Citation Format Assistant

WHAT IT DOES

Citation Format Assistant extracts reference information, source content, or citation details from any page and uses advanced AI to generate properly formatted citations in your selected style (APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard). It identifies author, date, title, publisher, and other required elements, then formats them correctly for the source type. The tool also provides in-text citation examples when enabled—taking the guesswork out of academic referencing and ensuring your citations follow the right style guide.

WHERE IT RUNS

This tool operates as a userscript within the BotGentz extension framework, running directly in your browser on any website. It works on academic sources, journal articles, book descriptions, reference pages, websites, and virtually any content with source information. The tool integrates seamlessly into your workflow, appearing as a draggable panel that stays accessible as you research and write.

HOW TO USE

Select source information on the page and click "Get Source" to extract it automatically, or paste details directly into the panel. Select your preferred citation style from the dropdown menu (APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard). Configure your settings: toggle DOI or URL inclusion on or off, and toggle in-text citation example inclusion on or off. Click "Generate Citation" to send the content to the AI backend. Within moments, you'll receive a properly formatted citation. Use the "Copy Citation" button to paste it into your bibliography, works cited page, or references list.

TECHNICAL OPERATION

Citation Format Assistant employs a multi-strategy extraction pipeline that first checks for selected text, then attempts WebMCP (navigator.modelContext) when available—a W3C proposal for structured page content access—and falls back to full-page content extraction. The user's style preference, DOI/URL inclusion setting, and in-text citation toggle are encoded as system-level instructions in the prompt sent to the AI. The text is truncated to 8000 characters and transmitted via GM_xmlhttpRequest to the AI backend. The AI, specifically prompted as an academic citation specialist, scans the content to identify bibliographic elements including author names, publication dates, titles, publishers, journal names, volume and issue numbers, page numbers, DOIs, URLs, and access dates. It then applies the formatting rules of the selected citation style, organizing elements in the correct order, applying appropriate punctuation and italicization, and handling multi-author entries, editions, and other special cases. When enabled, it generates both the full reference and a parenthetical or narrative in-text citation example. Each request is authenticated with a subscription key and counts against your monthly usage cap.

THE PANEL

The Citation Format Assistant panel is fully draggable and remembers its position between sessions using GM_setValue. It snaps to the edge of the viewport for a clean interface and can be collapsed to a small icon when not in use. The panel is resizable to accommodate longer content. Press Escape to quickly close or collapse the panel. The design is optimized for productivity with a dark theme, clear visual hierarchy, and responsive controls that adapt to your workflow.

PLEASE NOTE

This tool requires the free BotGentz extension installed in your browser and an active subscription to access the AI backend. AI-generated citations are intended as aids and should be verified against the official style guide for accuracy, especially for complex source types or recent style updates. The tool may not handle all citation edge cases or special formats. Always double-check citations before submission. No page data is stored or transmitted beyond the content you explicitly submit for formatting. All processing occurs through secure HTTPS connections, and your subscription key is never exposed to the page context.