The Sauk Valley Community College Student Code of Conduct includes in its definition of cheating “dependence upon the aid of sources beyond those authorized by the instructor in writing papers, preparing reports, solving problems, or carrying out other assignments.”
If your instructor has not explicitly authorized the use of generative artificial intelligence in writing assignments, then engaging in this use is a violation of College policy. If you are uncertain as to your instructor’s individual policy check your syllabus or ask the instructor directly.
ChatGPT and similar generative artificial intelligence tools do not provide information outputs in the way that web pages do. Responses from these tools contain a mix of outputs from various sources across the Internet. Shortcomings of these tools include the following
If you do use artificial intelligence in your academic writing you must cite its use. The American Psychological Association (APA) and the Modern Language Association (MLA) have both published guidelines for this that are not contained in the most recent editions of their respective style manuals.
Noodle Tools is also equipped to help you cite AI output in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles, along with all of your other source types too:
Citing ChatGPT, Bard and other AI tools
Author
Because the AI tool is not the originator of the content, it should not be treated as the author.
Title of Source
Description of what was created by the tool, which may include information about what was included in the prompt.
Title of Container
Use the name of the AI tool, such as ChatGPT.
Version
Be as specific as possible. For example, ChatGPT 3.5 assigns a specific version date, so in this case that date would be the version.
Publisher
Name the company that made the tool, such as OpenAI or Google.
Date
Provide the date when the content was generated, i.e. the date of the chat.
Location
Provide the general URL for the generative AI tool.
Generative AI Prompts (Example)
Initial prompt: "In 200 words describe the symbolism of the green light in The Great Gatsby."
Subsequent prompt: "What scholarly sources were used to generate that description?"
Paraphrase & Quotation from GenAI Responses in Paper
When asked to describe the symbolism of the green light in The Great Gatsby, ChatGPT provided a summary about optimism, the unattainability of the American dream, greed, and covetousness. However, when further prompted to cite the source on which that summary was based, it noted that it lacked “the ability to conduct research or cite sources independently” but that it could “provide a list of scholarly sources related to the symbolism of the green light in The Great Gatsby” (“In 200 words”).
Works Cited Entry
“In 200 words, describe the symbolism of the green light in The Great Gatsby” follow-up prompt to list sources. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 9 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.
Example provided by MLA Style:
Fig. 1. “Pointillist painting of a sheep in a sunny field of blue flowers” prompt, DALL-E, version 2, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, labs.openai.com/
You may choose to use this same information to create a works-cited-list entry instead of including the full citation in the caption.
Format:
Fig. #. “Description of the prompt you used” prompt, Title of AI, Version, Publisher of the AI, Date the work was generated, URL of AI tool.
