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Grammarly Blog on AI citations APA style provides good guidance on how to cite use of tools like ChatGPT in research papers and other academic writing.
If information from an AI chat is used for a research paper, it needs to be cited just like other sources.
APA suggests citing AI as an “algorithm’s output,” which means crediting the author of the algorithm (i.e., the company that built the AI). You put a full citation with the AI name, date accessed, and other information in the reference list; for in-text parenthetical citations, you use the company name and year accessed.
- A common example of alliteration is the child’s tongue twister “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers” (OpenAI, 2023).
- If you reference the company’s name directly in the text, you need to add only the year. These are known as narrative citations.
A common example of alliteration, generated by ChatGPT from OpenAI, is the child’s tongue twister “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers” (2023). - APA also requires a full citation in the reference list at the end of the paper using a Full citation style:
Company. (Year). AI Name (version) [Descriptor]. URL
Example:
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
Keep in mind there are two important guidelines to consider when citing AI-generated text in formal writing:
- Briefly explain the prompt so readers know how you accessed your information.
- If the chat is particularly relevant to your paper, include a transcript in the appendices.
The Grammarly Blog goes on to provide guidance for APA AI Image sitations.
Figure #
Figure title
[IMAGE]Note. Description of image mentioning prompt and AI tool.
Example:
Figure 5
Portrait of Jean Baudrillard in postmodern style
[IMAGE]Note. Image generated with the prompt “Jean Baudrillard in postmodern style” by OpenAI, ChatGPT, 2023 (https://chat.openai.com/chat).