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AI in Academic Research and Writing

AI in Academic Research and Writing: APA 7 & AI

APA Guidelines

The current guidance for citing AI using APA 7 is summarized here through paraphrasing and direct quotations of the following original sources found on the APA Style Blog:

Note: This resource page was updated on 9/26/25 to reflect newly published guidance from the APA Style Blog--Citing Generative AI in APA Style," Parts 1–3. The updates include:

  • The addition of the "Best Practices" section
  • Option to cite an AI chat instead of just the AI tool 

Best Practices for Using AI in Your Writing

  • Check AI Use Policies. Before using AI, review the guidelines set by the person who will evaluate your work, such as your instructor, editor, publisher, etc. Policies may differ on acceptable uses, disclosure, and citation requirements. 
  • Critically Evaluate AI-generated text. AI can produce biased or inaccurate information. To uphold the integrity of your work, always verify AI-generated content against reliable sources, and never present AI output as entirely your own work. 
  • Consider Ethical Concerns. AI tools can potentially introduce issues like bias, data privacy, confidentiality, copyright, intellectual property, and environmental impact. To be proactive, understand how tools are trained on data and what they do with the info you feed models, disclose your use of AI, and weigh the potential harms before proceeding. 

Citing an AI Chat

This is the first of two ways for disclosing your use of AI.

Cite a specific chat with an AI tool whenever doing so would be helpful to the readers. To do so, use both an in-text citation and reference list entry that follow the author-date-title-source format. Each instance should use the date the chat took place as well as the unique URL and title created by the tool.

Reference Template

AI Company Name. (year, month day). Title of chat in italics [Description, such as Generative AI chat]. Tool Name/Model. URL of the chat

  • Parenthetical citation: (AI Company Name, year)
  • Narrative citation: AI Company Name (year)

Example References

The following prompt was used to generate the example references: “I’d like a list of grammar topics that a student should understand by the time they graduate from high school.”

Parenthetical citations: (Anthropic, 2025; Google, 2025; OpenAI, 2025; Perplexity AI, 2025)

Narrative citations: Anthropic (2025), Google (2025), OpenAI (2025), and Perplexity AI (2025)

Citing an AI Tool Generally

Cite an AI tool generally when it would be unhelpful, unethical, or otherwise inappropriate to cite a specific chat—as well as when you want to point to the existence of the AI tool but not necessarily cite specific information from it.

Reference Template

AI Company Name. (year). Tool Name/Model in Italics and Title Case [Description; e.g., Large language model]. URL of the tool

  • Parenthetical citation: (AI Company Name, year)
  • Narrative citation: AI Company Name (year)

Example References

Parenthetical citations: (Anthropic, 2025; Google, 2025; OpenAI, 2025; Perplexity AI, 2025)

Narrative citations: Anthropic (2025), Google (2025), OpenAI (2025), and Perplexity AI (2025)

AI Use Disclosure

The author of this guide used Microsoft Copilot (2025) to assist with editing the drafted text for concision and clarity.

Microsoft. (2025) Copilot [Large language model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com/ 

  • Last Updated: Oct 16, 2025 1:13 PM
  • URL: https://info.library.okstate.edu/AI
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