MLA Style Guide: Generative AI

This citation and referencing advice should be used only when your module coordinator or School allows the use of AI tools in the creation of academic assignments. If you have used an AI tool in the creation of an assignment, you must acknowledge this use and cite and reference the tool appropriately to ensure you are adhering to UCD's Academic Integrity Policy (see the Student Conduct website for this policy). 

Advice about citing and referencing AI tools is constantly evolving, and this guide updated on 24 March 2025, will continue to be updated as further information becomes available.

For the purposes of this guidance, generative AI is defined as per Article 3(1) of the EU AI Act:

“‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments" (2024).

Generative AI often provides citations and sources that do not exist, or are inaccurate. Citations may also be inaccurate or missing appropriate notation within the text. All such references must be checked by the user to ensure the legitimacy of the references/citations provided by AI tools.

For general advice on citation and referencing please refer to our Academic Integrity guide.

References:

Guidance:

According to the MLA Style Center, the use of AI to find sources does not need to be cited. Instead, cite the resource being quoted. Since AI was the tool used to get to the destination, it does not need to be included.

You will need to cite AI if you paraphrase or quote ideas/sentences formulated with generative AI. 

The MLA style guide does not recommend citing the AI tool as an author, instead use the prompt as the primary element of your reference (a generalisation of the prompt where the conversation is lengthy can be used where numerous prompts may have been given).  In text citations can use a shortened version of the prompt given and do not include the date consulted.

In-Text-Citation:

• ("prompt”). 

Example: 

• Symbols are often used in writing to describe exactly what the author intends without using overused metaphors. In Romeo and Juliet, the rose is used as a method of expression to show the fragility, love, and beauty of human emotions (“Describe the importance”). 

Citing AI generated Images:

If you are incorporating an AI-generated image in your work, you will likely need to create a caption for it following the guidelines in section 1.7 of the MLA Handbook. Use a description of the prompt, followed by the AI tool, version, and date created (MLA Style Center, Example 3: Citing Creative Visual Works).

Examples:

• Fig. 1. "An image of a theatre production in Elizabethan period costume" prompt, DALL-E, version 3, OpenAI, 19 Mar. 2025, https://chatgpt.com/share/67dacc6c-e828-8005-803b-b250fd5b496a.

You can use this same information if you choose to create a works-cited-list entry instead of including the full citation in the caption (MLA Style Center, Example 3: Citing Creative Visual Works).

• Fig. 1. DALL-E generated image of a theatre production in Elizabethan period costume.

References:

“Prompt given” prompt. Program Used, Day and Month of updated version*. version #, company (ex OpenAI), date accessed.
*You can find the updated version of ChatGPT below the textbox

Example:

“Describe the importance and the symbolism of the rose in the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare” prompt. version 3.5, OpenAI, 19 Mar. 2025, https://chatgpt.com/share/67dadd2b-29c4-8005-981c-dd2c6f2671de 

Image Example:

"An image of a theatre production in Elizabethan period costume" prompt, DALL-E, version 3, OpenAI, 19 Mar. 2025, https://chatgpt.com/share/67dacc6c-e828-8005-803b-b250fd5b496a.

References: