Citation Styles

A citation style dictates the format of in-text citations and references, what information needs to be provided and how it is ordered. There are many citation styles, e.g., American Chemical Society (ACS), American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), Turabian, etc.

This Citation Styles guide provides an introduction to a few popular citation styles, namely American Psychological Association (APA) 7th, American Sociological Association (ASA), Chicago 17th edition (CMOS), IEEE and Vancouver.  

Click on each tab to learn more about the specific citation style and view examples of commonly used in-text citations and references.

A list of Additional resources are provided for each style. It contains links to books in the NTU Library collection, online styles manuals and other free online resources. Use them to find more examples. Alternatively, you may email us your queries at library@ntu.edu.sg.

NTU Library supports reference management software such as EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero. You may want to try them all to decide which software you prefer. Do take note that you would only need to use one to manage your referencing needs.

Please visit our Reference Management Software LibGuide for more details. 

Students

Citing Generative AI
On the use of technological tools (such as Generative AI tools), different courses/assignments have different intended learning outcomes. Students should refer to the specific assignment instructions on their use and requirements and/or consult your instructors on how you can use these tools to help your learning. Generally, the guidelines are:

• Proper citations and acknowledgements
• Consult your professors
• Fact-checking and critical evaluation
• Creating a paper trail
• Upholding integrity in learning

Refer to NTU's student guide on Guidelines & impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) Tools on Education (Student Intranet) for full details, and to ensure that you adhere to academic integrity guidelines when using these tools.

Many citation styles are attempting to provide guidance as to whether and how ChatGPT and other GAI tools should be cited. Check within the individual style guides from the menu on the left for more details on how to cite GAI tools. As these technologies are rapidly changing, please note that the citation guidelines for GAI tools may change. Be sure to check back regularly for any updates.

Shared links: How to create a shared chat link on ChatGPT, Google Bard and Bing AI

Shared links are a new feature that enables users to generate a unique URL for a ChatGPT conversation. To generate a shared link, please see this 2-min video. 

Below is an example of a reference list entry with a shareable link generated by the AI tool:

     OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Aug 7 version) [Large language model]. [https://chat.openai.com/share/46ce4720-19bd-4c21-84f0-7a69ec4af03d\]

Note: If the prompt is not in English, students are advised to submit the original language prompt and a translated version in ChatGPT 3.5. 

Researchers

Using Generative AI in Research

If you are a researcher and if you are thinking about using generative AI in your research, please refer to the NTU Position on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Research for more information on ethics, bias and the potential benefits.

Other resources

See also NTU's Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) Policy and Guidelines (Staff Intranet) for guidelines on the following:

• NTU's Prevailing Guidelines and Instructions for Faculty & Staff  
• Guidelines and Principles for the Implementation of GAI for Take-Home Assignments/Projects
• Sample Declaration on GAI Use in Take-Home Assignments/Projects