Chicago's answer differs from APA's and MLA's: you credit the tool in your text or in a note, and you usually leave it out of the bibliography. The wording below comes from the Chicago Manual of Style Q&A as reproduced by the SUNY Potsdam library, so check the current Q&A or your program's Turabian guide before your final draft.
The starting point, from the Q&A: “You do need to credit ChatGPT and similar tools whenever you use the text that they generate in your own work.” For a formal citation in a student paper, the Q&A gives this note:
1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.
If your text doesn't give the prompt, the Q&A adds it to the note: 1. ChatGPT, response to "Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients," OpenAI, March 7, 2023.
The Q&A, whose examples date from 2023, treats the URL as optional because at the time others couldn't open a conversation without a login. Purdue's and Duke's guides show a shareable URL in the note when you have one.
Usually not. The Q&A says: “But don’t cite ChatGPT in a bibliography or reference list.” It treats a conversation like an email or a phone call, a personal communication that others can't look up.
Gettysburg College's library adds a caveat: if you have a publicly available link to the exchange and you do list it, use the developer's name instead of the tool's. Follow your program's guide if it says something more specific.
If your field uses Chicago's author-date system, put anything the text doesn't already say in a parenthetical reference, such as (ChatGPT, March 7, 2023). The rule about the reference list stays the same.
Say so. The Q&A advises: “If you’ve edited the AI-generated text, you should say so in the text or at the end of the note”. Small typographic changes don't need a mention. Before you do this in a thesis, check that your committee allows text from a tool at all, since a correct note doesn't answer that question.
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| Each passage from a tool has a note or a mention in the text | The Q&A asks you to credit the tool whenever you use its text |
| The date in the note is the date you generated the text | Your saved chat should show it |
| No bibliography entry, unless your program wants one | The Q&A says to leave it out |
| Facts in the passage come from a source you read | A note to a tool doesn't support a historical claim |
| Your disclosure statement mentions the same use | See the AI disclosure statement |
Esmond evaluates every assignment before you submit. It never writes it.
Esmond doesn't question your choice of citation style. It reads how you use your sources in your argument and comments where a central claim clearly has no cited source behind it. It doesn't open the sources you cite.
In the note, ChatGPT stands in the author's place and OpenAI is the publisher or sponsor. That is a citation convention, and you remain the author of your work.
The Q&A is about text you use. For ideas, ask your advisor whether your program expects a statement.
The Q&A says other AI-generated text can be cited similarly. Replace the tool and the company.
Gettysburg's guide mentions publicly available links. Check that the link opens without your login, and keep a copy of the conversation in case it stops working.
Read on November 3, 2026.
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