Why Acknowledge Sources?

Reasons for citing sources are based on academic, professional, and cultural values. At the GSD, we cite to promote

  • Integrity and honesty by acknowledging the creative and intellectual work of others.
  • The pursuit of knowledge by enabling others to locate the materials you used.
  • The development of design excellence through research into scholarly conversations related to your subject.

 

When is Citing Necessary?

Cite your source whenever you quote, summarize, paraphrase, or otherwise include someone else's

  • Words 
  • Opinions, thoughts, interpretations, or arguments
  • Original research, designs, images, video, etc.

Basic Format for Citations at the GSD

At the GSD, mostly you will use Chicago or APA style, which are two systems for organizing mostly the same information.

Often you can choose the style you prefer, but ask your instructor or TA/TF if there is a course standard. Whichever style you use, be consistent within each project. We recommend using Zotero, a citation-management tool, to structure your citations for you, but you should always check to make sure the tool captures the correct information in the correct place.

 Chicago Citation Basics 

Include as much of this information as is available in this order. For punctuation and capitalization, see the examples below.

Image of the contents of Chicago citations. For bibliographies (also called Works Cited and References), textual sources need the author’s last name, first name, title, source, date, and hyperlink. For in-text author-date citations, textual sources need the author’s last name, date, and page range. For in-text footnote citations, textual sources need the author’s first name, last name, title, source, date, and hyperlink. For a Caption or List of Figures, cite images with first name, last name, role (for example, photographer), title, date, object type, size and material, archive or museum, and hyperlink. For in-text author-date citations of AI-generated text, first write text generated by then include the name of the AI tool and company. For In-text footnotes for AI-generated text, include the prompt you used followed by the name of the AI tool, the company, date, and hyperlink. In a Caption or List of Figures, cite AI-generated images with the AI tool name and the prompt.

 APA Citation Basics 

Include as much of this information as is available in this order. For punctuation and capitalization, see the examples below.

Image of the contents of APA citations. For bibliographies (also called Works Cited and References), textual sources need the author’s last name, first initial, date, title, source, and hyperlink. For in-text author-date citations, textual sources need the author’s last name, date, and page range. Footnotes are not common in APA style. Use them for supplemental material only. For a Note or List of Figures, cite images with last name, first name, role (for example, photographer), date, title, object type, size and material, archive or museum, and hyperlink. For in-text author-date citations of AI-generated text, use the company name and date. For In-text footnotes for AI-generated text, use the company name, date, AI tool name, version, [Large language model] and hyperlink. In a Note or List of Figures, cite AI-generated images with the AI tool name and the prompt.

Citing Textual Sources

 Chicago Style 

Citing Print Sources

 

Book 

Footnote - long (first time citing the source)

1. Joseph Rykwert, The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World, (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976), 35.

Footnote - short (citing the source again)

1. Rykwert, The Idea of a Town, 35.

Author-Date (alternative to footnotes)

(Rykwert 1976, 35)

Bibliography (alphabetical order and hanging indentation)

Rykwert, Joseph. The Idea of a Town: the Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976.

Chapter 

Footnote - long (first time citing the source)

1. Diane Favro, “The Street Triumphant: The Urban Impact of Roman Triumphal Parades,” in Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space, ed. Zeynep Çelik, Diana Favro, and Richard Ingersoll (Berkeley: University of California Press,1994), 153.

Footnote - short (citing the source again)

1. Favro, “The Street Triumphant,” 156.

Author-Date (an alternative to footnotes)

(Favro 1994, 153)

Bibliography (alphabetical order and hanging indentation)

Favro, Diane. “The Street Triumphant: The Urban Impact of Roman Triumphal Parades.” In Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space, edited by Zeynep Çelik, Diane G. Favro, and Richard Ingersoll, 151-164. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.

Journal Article 

Footnote - long (first time citing the source)

1. Hendrik Dey, “From ‘Street’ to ‘Piazza’: Urban Politics, Public Ceremony, and the Redefinition of platea in Communal Italy and Beyond” Speculum 91, no.4 (October 2016): 919.

Footnote - short (citing the source again)

1. Dey, “From ‘Street’ to ‘Piazza,’” 932.

Author-Date (an alternative to footnotes)

(Dey 2016, 932)

Bibliography (alphabetical order and hanging indentation)

Dey, Hendrik. “From ‘Street’ to ‘Piazza’: Urban Politics, Public Ceremony, and the Redefinition of platea in Communal Italy and Beyond.” Speculum 91, no.4 (October 2016): 919-44.

