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Citation Guide

When you're using AI-generated text (such as ChatGPT)...

Whether you're allowed to use AI-generated text during the writing of your assignments, and exactly how - is between you - and your professors. Be aware of whether your professors or the department they teach for have formed a new policy regarding AI use. It is better to ask your instructor, if it is not yet clear, since we are all in the middle of this change, and are still deciding how to handle it.

In the meantime, we have provided what information is available from the major citation formats about how to cite AI-generated text. When organizations that publish style manuals are in-between editions, new guidelines will generally appear in official blogs, etc., until they update their official manuals.

AMA 11

The American Medical Association appears to be handling the citation of AI-generated text as a variation of citing software (as does the APA).

Australia's James Cook University Library's AMA citation guide has a nice synopsis of this, so we will link to it for now.

The AMA has definitely made it clear that an AI bot should never be considered to be an author. As a short article on the AMA main website noted recently:

Despite the ability to pull wide-ranging data in seconds and present it in a conversational format, ChatGPT is still a tool, according to the JAMA editorial board.

"ChatGPT cannot be an author," said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, MAS, editor-in-chief of JAMA and JAMA Network™. "Only humans take responsibility for what they publish. Only humans can talk about their conflicts of interest, can say, ‘Yes, I've looked through all of these citations.’ So our position is only humans can be authors."

APA 7

The APA Style Blog is the place to see the very latest information about APA citing (particularly for situations not covered in the last, 7th edition).

Here's what the APA Style Blog has to say about citing ChatGPT.

As you will see, the APA is handling citing ChatGPT by using an adaptation of how APA cites software (the citation rules for software are in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10).

Chicago 17

The Chicago Manual of Style (the Whittemore Library has a subscription to the online version) has this to say, on one Q & A page, about  how to cite ChatGPT and other AI text generators.

Unlike the other formats, Chicago actually seems ok with AI chatbots being listed as an 'author'.  Essentially:

...you must credit ChatGPT when you reproduce its words within your own work, but unless you include a publicly available URL, that information should be put in the text or in a note—not in a bibliography or reference list.

MLA 9

Find the latest MLA citation news at the MLA Style Center.

Here's how the MLA answered the following question: "How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?"

During the article, the MLA reminds us (a bit smugly, in my opinion) that

The MLA’s method for citing sources uses a template of core elements—standardized criteria that writers can use to evaluate sources and create works-cited-list entries based on that evaluation. That new technologies like ChatGPT emerge is a key reason why the MLA has adopted this approach to citation—to give writers flexibility to apply the style when they encounter new types of sources.