Citing Generative AI

Citations are a critical component of academic writing. They allow you to give credit to the original source, whether you are using a direct quotation or paraphrasing someone else's research. Citations give the reader directions to specific passages in a text, draw attention to prominent authors in the field, and can give a historical overview of research around a particular topic.

Different disciplines have different norms for how information is cited and they prioritize different parts of the original source. Citation styles give the reader a way to quickly access the information you are citing and can give a quick overview of the body of work you referencing. Some styles prioritize the year so that the reader can see how the scholarly conversation you are referencing has evolved over time while others include the page number so that a reader can refer to the exact phrase you are discussing. It is important to remember that different styles use a different combination of punctuation and typography. 

After ascertaining whether the use of AI generated content is permissible, determine how to reference the material in your work. Make sure to include citations both in-text and in the references at the end of your work. Since AI tools are relatively new, it's possible that your required style hasn't updated its rules around AI citations. The purpose of citations is to provide a guidepost to the source material so, in the absence of formal guidance, be as transparent as possible about how you obtained the information.