Citation Generator on Selection

WHAT IT DOES

Citation Generator on Selection detects text you select on any webpage and generates properly formatted citations in four popular academic styles — APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard. The tool automatically extracts metadata from the page including the title, author, publication date, and URL, then combines this with your selected text to create complete citations. Each citation is displayed with a copy-to-clipboard button, making it easy to paste into research papers, essays, or bibliographies without manual formatting.

WHERE IT RUNS

This extension works on any website across the entire web. It functions on articles, blog posts, news sites, academic papers, and any page with text content. The tool works across all domains and adapts to dynamically loaded content, making it ideal for students, researchers, and anyone who needs to cite web sources.

HOW TO USE

Install the extension and navigate to any webpage with content you want to cite. Select the text you want to reference — this could be a sentence, paragraph, or quote. Click "Generate from Selection" in the overlay panel. The tool extracts metadata from the page and generates citations in all four formats. Use the overlay panel to customize your preferences: select a default citation format (APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard), toggle whether the URL is included in citations, toggle whether the access date is included, and choose to show all formats or only your default format. Click the "Copy" button next to any citation to copy it to your clipboard. The results area shows the source metadata and the formatted citations.

TECHNICAL SECTION — METADATA EXTRACTION AND CITATION FORMATTING

The extension uses a multi-strategy metadata extraction engine to gather information from the page. It searches for author information in meta tags (name="author"), byline elements, and author class attributes. Publication dates are extracted from date meta tags, time elements, and date class attributes. The page title is retrieved from document.title, and the publisher is extracted from Open Graph site_name, brand elements, or the hostname. For the selected text, the tool captures the exact text selection. Each citation format is generated according to standard academic style guides: APA (author, date, title, URL), MLA (author, title, website, date, URL, access date), Chicago (author, title, modification date, URL), and Harvard (author, date, title, URL, access date). All formatting is applied consistently, and users can toggle optional elements like URL and access date.

THE PANEL — DRAG / PER-SITE POSITION / SNAP / COLLAPSE / RESIZE / ESCAPE

The overlay panel is fully interactive and designed for seamless multitasking. Drag it anywhere on the screen using the handle at the top of the panel; the position is saved per site so it stays where you left it across sessions. The panel includes a snap-to-edge feature that gently anchors the overlay to the nearest screen edge when released. Click the collapse button to minimize the panel to a compact pill showing the current citation status; expand it again with a single click. Resize the panel vertically by dragging the bottom-right corner to view more controls. Press the Escape key at any time to instantly close the overlay; it reappears on the next page navigation or refresh.

PLEASE NOTE

This extension requires the free BotGentz companion extension to function, as it provides the underlying content script injection and cross-origin communication framework. No personal data, browsing history, or selected text is stored, transmitted, or shared. All text processing and citation generation occurs entirely locally in your browser; no information is sent to any external server. Settings are stored locally in your browser using GM_setValue and are never sent to any external server. The extension does not access or store login credentials, financial data, or personally identifiable information. The generated citations are formatted according to general style guide rules but may not perfectly match specific version requirements. Users should verify citations against their institution's style guide. The tool relies on visible metadata on the page and may not always capture complete author or date information.