Citations & references
Upload a PDF or Word manuscript, choose APA 7 or IEEE, and review a report of reference list formatting problems and in-text citation inconsistencies, each labeled by severity and explained so you can make the fix yourself.
Sign in to run a check. Free runs cover part of a manuscript; Premium checks the full document.
Overview
Assistemia's Reference Checker is an academic reference checker for manuscripts written in APA 7th edition or IEEE style. You upload one PDF or Word (.docx) file, and the tool locates the reference section, reviews each entry against the selected style's formatting rules, and checks the citations in your body text for consistency with that style and with the reference list. It is built for the last pass before a draft goes to a supervisor, co-authors, or a journal: instead of rereading every bracket, author name, and year, you work through a list of specific discrepancies. The report explains each problem, often with a suggested fix, but it never edits your file and it does not confirm that a cited work exists.
Explore the Reference Checker tutorialCapabilities
Each entry in the detected reference section is reviewed against APA 7 or IEEE formatting rules. Entries with problems are shown by their number in your list, and every issue carries a CRITICAL or WARNING label, a short description, and a reason. Used this way, Reference Checker works as a bibliography checker for the style you selected.
Citations inside the body text are checked against the selected style and cross-checked with the reference list. Each in-text issue shows the sentence where the citation appears, groups repeated occurrences of the same problem, and adds a suggested correction, so you can go straight to the right paragraph instead of hunting for a bracket or a year.
Before the full check starts, a quick pre-check compares your citations with the style you chose. If the document looks like it follows the other style, such as numbered IEEE citations when APA is selected, you can switch to the detected style or continue with your choice. The results summary also reports the detected style.
How it works
Save the manuscript as a PDF or Word (.docx) file of up to 25 MB, with the reference list under a clear References or Bibliography heading. Each run checks one file, so combine chapters first if you want them reviewed together.
Select APA (7th Edition) or IEEE, upload the file, and click Analyze References. Answer the style pre-check if it reports a mismatch. The analysis continues in the background, so you can open other Assistemia tools while it runs.
Work through the In-Text Citations and Reference List tabs, copy any issue into your revision notes, or export the active tab as a CSV file. Make the corrections in your own document and run a new check. Completed checks stay in your history.
Inputs, outputs & coverage
Reference Checker is a citation checker for formatting and consistency within one manuscript, not a source verifier. Here is what it accepts, what it returns, and where its checks stop.
Read our privacy policyPlans & limits
The no-cost plan, listed as Trial on the Pricing page, runs the same check on the opening part of a manuscript. Runs count toward the Free plan's monthly usage allowance.
Premium removes the per-run scope limit, so the full reference list and every in-text citation are checked in one pass, which suits a final check on a long thesis chapter or journal manuscript.
Frequently asked questions
Practical answers about files, styles, coverage, and what a formatting check can and cannot tell you.
Contact our teamYes. Reference Checker works online through your Assistemia account and accepts one PDF or Word (.docx) manuscript per run, up to 25 MB. Legacy .doc files, plain text, and pasted reference lists are not supported, so save your draft as .docx or PDF first. In either format, the document needs a clearly labeled References or Bibliography heading so the reference section can be located. PDF and Word uploads are available on both the Free and Premium plans.
Two: APA 7th edition and IEEE. You choose one before analysis, and both your reference list and your in-text citations are checked against that style. If the pre-check finds that your citations look more like the other style, you can switch or keep your original choice. Harvard, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver, and other styles are not checked. If you need to move a manuscript between APA and IEEE rather than check it, use Reference Converter.
On Premium, yes: the full reference list and the in-text citations throughout the document are checked. On the Free plan, each run covers the first 20 references and the first 800 words of text for in-text citations. Limited results show a banner stating how many references and words were checked out of the totals detected, and whether any cross-reference checks fell outside the run's scope. A Free result is not expanded later, so rerun the document after upgrading.
No. Reference Checker is a formatting and consistency tool. It looks at how your references and in-text citations are written and whether they agree with each other in the selected style. It is not designed to confirm that a paper exists, that its authors, year, or DOI are correct, or that it supports your claim. A well-formatted reference can still point to the wrong work, so verify sources with the publisher or a scholarly database. A separate Hallucination Checker is listed as coming soon in the Tools catalog.
Reference Checker
Upload a PDF or Word manuscript, choose APA 7 or IEEE, and get a clear list of reference and in-text citation issues to fix.