Skip to Main Content
Skip to Library Help widget

CTVA 301: Media Research Methods

Citing your sources (MLA and Chicago)

Citing AI Content

Cite content created by an AI tool as you would authors or creators. Style guides provide guidance on citing AI content as sources. Below are links to guidelines for citing AI content among the most popular styles. It is very important that you review any cited sources contained within AI content to affirm the accuracy of those sources. Use links for additional information.

Examples:

MLA style (9th edition)

“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

APA Style (7th edition)

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

Chicago Manual of Style

Note

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

Bibliography (requires public link to prompt):

OpenAI. Text generated by ChatGPT, Version GPT-3.5. Accessed May 24, 2023. https://chat.openai.com/chat

What is An Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources (books, articles, websites, etc.) with short paragraph about each source. An annotated bibliography is sometimes a useful step before drafting a research paper, or it can stand alone as an overview of the research available on a topic.

Each source in the annotated bibliography has a citation - the information a reader needs to find the original source, in a consistent format to make that easier. These consistent formats are called citation styles.  The most common citation styles are MLA (Modern Language Association) for humanities, and APA (American Psychological Association) for social sciences.

Annotations are about 4 to 6 sentences long (roughly 150 words), and address:

  •     Main focus or purpose of the work
  •     Usefulness or relevance to your research topic 
  •     Special features of the work that were unique or helpful
  •     Background and credibility of the author
  •     Conclusions or observations reached by the author
  •     Conclusions or observations reached by you


Annotations versus Abstracts

Many scholarly articles start with an abstract, which is the author's summary of the article to help you decide whether you should read the entire article.  This abstract is not the same thing as an annotation.  The annotation needs to be in your own words, to explain the relevance of the source to your particular assignment or research question.

Citation Managers

Citation managers are software that keep track of your sources and automatically format your citations in a variety of styles.

  • EndNote Web - free to CSUN students, staff, and faculty; integrates with MS Word and any browser; can export references directly from many databases
  • Zotero - free to anyone; integrates with MS Word and/or Google Docs; must be installed on your own computer 

MLA 9th Annotated Bibliography Examples

Book

Ontiveros, Randy J. In the Spirit of a New People: The Cultural Politics of the Chicano Movement. New York UP, 2014.

This book analyzes the journalism, visual arts, theater, and novels of the Chicano movement from 1960 to the present as articulations of personal and collective values. Chapter 3 grounds the theater of El Teatro Campesino in the labor and immigrant organizing of the period, while Chapter 4 situates Sandra Cisneros’s novel Caramelo in the struggles of Chicana feminists to be heard in the traditional and nationalist elements of the Chicano movement. Ontiveros provides a powerful and illuminating historical context for the literary and political texts of the movement.

 

Journal article

Alvarez, Nadia, and Jack Mearns. “The Benefits of Writing and Performing in the Spoken Word Poetry Community.” The Arts in Psychotherapy, vol. 41, no. 3, July 2014, pp. 263-268. ScienceDirecthttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2014.03.004.

Spoken word poetry is distinctive because it is written to be performed out loud, in person, by the poet. The ten poets interviewed by these authors describe “a reciprocal relationship between the audience and the poet” created by that practice of performance. To build community, spoken word poets keep metaphor and diction relatively simple and accessible. Richness is instead built through fragmented stories that coalesce into emotional narratives about personal and community concerns.  This understanding of poets’ intentions illuminates their recorded performances.

*Note, citations have a .5 hanging indent and the annotations have a 1 inch indent. 

Report ADA Problems with Library Services and Resources