MLA (short for the Modern Language Association) is the default formatting style for referencing at our school. MLA Style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and citing research in writing. MLA Style also provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and Works Cited pages.
Need citation help? Checkout these resources:
1. Purdue OWL
2. MLA Style Guide 9th Edition (in the HHIHS Library)
3. Ms. Andis in the HHIHS Library (email: michelle.andis@beaufort.k12.sc.us)
MLA requires in-text citations, NOT footnotes. (Note that footnotes may be used in MLA if you are providing extra or explanatory information, not citations.)
For more information about MLA, visit their website.
The following essays were selected for the 2023 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2023 selection committee was composed of Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut (chair); Rachel Ihara, Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York; and Tarshia L. Stanley, Wagner College. Click the PDF to view the papers.
Caroline Anderson (Pepperdine University)
“L’Appel du Vide: Making Spaces for Sinful Exploration in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
Hunter Daniels (University of South Carolina, Aiken)
“Biblical Legalism and Cultural Misogyny in The Tragedy of Mariam”
Aspen English (Southern Utah University)
“Putting the ‘Comm’ in Comics: A Communication-Theory-Informed Reading of Graphic Narratives”
Raul Martin (Lamar University)
“The Book-Object Binary: Access and Sustainability in the Academic Library”
Grace Quasebarth (Salve Regina University)
“Finding a Voice: The Loss of Machismo Criticisms through Translation in Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits”
How to cite the output of a program that utilizes artificial intelligence (such as a chatbot like ChatGPT):
Cite the platform on which you interacted with the program and the author of the program if you find one listed.
Author last name, Author first name. “Name of chat.” Name of AI, URL.
(example from their webpage)
For example, if you are describing your chat with a version of Eliza, a program developed in the 1960s that mimics a psychotherapist, you might cite it as follows:
Eliza‘s responses have some limitations. In response to the question “What is your name?” it answers, “Have you asked anyone else?” (Dunlop).
Works Cited
Dunlop, George. “Eliza, Computer Therapist.” Manifestation, www.manifestation.com/neurotoys/eliza.php3.
The APA Style team is currently collecting feedback so that they can construct official guidelines. What follows is interim guidance and should not be considered the final word.
Because the purpose of references is to direct readers to the specific sources that a writer used, hopefully the text that ChatGPT generates in any particular chat can be saved, is shareable, or is otherwise retrievable. If so, the reference format in Section 10.10 (Software) can be used, with the company (“OpenAI”) as author, not “ChatGPT.” If the chat has no title, a description in square brackets (that ideally includes information on what prompts were used) would be created. That would give us the following:
OpenAI. (2023, January 17). [ChatGPT response to a prompt about three prominent themes in Emily Dickinson’s poetry]. https://chat.openai.com/.....
If the text that ChatGPT generates is not retrievable or sharable, then it falls into [the] catch-all “personal communication” category, where you cite with an in-text only citation: “(OpenAI, personal communication, January 16, 2023).” However, this is not an entirely satisfactory option, especially because the technology is so new, so both students and instructors are learning about this resource and how to ethically use it. Consider, then, making the ChatGPT conversation retrievable by including the text as an appendix or as online supplemental material. If you do so, then readers may be referred to the appendix or the online supplemental material (where the ChatGPT response may be contextualized) when the ChatGPT conversation is cited. It would be good practice to describe, in the narrative or a note, the prompt that generated the specific ChatGPT response. This too will help inform the understanding of the technology and its outputs.