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ShyBib is a free service helps you build a bibliography instantly from any computer or device, without creating an account or installing any software. It’s brought to you by the team behind Shy Editor, the powerful intelligent writing environment recommended by thousands of students worldwide, so you can trust it to help you seamlessly add sources and produce perfect bibliographies.
Nothing! ShyBib is totally free and will never have any ads either.
We created ShyBib because we thought there should be a bibliography tool that was free, accurate, fast, and easy to use.
Unlike other tools, ShyBib doesn't bombard you with ads or try to charge you money for full functionality or additional citation styles. And since it's built by the team behind Shy Editor and backed by the same community, you can count on the same expertise and attention to detail that people rely on when they write dissertations and scholarly papers in Shy Editor.
ShyBib or Shy Editor are both free tools created with the goal of helping people be more productive while writing. Use whichever one is right for you!
If you just need to create a one-off bibliography for a paper, ShyBib is the quickest and easiest way to do it.
If you're working on a longer-term project Shy Editor offers many more features:
ShyBib supports the most popular styles such as APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian. These are the same styles used in Shy Editor, and we work hard to make sure they stay up to date with style guide recommendations and publisher requirements.
Your bibliography is stored in your browser's local storage by default. You can close the page and return to it later, and your bibliography will still be there — no need to worry about saving your data or logging in.
If you want to load your bibliography on another computer, you can use Link to this version to upload a copy to shybib.com and generate a link that you can use to retrieve that version of your bibliography later. (We recommend storing the link in the document you're working on so you have everything in one place.) Once you've generated a link and stored it safely, you can click Delete All if you want to remove the bibliography from the current computer.
Link to this version is also great for sharing the bibliography with someone else. They'll see a clean, read-only version, which they can choose to load into the editor if they want to make changes.
Further changes you make are not uploaded unless you use Link to this version again, which will generate a new URL.
Note that if you're using private/incognito mode in your browser, your bibliography will be deleted as soon as you close the window, so if you choose to use private browsing be sure to periodically use Link to this version and save the URL.
Bibliographies are stored in your local browser storage until you delete them or clear your browser's cache, with a few exceptions:
If one of these applies to you, or you're otherwise worried about losing your bibliography, use Link to this version to upload a copy to shybib.com, and then save the link. Each uploaded version is stored for at least six months from when it was created or last viewed.
ShyBib and Shy Editor were created with the philosophy that your data belongs to you and should be kept secure and private by default.
Your ShyBib bibliography is stored on your own computer and isn't accessible to others by default.
If you use Link to this version, your current bibliography will be uploaded to shybib.com and be available to anyone you choose to share the link with for at least six months. No identifying information about you is stored with the bibliography. If you view an uploaded bibliography, the URL may be stored in your browser's history.
When you add items using the search bar, your search is sent to shybib.com for processing. We log your IP address, browser version, and search terms for a short period of time in order to maintain the service and prevent abuse.
Other than the web requests necessary to complete your search, which contain the data you enter into the search box, we do not share any data with third parties.
The easiest way to add an item to ShyBib is by pasting in a URL. Just open a new browser tab, find what you're looking for, and copy the page's URL from your browser's address bar into ShyBib. ShyBib can automatically extract bibliographic data from newspaper and magazine articles, library catalogs, journal articles, sites like Amazon and Google Books, and much more.
If saving from a URL doesn't work, or you have a book, printout, or PDF that you can't easily find online, you can copy or type in an ISBN, DOI, PubMed ID, or arXiv ID. Nearly all books include an ISBN on the back cover or in the first few pages, and most recent published articles will include a DOI in the online listing and on the first page. Adding by identifier helps ensure that you're adding the correct version, which is particularly helpful for books with multiple editions.
You can also search for books and articles by title (and optionally author, year, and publisher) — just be sure to review the results to make sure you're adding the right version.
If all else fails, you can enter item details by hand by clicking Manual Entry.
As you write, ShyBib can help you quickly generate parenthetical citations (APA, MLA) or footnotes/endnotes (Chicago, Turabian) for the specific quotes, facts, or ideas you're including into your paper. Just click the copy icon next to an entry in your bibliography, enter the relevant page range or section of the source that you're citing, and click Copy Citation or Copy Note. You can then paste the citation into your paper.
If you're using a word processor other than Shy Editor, you can simply click Copy to Clipboard and paste the formatted bibliography into your document.
If you are using Shy Editor (which we recommend!), you can manage your bibliography there, or use the "Import from ShyBib" option to import your bibliography.
Some sites have restrictions that prevent ShyBib from working, or they're designed in such a way that a URL can't be used to retrieve a given page. Try a different site, or paste in an ISBN, DOI, or other identifier instead.
In a pinch, you can always enter metadata manually, though that should rarely be necessary.
While ShyBib is able to extract high-quality metadata from a wide variety of sources, you should always check your entries to make sure they're correct. In some cases it may be necessary to manually edit an entry to clean up what's there or add additional fields.
If there's a site for which ShyBib consistently returns incorrect results, let us know and we'll do our best to fix it.
Styles are carefully maintained to stay up to date with style guide recommendations and publisher requirements. If you think something's wrong, first click on the entry and make sure all the data is entered correctly — it's sometimes necessary to make corrections or add additional fields after adding an item. If all the data is there, check the style guidelines to make sure it says what you think it says. (Unfortunately, teachers are sometimes wrong about style requirements, so be sure to check the guidelines.)
Sorry about that! You can send us an email to tony@shyeditor.com and we'll be happy to help.