Check the author
Make sure the generator did not confuse a publisher, site owner or username with the actual author. If an organization is responsible for the page, verify that the required style allows it to be used as the author.
Check the exact title
Copy the page title from the source itself, not a search result. Search engines sometimes shorten titles or append a site name that should not be reproduced as part of the source title.
Check the date
Confirm that the date belongs to the specific item. A footer copyright year is not automatically a publication date. If the source is undated, follow the style’s rule for missing dates rather than inventing one.
Check punctuation and formatting
APA, MLA and Chicago differ in capitalization, quotation marks, italics, date order and punctuation. A generated citation can contain the correct facts while still requiring style-specific correction.
Check the source type and URL
Ask whether the item is really an ordinary webpage. A journal article, report, book chapter, video or database entry may need a different pattern. Use a stable or canonical URL when the source provides one.
A 30-second verification routine
Before submitting, open the source and compare five fields: author, title, date, site or container, and URL. Then check capitalization and punctuation against one trusted example from the required style. This short review catches most generator mistakes without forcing you to rebuild every citation manually.
Related resources
Reviewed: October 2026. CurioLift explanations are educational; when a school, instructor or required style guide uses different rules, those rules take priority.