Skip to Main Content

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Help Guide

An introduction to artificial intelligence (AI) with a focus on generative AI concepts and tools. Last updated: December 19, 2024

Always check with your instructor, supervisor, or publisher before using generative AI in your work. If you use generative AI tools for your course assignments or other forms of published writing, it is important to acknowledge and cite the output of those tools in your work. Using content generated by AI without a citation is plagiarism. Citations give credit to someone (or something) else's words or ideas, and they help others find and understand the sources and information you used in your research.

General recommendations for citing AI-generated content and using AI tools to create citations:

  • Cite the outputs of generative AI tools when you use them in your work. Include a citation every time you directly quote, paraphrase, or summarize a response from a generative AI tool. Also acknowledge when you use the tools for other tasks, like editing and revising your writing, translating, and data processing.

  • Do not rely on sources cited by generative AI tools without reading those sources yourself. AI tools are notorious for making up citations, sharing broken links, and citing sources that do not confirm the information shared in their responses. Always go to a source yourself to verify its existence and to evaluate the information or perspectives it shares. 

  • If you use AI tools to generate citations, make sure those citations are correctly formatted. Several generative AI tools, like ChatGPT or Grammarly, can help you create citations for sources you find in your research. Be sure to compare these citations with the official style guidelines to ensure they are correct.

  • Be flexible in your approaches to citing AI-generated content. Official style guidelines are still emerging and are likely to change as AI technologies continue to evolve. If you are unsure how to cite something generated by AI, contact the library, consult with your instructor, and include a note in your writing that describes how you used a certain tool. 

Below are current guidelines for citing AI-generated content in APA, MLA, and Chicago Style. 

APA Style

When you reference AI-generated content directly in your text, you should include an in-text citation, and an associated entry in your reference list. Cite any AI-generated content that you quote, paraphrase, or summarize.

For citations in APA Style, treat the author of AI-generated content as the company or organization that created the AI model. For example, when citing content generated by ChatGPT, list the author as OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.

  Format Example
Reference List Entry Author. (Year of chat/prompt). Name of AI tool (Version of tool, if known) [Large language model]. URL OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (GPT-4o model) [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/
In-Text Parenthetical Citation (Author, Year of chat/prompt) (OpenAI, 2024)

Other Recommendations:

  • In the text of your paper, briefly explain the prompt you used so readers know how you accessed your information.
  • If the chat is particularly relevant to your paper, include the chat transcript as an appendix at the end of your paper.
  • If you have used AI tools in an original research design, you should describe that use in your introduction or methods section, and include the prompts that you used.
  • If it's possible to create a shareable link to the chat transcript, include that instead of the tool's URL.
  • Citing an AI-generated image in APA Style follows mostly the same rules as how to cite an image in APA, with the addition of mentioning the prompt and AI tool in the caption note.

MLA Style

When you reference AI-generated content directly in your text, you should include an in-text citation, and an associated entry in your Works Cited list. Cite any AI-generated content that you quote, paraphrase, or summarize.

MLA Style views AI-generated content as a source with no author, so you'll use the title of the source in your in-text citations, and in your reference list. The title you create should be a short description of the AI-generated content, such as an abbreviated version of the prompt you used. 

  Format Example
Works Cited List Entry "Description of chat" prompt. Name of AI tool, version of AI tool (if known), Company, Date of chat, URL. "Examples of civil disobedience" prompt. CoPilot, Microsoft, 4 Nov. 2024, https://copilot.microsoft.com/.
In-Text Parenthetical Citation ("Description of chat") ("Examples of civil disobedience")

Other Recommendations:

  • If you use an AI tool for some other purpose, such as translating, editing, or generating an outline, include a note about this somewhere in your paper.
  • If it's possible to create a shareable link to the chat transcript, include that instead of the tool's URL.
  • To cite an AI-generated image in your work, follow MLA's guidelines to create a caption for it. In your image caption, use a description of the prompt, followed by the name AI tool, the tool's version, and the date the image was created.

Chicago Manual of Style

When you reference AI-generated content directly in your text, you should include a note or parenthetical citation. Cite any AI-generated content that you quote, paraphrase, or summarize.

However, Chicago Style advises you not to include AI-generated content as a source in your bibliography or reference list. This guidance from the Chicago Manual of Style may change as AI tools continue to evolve and grow in popularity.

For note and parenthetical citations, Chicago Style treats the author as the AI tool used (e.g., ChatGPT, CoPilot, Perplexity AI, etc.).

  Format Example
Note

1. Author, Title, Publisher, Date of chat/prompt, URL (only include a URL if it directs to the specific conversation you had the AI tool).

 1. Perplexity AI, response to "Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients," Perplexity AI, Inc., November 4, 2024, https://www.perplexity.ai/search/explain-how-to-make-pizza-doug-i8KYiwzXRH6JD84x1BuWbg#0.

Author-Date In-Text Parenthetical Citation

 (Author, Date of chat/prompt) (Perplexity AI, November 4, 2024)

Other Recommendations:

  • Only include a URL if it directs to the specific chat transcript you are citing. Otherwise, omit the URL in note citations.
  • If possible, describe the prompt you used to generate the content in the text of your paper, but if that approach doesn't work, you can include that information in a footnote or endnote.

ask@udc.libanswers.com

202-274-5104

Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube