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Chicago N-B to MLA converter

Paste Chicago N-B references, get MLA. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in Chicago N-B and get them back in MLA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: footnotes in-text citations become author–page citations, your “Bibliography” list becomes “Works Cited” and author names are written as in MLA (first author inverted with full names, the second in normal order). CiteSwap looks each reference up in the open Crossref catalogue, so authors, years and page numbers come from the publisher’s record rather than being rewritten by hand.

Chicago N-B vs MLA: the same sources side by side

Each example below was formatted by CiteSwap’s engine, exactly as the converter outputs it.

Journal article

Chicago N-B

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science 354, no. 6317 (2016): 1288–92. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

Footnote: Tavneet Suri and William Jack, “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money,” Science 354, no. 6317 (2016): 1290, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

MLA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science, vol. 354, no. 6317, Dec. 2016, pp. 1288–92, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 1290)

Book

Chicago N-B

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann, 1958.

Footnote: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann, 1958), 1290.

MLA

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann, 1958.

In-text: (Achebe 1290)

Web page

Chicago N-B

World Health Organization. “Malaria.” December 4, 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

Footnote: World Health Organization, “Malaria,” December 4, 2023, 1290, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

MLA

World Health Organization. Malaria. 4 Dec. 2023, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

In-text: (World Health Organization 1290)

Key differences between Chicago N-B and MLA

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleChicago N-BMLA
Reference list headingBibliographyWorks Cited
In-text citationssuperscript note numbers linked to footnotes or endnotes that give the sourceauthor and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290)
Author namesFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William JackFirst author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack
Many authorsList up to six authors; for seven or more, the first three followed by “et al.”Three or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”
DateNear the end: in parentheses after the issue for journals, after the publisher for booksNear the end, after the journal or publisher details
ItalicsJournal and book titlesContainers: journal, website and book titles
Journal namesFull journal name, volume, then “no.” for the issueFull journal name in title case, followed by vol. and no.
Page rangesShortened range after a colon, e.g. 1288–92Shortened range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI as a link: https://doi.org/…DOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also accepted
List order(same)Alphabetical by first author’s surnameAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Title capitalisation(same)Title caseTitle case
Article titles(same)In quotation marks, title caseIn quotation marks, title case

When to use MLA

MLA is the usual choice for English literature, modern languages and other humanities subjects, where quoting and pinpointing pages matters more than dates. It is published by the Modern Language Association; CiteSwap follows the 9th edition (2021).

Chicago N-B is more common in history, the arts, philosophy, while MLA is usual in literature, languages, cultural studies. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

Chicago N-B to MLA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert Chicago N-B citations to MLA?

Paste your Chicago N-B reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says Chicago N-B or Auto-detect and “To” says MLA, then press Convert. You can also paste DOIs, BibTeX or RIS. Copy the result or download it for Word.

How do in-text citations change from Chicago N-B to MLA?

Chicago N-B uses superscript note numbers linked to footnotes or endnotes that give the source. MLA uses author and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290). For the same article and page: Chicago N-B gives Tavneet Suri and William Jack, “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money,” Science 354, no. 6317 (2016): 1290, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309., MLA gives (Suri and Jack 1290).

What is the reference list called in MLA?

In Chicago N-B the list is headed “Bibliography”; in MLA it is “Works Cited”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

How are author names written in MLA?

MLA: First author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. Chicago N-B: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. When a reference is matched in Crossref, CiteSwap uses full first names from the publisher’s record, so it can produce either form.

How are DOIs and URLs written in MLA?

MLA: DOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also accepted. Chicago N-B: DOI as a link: https://doi.org/…. The converter rewrites DOIs in MLA format for you.

Is the Chicago N-B to MLA converter accurate?

Each reference is matched against the Crossref catalogue (over 150 million records) and only accepted automatically when the title, year and first author agree. Anything uncertain is marked “Needs review” so you can pick the right match, and references that aren’t in the catalogue, like websites or local journals, are parsed from your text and marked so you can check them.