APA Basics

The referencing system most used at MLC is APA 7 – American Psychological Association (APA)  – version 7.

A referencing system provides guidelines for citing various sources of information in a consistent manner. All reference lists contain the following details about each source that is used in your work:

The Four Key Components of APA 7:

Author(s): The person(s) or organisation(s) responsible for creating the work

Date: The year of publication or creation

Title: The title of the work being cited

Source origin: The publication or retrieval details for the work (i.e. publisher, volume and issue numbers, or URL)

List all references in alphabetical order in one list.

Examples of common formats:

Books:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Publisher.

Crilly, A. J. (2007). 50 mathematical ideas you really need to know. Quercus.

Websites:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of web page. Site name. URL

Ghose, T. (2023, March 1). What is the Fibonacci sequence? Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/37470-fibonacci-sequence.html

Online Videos:

Name of account. (Specific date). Title of the video [Video]. Site name. URL.

Society for Research in Child Development. (2020, January 23). John Bowlby and Attachment Theory [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exf_rR1NnNs

Where can I get help with my referencing?

• MLC Referencing Guide (2023) (APA Referencing 7th Ed – Made easy)
  This can be downloaded and stored on your device
• You Teacher or Teacher Librarian
• Use the Online Catalogue and databases to help you gather the information you need
• Word – inbuilt bibliography tool. View video at the end of this page.
• Online Referencing Generator
• Citefast – set up a free account using your MLC email address

Citefast

• Citefast is an online tool that helps you create a bibiography in APA style.

• Go to https://www.citefast.com/ and set up your account. (Bookmark the link for quick access if you haven’t already done so)

Citing ChatGPT

What about citing ChatGPT?

How to cite AI generative tools?

Note: The following is related to the use of ChatGPT for research-based learning, i.e. using ChatGPT to gather information, answer an inquiry focus question.

In addition to academic integrity issues, when referencing ChatGPT there is an absence of traditional authorship and publication information with AI-generated content, making citing it in academic work rather complex.

ChatGPT -According to APA (McAdoo, 2023) it should be treated as though the creator of the AI model is the author, and citing it like software is considered appropriate.

At MLC? As at June, 2023

The expectation for referencing ChatGPT and other AI tools is evolving, so what it recommended below is subject to change.

Year 7 & 8 – Include an end-text reference list & provide the share link from the AI tool after the referencing list.

Referencing Format:

Author of AI Model used. (Year of AI model used). Prompt Description. Name of AI model used (Version). URL of the sharelink of the of the AI model used.

Example:

OpenAI. (2023). Prompt, ‘How was Stonehenge built?’ ChatGPT (May 24 version). https://chat.openai.com/share/483cb175-4411-477e-88cf-6dd4ac961177

Year 9

1. Include an in-text reference. Example:

When prompted with “What are man-made causes of salinity in agricultural land in Australia?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that there are several man-made causes including land clearing and inefficient irrigation and soil management practices (OpenAI, 2023).

2. Include the end-text reference

Open AI. (2023). Prompt, “What are man-made causes of salinity in agricultural land in Australia?” ChatGPT (May 24 version). https://chat.openai.com/share/4b816d37-bdd9-46b0-9645-eb5777ae7910

Important

Not citing the use of ChatGPT or using it when not permitted could be considered cheating. You should make yourself aware of the MLC Assessment policy.

Citing AI-generated content is complex and you need to verify the accuracy of AI-generated content using reliable sources of information as AI models sometimes produce inaccurate responses.

It is also important to you are aware of the ethical use of AI-generated content and its impact on intellectual property rights. Your teachers may discuss this with you further.

Your turn

Use Citefast to reference the following book and website.

Then in your L2L ClassOne Note:

1. Copy and paste you completed short reference list/ bibliography from Citefast into your L2L OneNote.
2. List three things you have learnt today about referencing.