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Reference Sources and Attribution

Reference Sources & Attribution

The ideal option for sources, in your draft, is to include as much information about the source you used. We need to give credit to the original creator regardless of whether the source is openly licensed or not. This maintains academic integrity, helps others locate the original source, and complies with Creative Commons and other license requirements.

In short: If you did not create it, you must cite it.

WisTech Open & APA Style

All WisTech Open OER use APA (7th edition) for citations and references. APA citations include two parts:

  1. In-text citations in the body of your chapter
  2. A References list at the end of your chapter

When to Cite

Cite any material that is not your own, including:

  • Direct quotes
  • Paraphrased or summarized ideas
  • Data, statistics, or research findings
  • Images, charts, tables, and diagrams
  • Audio, video, or multimedia elements
  • Adapted or remixed content
  • AI generated content

Always Include the Source URL

When working on your chapter in Google draft (or Word), always include the URL or DOI in your APA reference.

  • For articles, database content, Google Scholar content, etc. provide the URL and look to see if they provide a “Cite” button that you can copy their APA citation.
  • For openly licensed content, provide a link to both the original source and the license type when possible.
  • For adapted material, clearly state the adaptation and include the URL to the original work.

The librarian assisting you can find almost any source if you provide a URL of the content used, but providing us with the author, publication date, and URL is appreciated!

Specifying What Content Came from Which Source

When incorporating content from another source—especially if you are adapting or remixing—make it clear exactly what came from where.

In your chapter:

  • Try to capture author and publication date for the APA in-text citation immediately after the source used
    • Example: To keep a group effective and support ongoing improvement, it’s important to assess how members work together (Nikoleizig et al., 2021)
  • Or introduce borrowed material with a signal phrase or attribution.
    • Example: “The following table is adapted from the Wisconsin Early Learning Standards (2022).”
  • In your References list, include the full APA citation.

Your chapter drafts don’t have to be perfect. The librarian or editor can revise the format of the in-text citation later, but it’s important to capture which sources you used during your drafting and how much of the source you used. Feel free to highlight the exact content in the rough draft to keep track of use and attribution. It will help everyone out as we complete the process.

 

Option 1 – Adding and Highlighting Citations Directly into the Draft

Here are a few examples of in-text citations from past Google doc drafts. Note the highlighted section below showing that the author has included citation information. The authors included URLs here within the chapter which is great. We’ll remove the hyperlinks and include all the information in the references section at the end of the chapter.

Example from Oral/Interpersonal Draft

Author and Date

Every group has members who fulfill specific roles that contribute to the team’s success. These roles can be categorized into three main types: task roles, maintenance roles, and leadership roles Marta R. Stoeckel, Kelly O’Shea; Strategies for Supporting Equitable Group Work. Phys. Teach. 1 May 2024; 62 (5): 326–329. https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0167278. Participants in groups can fill multiple roles for their group, and not every group has to have every role to be still high functioning. Understanding these roles helps address all aspects of group work—task completion, relationship building, and effective leadership—effectively.

Entity as Author and Date – If you can’t find an author, use the entity or publisher

Building strong educator-family relationships is an important feature for fostering a supportive and effective educational environment. However, from time to time, various barriers can impede these connections and throw a relationship off course. This can lead to misunderstandings and a lack of collaboration, which is not in the best interest of the children. Barriers not only lead to misunderstandings but also impact the child’s learning and development. Barriers between families and educators could result in inconsistent messages between home and the program, and often can confuse and frustrate the child. This can cause increased stress and anxiety on all parties with dissatisfaction leading to families pulling their child or educators leaving the site (Montessori Fusion, 2020).

Narrative Citation – Using the entity in the paragraph

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (2025) developed the Principles of Effective Family Engagement. The research-based principles listed below support reciprocal and sustained partnerships by encouraging educators to treat families as equal decision-makers, build continuous communication systems, and integrate families’ experiences into curriculum and programming—all of which are core strategies for meaningful family engagement.

Option 2 – Adding Numbers and Putting all Citation Information at the End of Chapter Draft

Another option that’s worked well with OpenRN drafts that have many reference sources is to number within the draft after the content referenced and then add the same number along with the source information in a References section at the end of that section or chapter. See an example below.

Lymphoma2

Lymphoma is a form of cancer in which masses of malignant T and/or B lymphocytes collect in lymph nodes, the spleen, the liver, and other tissues. The malignant leukocytes do not function properly, causing increased risk for severe infection. Some types of lymphoma progress slowly and respond well to treatment, but others progress quickly and require aggressive treatment, without which they are rapidly fatal.1  There are two main types of lymphoma: Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Lymphedema is a chronic disease in which there is an increase of lymphatic fluid in the body. The increase in lymphatic fluid overwhelms the lymphatic system and leads to edema and skin changes. Swelling from lymphedema can occur in the extremities, genitals, face, or torso.7

12.9 References

 

Citing AI Use in OER

Why Cite AI?

If you use artificial intelligence (AI) tools—such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, or image generators—to create or adapt any portion of your OER, you must document that use. Even though readers can’t replicate your prompts, we need to indicate the content was created using AI. This maintains transparency for learners and collaborators.

AI tools can’t be listed as an author in APA, because they are not people. Instead, cite AI-generated content as a source with the company as the author and include the retrieval date (since AI outputs can change).

In-text citation example:

(OpenAI, 2025)

Reference list example (APA 7th):

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (Oct 4 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/

When to Cite AI in OER

You should provide an AI citation if:

  • Text, images, tables, or questions were generated in part or in full by an AI tool
  • AI was used to summarize or rewrite existing text for inclusion in your OER
  • AI was used to create scenarios or examples

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Creating Open: The WisTech Team Handbook Copyright © 2025 by WisTech Open is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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