Skip to Main Content

Naugatuck Valley DAT (Digital Arts Technology)

Generative AI Citation Help for DAT Students

For this policy, AI refers to generative LLM AI tools and does not include grammar-checking software, citation software, or plagiarism detectors.

  • When a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model is used in the drafting of a manuscript for an APA publication, the use of AI must be disclosed in the methods section and cited.
  • AI cannot be named as an author on an APA scholarly publication.
  • When AI is cited in an APA scholarly publication, the author must employ the software citation template, which includes specifying in the methods section how, when, and to what extent AI was used. Authors in APA publications are required to upload the full output of the AI as supplemental material.
  • The authors are responsible for the accuracy of any information in their article. Authors must verify any information and citations provided to them by an AI tool. Authors may use but must disclose AI tools for specific purposes such as editing.
  • No submitted content may be entered into generative AI tools as this violates the confidentiality of the process.

Additional reading material:

Quoting or Reproducing the Text Created by ChatGPT in Your Paper in APA Style

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.

 

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although non-retrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications, with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

 

 

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

 

 

 

Citing creative visual works for images created by generative AI

Visual materials can include illustrations, photographs, images, paintings, diagrams, maps and graphs.

 

 

Reference

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

McAdoo, T. (2024). How to cite chatgpt. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt

 

 

Policies related to the use of AI-generated text and images may vary by instructor. AI can be used in your work in many ways such as generating images, formatting papers, and as a textual source. When using AI-generated content as a source that you are quoting, paraphrasing, or otherwise incorporating, cite the source.

When using generative AI tools in your process (e.g., brainstorming, outlining, proofreading, etc.), do not cite but do acknowledge your use somewhere in your text or in a footnote (check with your instructor for their guidelines).

MLA does not consider AI-generated work to have an author.  As AI becomes increasingly common, MLA policies may be subject to change. Examples of correct citations are provided on this page.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper in MLA Style

 

The MLA template of core elements is meant to provide flexibility in citation. As 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. In what follows, we offer recommendations for citing generative AI, defined as a tool that can analyze or summarize content from a huge set of information, including web pages, books, and other writing available on the internet, and use that data to create original new content

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 it 
  • 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 

 

Using the MLA Template

Author

We do not recommend treating the AI tool as an author. This recommendation follows the policies developed by various publishers, including the MLA’s journal PMLA

Title of Source

Describe what was generated by the AI tool. This may involve including information about the prompt in the Title of Source element if you have not done so in the text. 

Title of Container

Use the Title of Container element to name the AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT).

Version

Name the version of the AI tool as specifically as possible. For example, the examples in this post were developed using ChatGPT 3.5, which assigns a specific date to the version, so the Version element shows this version date.

Publisher

Name the company that made the tool.

Date

Give the date the content was generated.

Location

Give the general URL for the tool.

 

Format

"Description of prompt" prompt. Name of AI tool, version of AI tool, Company, date text was generated. URL.

Example

"Identify the themes in Mcteague by Frank Norris" prompt. ChatGPT, 21 November version, OpenAI, 4 Dec. 2023. https://chat.openai.com/share/2f2be19d-eadd-4151-8ceb-0785319074b3.

 

Citing creative visual works for images created by generative AI

If you are incorporating an AI-generated image in your work, you will likely need to create a caption for it following the guidelines in section 1.7 of the MLA Handbook. Use a description of the prompt, followed by the AI tool, version, and date created:

 

 

Fig. 1. “Pointillist painting of a sheep in a sunny field of blue flowers” prompt, DALL-E, version 2, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, labs.openai.com/.

 

  • You can use this same information if you choose to create a works-cited-list entry instead of including the full citation in the caption (see MLA Handbook, sec. 1.7).

 

Continued here: How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? | MLA Style Center

Songs, Recordings, and Performances

 

Song from an Album

Snail Mail. “Thinning.” Habit, Sister Polygon Records, 2016. Vinyl EP. 

Song on a website

Snail Mail. “Thinning.” Bandcamp, snailmailbaltimore.bandcamp.com.

Concert Attended in Person

Beyoncé. The “Formation” World Tour. 14 May 2016, Rose Bowl, Los Angeles.

 

Movies, Videos, and Television Shows

 

A Movie Viewed in Person

Opening Night. Directed by John Cassavetes, Faces Distribution, 1977. 

A Movie Viewed Online

Richardson, Tony, director. Sanctuary. Screenplay by James Poe, Twentieth Century Fox, 1961. YouTube, uploaded by LostCinemaChannel, 17 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMnzFM_Sq8s.

A Television Show Viewed on Physical Media

“Hush.” 1999. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season, created by Joss Whedon, episode 10, Mutant Enemy / Twentieth Century Fox, 2003, disc 3. DVD.