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AI for Research

This guide provides information and recommended resources on the applications of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in research.

Citing AI

AI & Plagiarism 

Plagiarism is using someone else's work or ideas without proper credit. Since AI-chatbots generate new content in response to prompts, using their outputs is more akin to ghostwriting. Some scholars suggest redefining plagiarism to focus on the failure to acknowledge sources, rather than theft. This broader definition would include ghostwriting, AI-generated text, and other forms of unattributed work.

Citing AI

If you choose to use ChatGPT or some other AI technology for assistance, be sure that you are transparent about it and working within your university’s policies. Each citation style has different recommendations for citing generative AI tools like ChatGPT, especially regarding authorship. 

Templates 

  • MLA 9: "Prompt text" prompt.  ChatGPT, day mon. version, OpenAI, day month year, chat.openai.com/chat 

APA style

  • Credit the AI tool as an author. 

  • "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" (McAdoo, 2023). 

  • Guidelines

  • For research methods: "Describe how you used the tool in your Method section." (McAdoo, 2023) 

  • For literature reviews and essays: "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." 

  • For reference: "Credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation".  

In-text example 

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialised, “the notation that people can be characterised as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023). 

Reference 

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat 

Adapted from Harvard Library Guide and McAdoo, T. (2023). How to cite ChatGPT. APA Style. 

MLA style

  • Do NOT credit the AI tool as an 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." 

  • 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.

In-text example 

While the green light in The Great Gatsby might be said to chiefly symbolise four main things: optimism, the unattainability of the American dream, greed, and covetousness (“Describe the symbolism”), arguably the most important—the one that ties all four themes together — is greed.

Reference 

“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat. 

Adapted from Harvard Library Guide and How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? (2023). MLA Style Centre. 

Chicago style

  • Treat the AI tool as the author of the content. 

  • If possible, describe the prompt used to generate the content in the text, but if that approach doesn't work, you can include that information in a footnote or endnote. 

  • The date used in your citation will be the date the content was generated. 

Adapted from Brown University Library Guide and Recommended citation method for ChatGPT. Q&A: Citation. Documentation of Sources. The Chicago Manual of Style. 

Further Reading