It’s no secret that citations can be tough to get right, even if you’re experienced with them. With all the different styles out there, not to mention the different ways that they’re written, doing them by hand can be an exercise in futility.

Luckily, there are all sorts of add-ons out there for Firefox which aim to make this process a little less painful. All you have to do is find the source you want to cite and let the add-on do the rest.

Of all the add-ons Firefox has to offer, here are some of the very best that you can try.

1. Cite This!

First up on this list comes Cite This!, a Firefox add-on that aims to take the difficulty out of citing sources by doing it for you.

Cite This! is one of the more popular citation tools available for Firefox, and for good reason. Cite This! features a number of useful little features for you to take advantage of while still remaining quick and easy to use.

Firstly, you can choose how exactly you’re looking to cite a webpage, with a range of different citation styles available. There are only six options here, but the most common styles such as APA, MLA, and Harvard are all supported.

You can add each website you visit to a list so that you only have to copy and paste the one thing, or just add each citation individually. You can change the date format as well so that it matches up with your region or personal preference.

It is worth noting that Cite This! is a Firefox add-on that doesn’t operate through the usual system of being accessible through a shortcut. Instead, Cite This! is accessible from the Firefox sidebars.

This isn’t too big a change from many other add-ons, and once you get used to how it works, it gives the add-on plenty of space to operate out of. Initially, however, this might be a little confusing for some of you if you’re not particularly familiar with the systems in play.

2. Hero Citation Generator

Next up, we have Hero Citation Generator. If you’re looking for a useful little tool with some different citation styles available and a wide range of different media options, then Hero Citation Generator might just be what you’re looking for.

Using Hero Citation Generator is pretty easy. When you install it, a button will be added to the add-on bar as per usual. It’s only when you interact with the button that you’ll find the sidebar pop out for you to begin your citing.

You’ll be prompted to first choose a citation style. There are five options here, with Chicago and IEEE styles both being included, which is important if you need to cite in those styles.

From there, you have the option to choose what type of citation you want. Hero Citation Generator supports not just website citations, but also journal, book, newspaper, report, and image citations as well.

If you've ever tried to figure out how to cite a YouTube video in APA and MLA style, then you know how tricky this can sometimes be. Luckily, if you need to cite not just websites but a combination of different online media, then Hero Citation Generator has you covered.

Once you’ve input your webpage, you’re good to go. There are plenty of ways to customize this here, with pretty much any field you can think of being adjustable. This gives you a lot of control over the end result, which can be important in case the rule gets something just a little wrong.

3. BibItNow!

If you’re a bit of a power user, or are just looking for a Firefox add-on that will really let you customize how exactly it works, then BibItNow! is a phenomenal add-on with a lot of customizability.

BibItNow! can be accessed easily using the add-on menu, and pops out neatly over whatever website it is that you’re currently on. There are seven different citation styles included here, with plenty of less commonly seen styles included.

This alone makes BibItNow! easy to use and easy to interact with, as the required citation is generated practically instantly. If that’s all you needed from your Firefox add-on, then BibItNow! would be a solid option to quickly generate citations.

Where BibItNow! excels, however, is in just how many options it gives you to play with. While there are seven citation styles to choose from, for example, you can easily add or remove more styles from the list.

There are formatting options you can tweak, for individual styles and globally, as well as options for abbreviating dates and journals, and limiting the number of authors shown down to a manageable size.

If you’re looking for a citation generator that will give you a lot of control over just what it outputs, then BibItNow! is a great choice to do just that.

4. Cital Citation Generator

Finally, we have Cital Citation Generator. If you’re the type of person who finds themselves frequently needing to cite papers, then Cital Citation Generator is a great option to do just that, especially if you’re looking to include the Digital Object Identifier System (DOI).

Accessing Cital Citation Generator is easy, with the actual add-on popping out easily and cleanly whenever you want it. There are five different citation styles supported by the add-on: BibTeX, MLA, Vancouver, Harvard, and APA.

There is also support for multiple languages. Much like some of the best Google Docs add-ons to improve your citation and bibliography, this can do a lot to elevate your work.

Cital Citation Generator’s biggest appeal, however, is that all you need to use it is just the DOI of any paper. It will take a moment to look it up, but once the add-on finds the correct paper, you’ll be entirely set.

If you find yourself using DOI a lot, then Cital Citation Generator is a great way to easily cite the papers that you’re viewing.

Never Cite Manually Again

As you can see, there are a lot of add-ons for Firefox that allow you to easily, quickly, and freely generate citations, no matter what your exact requirements are.

Whether you’re looking into research papers or websites, journals or something else, there are plenty of different add-ons out there that can take the pain out of having to cite for yourself.