’ll also have to watch a video ad before you can proceed, which often takes between 30 and 60 seconds.
In some instances, I found the overabundance of ads to be distracting while slowing the performance of the page itself.
I don’t mind ads, especially if they are what help power a free app. However, I feel that Citation Machine can take it down a notch and still be highly profitable.
Citation Style is APA by Default
When first visiting the Citation Machine, you’ll have to create the citation in APA format at the beginning. However, you’ll be able to change it once you submit the initial source.
In other words, you can’t adjust the format until after you submit the first sourced material. The generator can be confusing at first, especially if you need sources cited in MLA format.
After you change the format style, the app works quite well for organizing your sources.
In my case, I just bookmarked the MLA source page for future use, as that will be the format throughout the majority of my bachelor’s degree.
What Else Can Citation Machine Do For You?
Citation Machine is more than just an app that organizes your sources. The tool also has a plagiarism and grammar checker as well as a writing assistant. However, the plagiarism checker didn’t work nearly as well as I was hoping when tested.
When I uploaded a 2200-word essay, Citation Machine seemed to get stuck on checking the paper. After roughly three hours, it was still on the checking screen.
I tried a shorter block of text, about 78 words, and the plagiarism checker hung on it as well. So, I’m not sure if the plagiarism checker is working at the time of this article.
Since I’m only reviewing the source citation function, I’m not overly concerned with this feature. But it does greatly decrease the chances of me upgrading my account. I wouldn’t want to pay $10 per month for an incomplete experience, especially when there are plenty of working plagiarism checkers on the Internet.
On a side note, I finally got the plagiarism checker tool to work by reloading the page. It’s a bit inconvenient, but it’s something to try if you’re having a similar problem.
Though, I also need to point out that you can’t actually view the plagiarism information without upgrading. The tool will still highlight grammatical mistakes similarly to how Grammarly works, but identifying where the work is plagiarized is unavailable in the free version of Citation Machine.
The writing assistant has the capacity to help paraphrase, lengthen, or shorten selected text. You can also add quotes, should you have any you’d like to include. I wouldn’t use anything like that, as I prefer to learn and fix text myself rather than hand the reins over to an algorithm. However, the option is there if you need it and isn’t too shabby of a tool.
I would like to point out how the writing assistant is somewhat limited depending on the bulk of text you submit. After submitting a 78-word paragraph, the tool could only remove two words from the piece. Yet, that could also be a result of the sample size.
You might get more use out of the writing assistant by pasting larger portions of text.
Would I Continue to Use Citation Machine?
I’ve written three papers for college thus far that needed MLA format, and have used the Citation Machine generator to structure the source page in all of them. The generator works well for listing cited works, and you have access to a variety of formats.
The hardest part about using the app is the fact that the advertisements in the free account can be intrusive at times. Aside from that, however, the platform is great as a reference citation generator.
Perhaps the biggest selling points include:
- You don’t need to sign up to use Citation Machine
- The tool provides the recommended fields for proper citations
- You can copy or export your citation list
In a nutshell, that’s all you really need from a citation generator. It may be nice to have a built-in plagiarism checker that works without reloading the page after an hour, but as a generator, Citation Machine works well.
Now, I highly doubt I would upgrade Citation Machine simply because the plagiarism checker doesn’t seem to be working. And I have a thing about tossing money at a company for incomplete products.
Nonetheless, I’ll probably keep using Citation Machine until I come across a better alternative that fits my needs. But so far, this is the one I use the most. It’s easy to use and formats according to type perfectly.
Always Cite Your Work
Citing your work not only makes you look more professional, but it also lends to your credibility. While anecdotal personal claims may help drive an argument forward, citing actual information from solid sources makes a world of difference.
Citation Machine is a free platform that helps you build properly structured and formatted lists for your papers, which your college professors and instructors are going to appreciate.
Regardless of the method you choose, though, always cite your facts and sources. It’s a great way to avoid being called “fake” when covering virtually any topic while improving your reputation in the field and/or industry.
Whether you’re just including a link in your blog post to an authoritative page or creating a reference section using a citation manager, cite your sources.
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