“ChatGPT Assists Me in My Reference List:” Exploring the Chatbot’s Potential as Citation Formatting Tool

Abstract

This inquiry unveiled the potential of ChatGPT as a viable alternative to traditional citation generator. Findings showed the substantial potential and reliability of the chatbot as a citation formatting tool. Notably, the study revealed ChatGPT’s remarkable accuracy in configuring reference citations for journal articles and books across a range of styles, including APA 7, MLA 9, IEEE, and Harvard. Furthermore, the tool demonstrated proficiency in organizing in-text citations for multiple references. Despite the commendable performance of ChatGPT, manual editing remains essential for the final verification of the references to ensure the utmost accuracy and credibility of sourced materials.

Keywords:

• Academic research
• artificial intelligence
• ChatGPT
• citation formatting tool
• large language model
• reference list

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the assistance of ChatGPT in formatting my references and in augmenting some parts of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).