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Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

Learn more about AI and how it relates to ICC.

Citing Generative AI: MLA Style

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 (see ChatGPT Limitations tab for more information about generative AI hallucinations)

See below for specific examples. And keep in mind: the MLA template of core elements is meant to provide flexibility in citation.

Full citations in MLA follow a standardized formula, although not all fields are necessary when you’re citing AI. Here is a short list of the core elements in an MLA citation, with descriptions of how they apply to AI specifically:

  • Author: blank for AI
  • Title of source: the prompt you used to generate the text or a description if the prompt itself is too long
  • Title of container: the name of the AI tool, such as ChatGPT
  • Version: the tool’s version (some tools list their version as a date)
  • Publisher: the company that created the AI
  • Date: the date you accessed the AI, in day-month-year format
  • Location: the URL of the tool

 

Example Citation:

You can cite ChatGPT in MLA using the instructions above. For quick references, here’s an MLA citation example for ChatGPT that you can use as a template.

 

Full citation in works cited page:

“Summarize the book The Shining” prompt. ChatGPT, GPT-4, OpenAI, 30 Jun. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

 

Parenthetical in-text citation:

(“Summarize the book”)

MLA Style, 9th Edition

Creating a Works Cited Page

With MLA style, you must include a Works Cited page at the end of your paper. A Works Cited page is an alphabetical listing of the resources cited in your paper. Below are some examples of MLA style citations. Note: Some instructors may require access dates for websites or other pieces of information. Please check with your instructor if you have any questions.

Material Type Works Cited
A book in print

Card, Claudia. The Atrocity Paradigm: A Theory of Evil. Oxford UP, 2005.

eBook

Gaither, Milton. Homeschool: An American History. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. SpringerLink, doi-org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95056-0
An article in a print journal

Doggart, Julia. "Minding the Gap: Realizing Our Ideal Community Writing Assistance Program." The Community Literacy Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 2007, pp. 71-80. 
An article in an electronic journal

Sherrard-Johnson, Cherene. "'A Plea for Color': Nella Larsen's Iconography of the Mulatta." American Literature, vol. 76, no. 4, 2004, pp. 833-869, doi: 10.1215/00029831-76-4-833.
An encyclopedia entry

“Patanjali.” Benét’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, edited by Bruce Murphy, 4th ed., HarperCollins Publishers, 1996, p. 782.
A government publication

United States, Federal Maritime Commission. Hawaiian Trade Study: An Economic Analysis. Government Printing Office, 1978. 
An interview you conducted Brandt, Deborah. Personal interview. 28 May 2008.

(Note: List the interview under the name of the interviewee)
A film or DVD Note: This depends on the focus of your work. Please see the MLA Style blog for a  detailed explanation.
A page on a website with no author

"Stunning Lakeside View on Lake Erie." VisitPA, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 7 June 2018, www.visitpa.com/article/stunning-lakeside-views-lake-erie.
A page on a website with an author

Del Castillo, Inigo. "How Not to Kill Your Houseplants, According to Botanists." Apartment Therapy, 29 Jan. 2020, www.apartmenttherapy.com/houseplant-tips-botanists-36710191.
Artwork accessed from a website

Sherald, Amy. Former First Lady, Michelle Obama. 2018. National Portrait Gallery, npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2018.15.
In-Text Citations
Material Type In-Text Citation
Author's name in text Magny develops this argument (67-69).
Author's name in reference This argument has been developed elsewhere (Magny 67-69).
Two authors' names in reference The most notorious foreign lobby in Washington is the "Sugar Mafia" (Howe and Trott 134).
Quotation found in indirect or "secondhand" source The philosopher Alain states that "admiration is not pleasure but a kind of attention. . ." (qtd. in Magny 66).

These examples provided with permission from the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh.

 
MLA 9th Edition Citation Guides