 APA Style 

Citing Print Sources

 

Book 

Author-Date

(Rykwert 1976 p. 35)

Footnote  (for supplemental information)

1. From The idea of a town: The anthropology of urban form in Rome, Italy and the ancient world by Joseph Rykwert, 1976, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Bibliography/Reference (alphabetical order and hanging indentation)

Rykwert, J. (1976). The idea of a town: The anthropology of urban form in Rome, Italy and the ancient world.  Princeton University Press.

Chapter

Author-Date

(Favro 1994 p.153)

Footnote (for supplemental information)

1. From the chapter "The street triumphant: The urban impact of Roman triumphal parades" in Streets: Critical perspectives on public space, edited by Zeynep Çelik, Diana Favro, and Richard Ingersoll, 1994, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bibliography/Reference (alphabetical order and hanging indentation)

Favro, D. (1994) “The street triumphant: The Urban Impact of Roman Triumphal Parades.” In Zeynep Çelik, Diane G. Favro, and Richard Ingersoll (Eds.), Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space (pp.151-164). University of California Press.

Journal Article 

Author-Date

(Dey 2016 p.919)

Footnote (for supplemental material)

1. From the article “From ‘street’ to ‘Piazza’: Urban politics, public ceremony, and the Redefinition of platea in Communal Italy and Beyond” by Hendrik Dey in Speculum 91(4), 919. www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/spc/2016/91/4

Bibliography/Reference (alphabetical order and hanging indentation)

Dey, H. (2016). From "street" to "piazza": Urban politics, public ceremony, and the redefinition of platea in communal Italy and beyond. Speculum 91 (4), 919-44. www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/spc/2016/91/4

Citing Images and Non-Textual Sources

 Chicago Style 

Citing Visual Sources 

Visual representations created by other people, including photographs, maps, drawings, models, graphs, tables, and blueprints, must be cited. Citations for visual material may be included at the end of a caption or in a list of figures, similar to but usually separate from the main bibliography.

When they are not merely background design, images are labeled as figures and numbered. In-text references to them refer to the figure number. Sometimes you will have a title after the figure number and a brief descriptive caption below it. 

If you choose to include the citation under the caption, format it like a footnote entry. If you would prefer to have a list of figures for citation information, organize them by figure number and use the format of a bibliographic entry. 

A map of Harvard Campus with an example caption and citation below it. Immediately under the map are the words, "Figure One." Under those words is a caption stating that the image is a map of Harvard campus from 1935. Under that caption is the citations, which is as follows: Edwin J Schruers, cartographer, Tercentenary map of Harvard, 1935, color map, 86x64 cm, Harvard University Archives, http and the rest of the permalink code.

The construction of citations for artwork and illustrations is more flexible and variable than textual sources. Here we have provided an example with full bibliographic information. Use your best judgment and remember that the goals are to be consistent and to provide enough information to credit your source and for someone else to find your source.

Some borrowed material in collages may also need to be cited, but the rules are vague and hard to find. Check with your professor about course standards. 

 APA Style 

Citing Visual Sources 

Visual representations created by other people, including photographs, maps, drawings, models, graphs, tables, and blueprints, must be cited. In APA style, tables are their own category, and all other visual representations are considered figures. Tables and figures both follow the same basic setup. 

When they are not merely background design, images are labeled as figures and numbered and titled above the image. If needed to clarify the meaning or significance of the figure, a note may be placed below it. In-text references to visual sources refer to the figure number (ex. As shown in Figure 1..."). 

Citations for visual material created by other people may either be included under the figure or note or compiled in a list of figures, similar to but usually separate from the main bibliography.

Figures may take up a whole page or be placed at the top or bottom of the page with a blank double-space below or above it.

If you choose to include the citation under the figure, format it like a bibliographic entry. If you would prefer to have a list of figures for citation information, organize them by figure number and use the format of a bibliographic entry. Here is a detailed example. Some figures will require less bibliographic information, but it is a good practice to include as much as you can.

The construction of citations for artwork and illustrations is more flexible and variable than for textual sources. Here we have provided an example with full bibliographic information. Use your best judgment and remember that the goals are to be consistent and to provide enough information to credit your source and for someone else to find your source.

