Output Formats

OneCite supports multiple citation formats. This guide explains each format and how to use them.

Supported Formats

OneCite currently supports three primary citation formats:

  1. BibTeX - for LaTeX/Overleaf documents

  2. APA - American Psychological Association style

  3. MLA - Modern Language Association style

BibTeX Format

BibTeX is the standard format for LaTeX documents.

Format Specification

@article{LeCun2015Deep,
  doi = "10.1038/nature14539",
  title = "Deep Learning",
  author = "LeCun, Yann and Bengio, Yoshua and Hinton, Geoffrey",
  journal = "Nature",
  year = 2015,
  volume = 521,
  number = 7553,
  pages = "436-444",
  publisher = "Springer Science and Business Media LLC",
  url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539"
}

Using BibTeX Format

# Command line
onecite process references.txt -o output.bib --output-format bibtex

# Python API
from onecite import process_references

result = process_references(
    input_content="10.1038/nature14539",
    input_type="txt",
    template_name="journal_article_full",
    output_format="bibtex",
    interactive_callback=lambda candidates: 0
)

for citation in result['results']:
    print(citation)

Integration with LaTeX

  1. Save references to a .bib file using OneCite

  2. In your LaTeX document:

    \documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

Some text citing \cite{LeCun2015Deep}.

\bibliography{output}
\bibliographystyle{plain}

\end{document}

  3. Compile with bibtex:

    pdflatex document.tex
bibtex document
pdflatex document.tex
pdflatex document.tex

BibTeX Entry Types

Common entry types supported:

  • @article - Journal article

  • @inproceedings - Conference paper

  • @book - Book

  • @phdthesis - PhD thesis

  • @mastersthesis - Master’s thesis

  • @misc - Miscellaneous

  • @software - Software

  • @dataset - Dataset

APA Format

APA (American Psychological Association) format is widely used in social sciences and psychology.

Format Specification

Basic format:

Author(s) (Year). Title of work. Source.

Journal article example:

LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444.

Book example:

Goodfellow, I., Bengio, Y., & Courville, A. (2016). Deep learning. MIT Press.

Thesis example:

Smith, J. (2020). Neural architecture search (Doctoral dissertation, Stanford University).

Using APA Format

# Command line
onecite process references.txt -o output.txt --output-format apa

# Python API
from onecite import process_references

result = process_references(
    input_content="10.1038/nature14539",
    input_type="txt",
    template_name="journal_article_full",
    output_format="apa",
    interactive_callback=lambda candidates: 0
)

for citation in result['results']:
    print(citation)

APA Formatting Rules

  1. Authors - Last name and initials

  2. Year - In parentheses

  3. Title - Sentence case (only first word capitalized)

  4. Source - Journal name in italics

  5. Punctuation - Periods after each major section

MLA Format

MLA (Modern Language Association) format is commonly used in humanities and literature.

Format Specification

Basic format:

Author(s). "Title of Work." Source, Year.

Journal article example:

LeCun, Yann, et al. "Deep Learning." Nature, vol. 521, no. 7553, 2015, pp. 436-444.

Book example:

Goodfellow, Ian, et al. Deep Learning. MIT Press, 2016.

Thesis example:

Smith, John. Neural Architecture Search. Stanford University, 2020.

Using MLA Format

# Command line
onecite process references.txt -o output.txt --output-format mla

# Python API
from onecite import process_references

result = process_references(
    input_content="10.1038/nature14539",
    input_type="txt",
    template_name="journal_article_full",
    output_format="mla",
    interactive_callback=lambda candidates: 0
)

for citation in result['results']:
    print(citation)

MLA Formatting Rules

  1. Authors - Last name, First name

  2. Title - In quotation marks or italics

  3. Publication Date - At the end

  4. Page Numbers - “pp.” for multiple pages

  5. Medium - Type of source (Print, Web, etc.)

Format Comparison

Choosing a Format

Use BibTeX if:

  • You’re writing a LaTeX/Overleaf document

  • You need integration with bibliography tools

  • You want precise control over formatting

Use APA if:

  • You’re writing for social sciences, psychology, or education

  • Your institution requires APA style

  • You’re submitting to APA-affiliated journals

Use MLA if:

  • You’re writing for humanities or literature courses

  • Your institution requires MLA style

  • You’re submitting to MLA-affiliated publications

Converting Between Formats

Convert from BibTeX to APA

# Process the original file to APA
onecite process input.bib --output-format apa -o output_apa.txt

Convert from APA to BibTeX

# Process back to BibTeX
onecite process input_apa.txt --output-format bibtex -o output_bibtex.bib

Batch Format Conversion

# Convert all .bib files to APA
for file in *.bib; do
    onecite process "$file" --output-format apa -o "${file%.bib}_apa.txt"
done

Tips for Different Formats

BibTeX Tips:

  • Use consistent key naming (e.g., Author Year format)

  • Keep special characters in title (e.g., “Deep Learning”)

  • Use abbreviated month names (jan, feb, mar, etc.)

APA Tips:

  • Use “et al.” after 3rd author

  • Use ampersand (&) before last author

  • Use title case for book titles but sentence case for article titles

MLA Tips:

  • Use “et al.” for any number of additional authors

  • Use page numbers for online sources when available

  • Include “Works Cited” page with proper hanging indentation

Next Steps