A guide to citing and managing references

Why citing is important

Sources should be cited to:

- give credit to the author

- enable the reader to find the original text

- compare the ideas and opinions of different authors, thus providing new insights into the research

- document the scope and nature of your research

- strengthen the evidence supporting your thesis

- avoid plagiarism

Bibliographic citation

We must cite the source of information whenever we use ideas or theories developed by an author, whether we summarize or paraphrase them, or quote them in full. Compliance with citation rules is a key element of academic and scientific writing. The source of the information to which we refer in our text may be another document or publication, such as books, articles, manuscripts, theses, reports, conference proceedings or audio-visual communications, or the ideas or work of another author in general.

Citing a source involves inserting a bibliographic citation within the body of the text to clearly and formally indicate where the words, images, data and ideas integrated into our work have been taken from. The bibliographic citation is supplemented by bibliographic references placed at the end of the text, summarizing the information that allows readers to identify and locate the cited publications. This information can be obtained from the source itself and includes:

Author(s)

Title of the work

Name of publisher and place of publication

Date of publication

Page numbers

Volume and issue (for journal articles)

Bibliography

Bibliographic references, which complete the citation, may appear in footnotes or at the end of a piece of work — specifically, at the end of an article, book, or chapter of a book. When they appear in list form at the end of a work, they are called a 'list of references'. The term 'bibliography' is also often used to refer to this list. A bibliography is a list of all the sources of information consulted for a piece of research. Since it includes sources that have not been cited in the work itself, it is generally ordered alphabetically by the author's surname.

The term 'bibliography' has other uses. For example, it can refer to a systematic list of books, journals or articles on a particular topic or specific author. Alternatively, it can refer to the science that studies the systematic cataloguing of books.

Several standards can be adopted to compile a bibliography. The important thing is that, once a standard has been chosen, it is maintained throughout the publication.

Citation styles

There are various styles, which vary depending on the subject area. To allow for easy retrieval of the cited document, citations must provide clear and comprehensive information and be consistent in their application of the chosen style. Once a citation style has been chosen, it must be maintained throughout the entire document. Based on international standards, a citation style determines the information required for a citation, how this information is presented and ordered, and the punctuation and formatting.

Before adopting a citation style, it is advisable to check that it meets your supervisor's requirements.

Here are some examples:

How to cite sources

Bibliographic citations can be direct quotations, in which the author's exact words are placed in quotation marks, or paraphrases, which are personal reworkings of other people's writing. Direct quotations can generally be inserted into the text in two ways: 'in-text' and 'out-of-text'. In-text citations are used for short quotations of generally fewer than 40 words, where the quoted text is integrated into the main body of the text and enclosed in quotation marks. Out-of-text citations are used for longer quotations, which are inserted in their entirety without quotation marks and indented from the main body of the text. In both cases, the text must faithfully reproduce the original. Any omissions must be indicated with three ellipsis points. The addition of words with the aim of improving comprehension of several related passages will be indicated by square brackets.

Managing references with software

Reference management software can be useful for:

- importing bibliographic records from catalogues, databases and websites

- creating and organising bibliographies for theses, articles, books, and other documents.

- inserting and formatting citations in the text of your work.

Some of the most popular are:

EndNote Basic (through its subscription to Web of Science, the University of Bologna has access to the online version, which has more features than the basic version).

Mendeley (free)

RefWorks

Zotero (free)

Citation and attribution with generative AI tools

Before using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools for your research, you should consult your lecturer or supervisor and take care when citing the output. In particular, we recommend maintaining alignment with the University Policy pages dedicated to "citation and transparency."

As the rules for citing AI-generated content are constantly evolving, it is important to refer to the latest guidelines from the main citation style guides or publishers. If in doubt, describe your use of generative AI in sections such as 'Appendix' or 'Methods'. For example: 'I acknowledge that I used Microsoft Copilot (version GPT-4, Microsoft, https://copilot.microsoft.com/) to summarize my initial notes and proofread the final draft.'

Remember that sources are cited for two reasons: to give credit to the author and to allow verification of the sources used. Bear these principles in mind when deciding how to use and cite AI-generated content. The use of generative AI should be acknowledged in any substantial use of it in academic work, for example in the drafting, planning or organization of content. Whether you need to declare this depends on the nature of the task, but some general principles apply.

The use of generative AI may not require acknowledgement when it is used for preliminary or technical purposes, such as familiarizing oneself with a topic, reading summaries of research findings, simplifying complex content for review, or improving grammar and text structure.

While some citation styles recommend citing generative AI systems like any other source, this raises several critical issues. Firstly, AI cannot be considered an author as it cannot take responsibility or generate original ideas; in fact, it reproduces pre-existing content. Furthermore, it is difficult to trace it back to a verifiable source. However, if the publisher or reviewer requires the use of AI to be cited and a specific style to be followed, it is necessary to be aware of and adhere to the relevant guidelines, which may include listing the tool as the 'author' in the bibliography.

Below are some examples and direct links.

• APA: How to cite ChatGPT

According to APA style, AI-generated content should be cited as the output of an algorithm, with authorship attributed to the company that developed the model (e.g. OpenAI for ChatGPT).

• Chicago Manual of Style, Citing content developed or generated by artificial intelligence

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, the AI tool is considered the author and the developer company is considered the publisher (e.g. ChatGPT is the author and OpenAI is the publisher). If possible, the prompt used should also be reported, preferably in a note. The citation date corresponds to the date of content generation.

• How to cite generative artificial intelligence in MLA style?

MLA style is more flexible than APA or Chicago style and recommends citing AI when incorporating its output, such as text, images, data or paraphrases, into your work. For indirect uses, such as translation or revision, an explanatory note in the appendix or methods section is sufficient. As AI-generated content is considered an authorless source, a descriptive title based on the prompt should be cited in both the text and the bibliography. If available, include a shareable link showing the content generated during the chat instead of the tool's generic URL.