The 8 Most Common Citation Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Most citation errors aren't dramatic — they're small, easy to miss, and add up to lost marks. Here are the eight that come up most often, and how to fix each one. (A good citation generator handles most of them for you, but it helps to know what “correct” looks like.)

1. Mixing citation styles

Using APA in-text with MLA-style references, or switching mid-paper. Pick one style for the whole document and apply it consistently — then re-style the entire list at once if you need to switch.

2. Wrong author order or “et al.” misuse

Author order matters and shouldn't be alphabetized within a single reference. Each style also has its own rule for when to shorten to “et al.” — APA uses it for three or more authors in-text; MLA for three or more.

3. A missing or malformed DOI

A DOI should appear as a full link — https://doi.org/10.xxxx — with no “Retrieved from” in front of it (APA 7 dropped that). Leaving the DOI off a journal article entirely is a frequent deduction.

4. Title case vs. sentence case

In APA, article and book titles use sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized), while journal names use title case. Getting this backwards is one of the most common APA slips.

5. A reference list without in-text citations

Listing a source at the end isn't the same as citing it. Every source in your reference list should be cited in the text, and vice versa. Missing in-text citations read as unsupported claims — or worse, plagiarism.

6. Unnecessary access dates

APA only wants a retrieval date for content likely to change (e.g., a wiki or a live feed) — not for a stable journal article or a page with a publication date. Adding one everywhere is a giveaway that a citation wasn't checked.

7. The wrong source type

Citing a magazine as a journal (or a blog as a news article) produces a wrong-shaped citation — missing a volume, or adding one that doesn't exist. Confirm what the source actually is before you format it.

8. Fake or AI-invented sources

The newest and most damaging mistake: citing a source an AI tool made up. See How to Spot a Fake AI Citation, and run your list through Corroba Verify to catch anything that doesn't exist.