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Referencing GenAI

Referencing GenAI and Academic Misconduct

Always check with your module tutor whether the use of GenAI tools is acceptable or not. Using GenAI tools without specific permission may be a breach of the Student Conduct Policy.

 

Acknowledging GenAI use in your assignment

If the use of GenAI generated content in an assignment is permitted, you should follow any guidelines you are provided with and only use the tool as instructed. You must properly acknowledge and provide a citation and reference for any GenAI generated content used and provide:

  • A written acknowledgement of the GenAI tool that has been used
  • Information about how the GenAI tool was used, such as a description of prompts used
  • Details of the material the GenAI tool generated (this could be included in an appendix)
  • Accurate citations and references for any content produced using a GenAI tool. See the entry for Artificial Intelligence in the library’s APA Referencing Guide.

Appendices

Unlike most academic sources, content generated by GenAI does not have a named author and is difficult to reproduce. It is important, therefore, to include a copy of any GenAI generated content you are permitted to use in an appendix (via a screenshot or copying and pasting the content into Word) and include this at the end of your work.

Remember to signpost the reader to any appendices in your work.  Always check whether using a GenAI tool in this way is acceptable for your assignment.

Example (with citation and signpost to appendices):

When asked to provide examples of children’s literature written by a diverse range of 21st century authors ChatGPT-generated text that offered several titles including The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander and Last stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña (OpenAI, 2023). For the full list of titles see Appendix A.

Acknowledging GenAI use in your research

If you don’t use GenAI generated content in your work but have used it in the researching process, to suggest keywords to use in a search for information for example, you should acknowledge this somewhere in your work (i.e. in the introduction or as a footnote at the end of your reference list).  Include details of:

  • the GenAI tool used and the purpose
  • a description of the prompts used
  • the date 
  • details of the information that was generated

Example:

During the research process for this assignment ChatGPT [https://chat.openai.com/] was used to generate alternative keywords and phrases for inequality. The following prompt was entered into ChatGPT on 24 June 2025:

Suggest up to 4 or 5 alternative words or phrases for inequality.

The suggestions returned were disparity, imbalance, injustice, unfairness and disproportion. I used these in the searches I conducted on Library Search to find relevant information in books and journal articles.