Some borrowed material in collages may also need to be cited, but the rules are vague and hard to find. Check with your professor about course standards. 

Citing Generative AI

The rules for citing the use of generative AI, both textual and visual, are still evolving. For guidelines on when to cite the use of AI, please refer to the section on Academic Integrity. Here, we will give you suggestions for how to cite based on what the style guides say and what Harvard University encourages. We again recommend that you to ask your instructors about their expectations for use and citation and to remain consistent in your formatting.

 Chicago Style 

 

Chicago Manual of Style currently states that "for most types of writing, you can simply acknowledge the AI tool in your text" with a parenthetical comment stating the use of a specific tool. For example: (Image generated by Midjourney). 

For academic papers or research articles, you should have a numbered footnote or endnote

AI-Generated Text

  • Clearly indicate what text was generated by an AI tool (and which tool).
  • Cite the generative-AI tool as the author and the creator/company (ex. OpenAI for ChatGPT) as the publisher.
  • Announce if you edited the text and your reason(s) (ex. clarity or accuracy).
  • Include the URL if it leads publicly to the same generated material; otherwise, the URL is optional.

In-text citation (author-date)

(Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI) or (Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, edited for clarity)

Footnote – prompt not included in the text of the paper

  1. ChatGPT, response to “Suggest three possible responses from community stakeholders to the proposed multi-use development project,” OpenAI, March 28, 2024, https://chat.openai.com/chat

Footnote – prompt included in the text of the paper

  1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 28, 2024, https://chat.openai.com/chat

Footnote – edited AI-generated text

  1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 28, 2024, edited for clarity, https://chat.openai.com/chat

Bibliography (alphabetical order and hanging indentation)

Chicago does not encourage including generative AI in a bibliography unless the tool also creates a direct link to the same generated content that is accessible to the public.

https://www-chicagomanualofstyle-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/qanda/data/faq/topics/Documentation/faq0422.html

AI-Generated Image

  • Figure number under the image.
  • Caption below the image that says the image was generated using an AI tool (specify which one) and provides the prompt that produced the image.
  • No other citation or bibliographic information is needed

 

An AI-generated image of a person wearing a hard hat and holding a pencil over a wooden model of a building. Windows and other models of buildings are in the background.

Figure 1. Image generated using Adobe Firefly from the prompt engineer designing a new building.

The rules for citing the use of generative AI, both textual and visual, are still evolving. For guidelines on when to cite the use of AI, please refer to the section on Academic Integrity. Here, we will give you suggestions for how to cite based on what the style guides say and what Harvard University encourages. We again recommend that you to ask your instructors about their expectations for use and citation and to remain consistent in your formatting.

 APA Style 

 

The APA style team currently says to "describe how you used the tool in your Methods section or in a comparable section of your paper," perhaps the introduction for literature reviews and response papers. In your paper, state the prompt followed by the resulting generated text. Cite generative AI use according to the rules you would use for citing an algorithm. Include the URL if it leads directly to the same generated material; otherwise, the URL is optional.

AI-Generated Text

  • State the prompt followed by the resulting generated text.
  • Cite your generative-AI tool and creator/company (for example, OpenAI is the company that created ChatGPT) as you would cite an algorithm.
  • Include the URL if it leads directly to the same generated material; otherwise, the URL is optional.
  • Describe how you used generative AI in your Methods section or introduction.

In-text citation (author-date)

(OpenAI, 2024)

Footnote (for supplemental information)

APA does not yet provide a structure or example for a footnote. If you need to mention generative AI in a footnote, stay as consistent with formatting as possible.

Bibliography (alphabetical order and hanging indentation)

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

AI-Generated Image

  • Figure number above the image.
  • (Optional) Title above the image, in italics
  • Caption (called Note) below the image that says the image was generated using an AI tool (specify which one) and provides the prompt that produced the image.
  • No other citation or bibliographic information is needed.

Figure 1

An AI-Generated Image of Landscape Design

An AI-generated image of person sitting at a table outdoors under a blue sky surrounded by mountains. The person is drawing a landscape of trees and grass.

Note. Image generated using Adobe Firefly from the prompt artist designing a landscape.

Links to Style Guides and Citation Resources

These links take you to external resources for further research on citation styles.

 Chicago Style 

 APA Style