The policies around the use of generative AI are determined by each department. This means you may have varying policies to adhere to from class to class.
Each style guide has announced suggestions for citing AI. Note that these recommendations can change quickly. Click each link to see up to date guidelines and examples.
If your course allows you to use generative AI tools, here are the current citation suggestions by style:
IEEE has stated Artificial Intelligence (AI) outputs, including products of chatbots, are not cited for publication purposes.
Cite as Private Communication. As the private communication may not provide recoverable data, the private communication may be cited in-text only.
Citations generated by generative AI tools are generally unreliable. Contact your librarian for help finding sources.
The UC Santa Barbara Library has linked to policies created by many publishers. It is important to understand the policies for any publication you plan to submit any research to.
Engineering students at NAU are usually asked to cite their sources using IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) style. The IEEE is a professional organization supporting many branches of engineering, computer science, and information technology. In addition to publishing journals, magazines, and conference proceedings, IEEE also makes standards for a wide variety of industries.
IEEE citation style includes in-text citations, numbered in square brackets, which refer to the full citation listed in the reference list at the end of the paper. The reference list is organized numerically, not alphabetically.
Here are some style guides that will help you format your citations:
It is not necessary to mention an author's name, pages used, or date of publication in the in-text citation. Instead, refer to the source with a number in a square bracket, e.g. [1], that will then correspond to the full citation in your reference list. Citations should be numbered in the order in which they appear. No distinction is made between electronic and print sources in in-text citations.
In-text citations can look like this:
"... end of the line for my research [13]."
"This theory was first put forward in 1987 [1]."
"Scholtz [2] has argued that..."
"Several recent studies [3], [4], [15], [16], have suggested that..."
"For example, see [7]."
To finish citing sources, a numbered list of references must be provided at the end of the paper. The list is comprised of the sequential enumerated citations, with details, beginning with [1], and is not alphabetical.