Teaching · Practical guide
Document and Cite AI Assistance Transparently
Keep an accurate record of AI assistance, distinguish disclosure from source citation and apply the current style required for your work.
Separate permission, disclosure and citation
Permission answers whether an action is allowed. Disclosure explains what assistance was used. Citation identifies a source or generated material according to the required style. These three tasks are related but not interchangeable. A complete reference does not authorise prohibited assistance, and a declaration does not make a generated factual claim reliable.
Start with the assignment, institutional or publisher instructions. If they conflict or leave an important ambiguity, seek clarification through the relevant channel. Do not copy a general internet example and assume it overrides the requirements for your particular submission. Keep the record while working, rather than reconstructing it from memory at the end.
Capture the details that actually occurred
Record the tool and model name as shown, the date, the purpose, the relevant prompt or description, the contribution retained and the checks performed. If the interface does not disclose a model version, say so rather than inventing one. Distinguish generated text that you retained from suggestions that you rejected.
Maintain a short assistance log. For each session, write “requested”, “accepted”, “changed” and “verified”. This record is more informative than a percentage such as “20% AI”, which usually lacks a defensible measurement method. Do not claim a tool wrote or checked something merely because it was open while you worked.
Worked example: an honest declaration
Fictional workflow: a writer drafts an explanation of a percentage calculation, asks an approved assistant to identify unclear wording, accepts one heading suggestion and rejects a proposed numerical correction after recalculating. A suitable declaration is: “I used an AI assistant to suggest headings and flag unclear wording in my draft. I retained one heading, rewrote the explanation myself and independently checked the calculation. I did not use the assistant as a factual source.”
The declaration would be inaccurate if the assistant actually generated the whole analysis. It would also overstate verification if the writer merely asked the same assistant whether the answer was correct. Compare each clause with the log: the purpose, retained contribution and independent check must all correspond to actions that occurred.
For an exercise, store the actual tool details separately from this generic wording. A final submission should include the identifying information and references required by its policy and style, without pretending that the fictional example records a real session.
Use current official style guidance
APA’s September 2025 guidance distinguishes citing a specific AI chat from citing a tool more generally. For a specific chat, its format uses the responsible company, chat date, chat title with a description, tool or model, and the chat URL. Consult the linked official guidance for the appropriate case and formatting; older 2023 examples do not cover every later situation.
MLA’s updated guidance describes the generated material rather than treating the AI tool as an author. It includes the tool, available model/version information, developer, generation date and location. A stable shared conversation URL is preferred when available under that guidance. The two styles therefore should not be mixed into a hybrid reference.
Do not create a fabricated share URL to make a reference appear complete. Before sharing a conversation, inspect it for personal, confidential or protected material. If public sharing is inappropriate, follow the permitted alternative in the relevant style and submission policy rather than exposing the material.
Cite original evidence for factual claims
Suppose an assistant recommends a paper and gives a summary. Locate and read the paper before citing it as support. If you have only read the generated summary, do not imply direct consultation of the original. A source can exist yet fail to support the particular sentence you are writing.
Keep the distinction visible in your notes: AI helped locate terms or organise ideas; a specified primary source supports the factual claim. Where generated text, code or imagery itself is incorporated, apply the disclosure and citation requirements for that use. A factual correction still needs evidence even when the AI tool is properly acknowledged.
Practice: audit a declaration in 15 minutes
Use five minutes to write a fictional assistance log with two accepted suggestions and one rejected suggestion. Spend five minutes drafting a declaration. Use five minutes to compare it with the log and identify the reference information required by your chosen style.
Example log: requested three headings; retained one; requested an explanation of 18/240; rejected a claimed result of 18%; independently calculated 7.5%. An accurate declaration says AI assisted organisation and that the numerical suggestion was corrected by independent calculation. It must not say the AI verified the arithmetic. The reference record needs real tool/date information before it can become a genuine citation.
Self-review: does every declaration claim match the work performed? Are source citations separate from acknowledgements of assistance? Have you checked current official guidance and the privacy of any shared link? Keep unresolved metadata explicit rather than filling gaps with plausible-looking details.
Reusable prompt
Select and copy this template, or customise your own using the free builder.
Help organise this truthful AI-assistance log: [non-sensitive log]. Return a concise declaration stating purpose, retained contribution, revisions and verification. List missing citation metadata for [required style] without inventing it. Distinguish permission from disclosure and factual evidence from AI assistance. Do not claim actions absent from the log or create a share URL.Open the prompt builder →
Pause · Think · Check
Test your understanding
Choose one answer per question, then check your reasoning. This is practice; scores are not saved.