Citing AI-Generated Content in APA

Reference Page Example:

OpenAI. (2023). Here’s a sample of a full conversation. ChatGPT 4 (May 24 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/share/d0649170-154c-46a5-81a1-a54e630a81b5.

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model (in this example, it’s OpenAI). Please note that this is NOT the name of the bot itself, but the company which created the tool.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. You need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The first sentence of the prompt you used to start the relevant conversation being cited should be the title used in the citation.

Publication Name: The name of the model (in this case, ChatGPT-4) serves as the publication name and is italicized in your reference. It is extremely important to cite these unique iterations, as they each respond in drastically different ways and with hugely conflicting purposes and predictive weights.

Version: The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods. Not all AI text generation tools share version information, but you must include it if they do. For example, in ChatGPT you can find version info beneath the text entry box, as seen below:

Bracketed text: This is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat. For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

In-Text Citation: If there is more than one “conversation” being cited in your essay, it’s important to cite using “title, year” format, rather than “author, year” format to differentiate which conversation is being cited in particular instances. Remember that the title for each of these is the first sentence of the relevant prompt in that conversation thread. For the in-text citation, only the first 3-5 words of the title/prompt are necessary to include.

In-Text Example:

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (Here’s a Sample, 2023).

Appendix Requirement if Link Unavailable

If you use AI generation tools that don’t allow you to share a link to the full conversation you had with the tool, you must put the full output of long responses in an appendix of your paper so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because AI generation tools will generate a unique response in each 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.

In-Text Example (With Appendix):

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (Here’s a Sample, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Appendix format and example

An appendix is a section at the end of an academic text where you include extra information that doesn’t fit into the main text. The plural of appendix is “appendices.”

In an APA Style paper, appendices are placed at the very end, after the reference list.

You should refer to each appendix at least once in the main text. If you don’t refer to any information from an appendix, it should not be included.

Do not cite the same chatbot more than once. However, if you use text from multiple conversations, you should include more than one Appendix to ensure everything you used from the AI generation tool is represented in the essay materials.

The appendix label appears at the top of the page, bold and centered. On the next line, include a descriptive title, also bold and centered.

The text is presented in general APA format: left-aligned, double-spaced, and with page numbers in the top right corner. Start a new page for each new appendix.

The example image below shows how to format an APA Style appendix:

You are also allowed to simply take screenshots and paste them into the document under the title as long as they are 1) Readable and 2) Complete.

Organizing and labeling your appendices

If you include just one appendix, it is simply called “Appendix” and referred to as such in-text:

Referring to a single appendix (see Appendix)

When more than one appendix is included, they are labeled “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on. Present and label your appendices in the order they are referred to in the main text.

References

American Psychological Association. (2023, April 7). How to cite ChatGPT. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt?mibextid=Zxz2cZ.

Caulfield, J. (2022, August 9). How to create an APA style appendix. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/appendices.