MLA 9 Citation & Style

MLA 9 Format and Generative AI

The results of a "chat" with an AI generative tool, like ChatGPT are not retrievable by other readers. Also, human-to-human "chats"are usually cited as personal communications, however with, for example, ChatGPT there is no person communication, instead you are "communicating" with an algorithm.

With MLA 8 and 9 the Modern Language Association (MLA) adopted a approach to citing sources that gives writers the flexibility to apply MLA to new types of sources. For human generated sources, the MLA "template" includes in the following order - author, title of source (e.g. article title), title of container (e.g. journal where the article was found), version, publisher, date, publication date, and location.

However, to cite generative AI, such as Chat GPT, etc. MLA does not treat AI as an author.

Your citation should follow this format:

Title of Source

Describe what was generated by the AI tool  by providing the prompt you used. This may involve including information about the prompt in the Title of Source element if you have not done so in the text. (See Examples below.)

Title of Container

Use the Title of Container element to name the AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT).

Version

Name the version of the AI tool as specifically as possible. For example, the examples in this post were developed using ChatGPT 3.5, which assigns a specific date to the version, so the Version element shows this version date.

Publisher

Name the company that made the tool.

Date

Give the date the content was generated.

Location

Give the general URL for the tool.

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 example 5 in "How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?" for more details)

Examples

Refer to  "How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?" at the website, MLA Style Center, to see how Generative AI is used in a paper with it's corresponding citation.

Example 1: Works-Cited-List Entry

“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

Example 2: Quoting Text

“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.

Additional examples for creative textual and visual works, as well as secondary sources can also be found at this page "How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?" at the website, MLA Style Center,