Skip to Main Content

AI and ChatGPT

Citing AI banner

MLA and Citing AI

You should

  • cite a generative AI tool whenever you paraphrase, quote, or incorporate into your own work any content (whether text, image, data, or other) that was created by an AI app or program.
  • acknowledge all functional uses of the tool (like editing your prose or translating words) in a note, your text, or another suitable location 
  • take care to vet the secondary sources it cites

 

An example of an MLA citation for using AI to paraphrase information for an essay.

Works-Cited-List Entry

“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

”How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?” MLA Style Center, Modern Language Association. 17 Mar. 2023, https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai/

Click the link below for more details and examples of in-text and Works Cited citations.

APA and Citing AI

Timothy McAdoo gives the following advice on the APA Style Center Blog

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Here is one example with an in-text and a Reference page full citation in APA style.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

Reference

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

McAdoo, Timothy. (2023, April 7). How to cite ChatGPT.  APA Style Blog.  https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt

 

Click the link below for more details and examples of APA citations for AI.