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APA

ACU Library guide to referencing in APA7 style

Gen AI

You should seek clarification from the Lecturer-in-Charge (LIC) of your unit to see if it is permissible to use AI in your assessments. Examples of GenAI include ChatGPT and Bing Chat.

According to the University's Student Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy (8.1.c) unauthorised or undisclosed use of artificial intelligence is a form of academic misconduct.

If you refer to content produced by GenAI tools, you must acknowledge it properly.

GenAI

Check the APA Style Blog and the APA Style website for any updates.

Reference list

Author of the model. (Year). AI Tool (version number) [Large language model]. https://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Examples:

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (GPT-4o-mini version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat 

Microsoft. (2024). Copilot (May 28 version) [Large language model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com/

In-text

When prompted with "Name one advantage of using solar heating?" ChatGPT responded that it "reduces the consumption of fossil fuels" (OpenAI, 2024).

The author prompted ChatGPT on "How can AI improve emergency response times?" and the response was "by making the process more efficient and effective." (OpenAI, 2024; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Notes

  • APA specifically suggests that 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, essays or other papers, APA suggests that you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used, then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.
  • Consider making the full transcript of the conversation retrievable by including the text as an appendix or online supplementary material.
  • If the version number is unclear, use prompts, such as "What model is powering this AI?" or "What is the model number/version of this generative AI?".  If the version number is still unclear, enter the date of the chat in place of the version number in your citation.  
  • If any sources are recommended by the algorithm, always check they are real and accurate.
  • For more information on citing ChatGPT, consult the APA Style Blog.