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JAMA Referencing Style:  Personal comm

UON Library guide to JAMA Referencing Style for UON staff and students

Personal Communication: General Rules

 

Personal communications may include the following examples:

  • conversations (whether face-to-face or by telephone)
  • personal interviews not available to the public
  • private letters, private contracts, wills
  • unpublished data
  • email or text messages
  • private messages shared through social media and received by the author.
  • generative AI content such as the content generated by OpenAI's ChatGPT

Personal communications should run into the text only, not be included in the list of references. Personal communications (cited in text) should be used judiciously, and documentation should be provided to support personal communication. Oral communication should be supported in writing.

  • Place the source information in parentheses in the text only. Reference list entries are not needed.
  • Obtain written permission from the person whose unpublished data or personal communication is cited.
  • Provide the date and the nature and source of the cited information (e.g., letter, email, document).
  • The cited person’s highest academic degree(s) should also be given.
  • Include the affiliation of the person if it would better establish the relevance and authority of the citation.
  • An email address or the like belonging to an individual should be omitted. Should it be needed in a specific context, it must be cited only with the permission of its owner.
  • It is highly recommended that any cited personal communications be saved to disk or in print.

Be sure to check with your lecturer if these kinds of resources are suitable for use in your assignments.

Using AI tools without permission may be considered an academic integrity violation and may result in disciplinary action.

Personal communication - examples 

 

Be sure to check with your lecturer if these kinds of resources are suitable for use in your assignments.

See the general rules for personal communication for more details. 

 

Conversation example

In a conversation with the author on January 6, 2009, lobbyist Ann Adams (unreferenced) admitted that . . .

 

Email example

Similar findings have been noted by Roberts 6 and by H. E. Marman, MD (email, August 15, 2015).

 

Facebook message example

...produced the same result (Facebook direct message to author from Jonathan Lee, MD, May 5, 2017) ...

 

Generative AI example

In a chat with the OpenAI's ChatGPT on January 6, 2023 ...

 

Personal interview (unpublished) example

.... Incidents of aggression towards hospital staff in the Sydney area have been increasing over the last five years (2016 author interview with PK Smith, PhD, Pharma International, see Appendix for full transcript).

 

Private letter example

According to a letter to the author from H. E. Marman, MD, in August 2015 ...

Generative AI such as ChatGPT

 

Currently there are no specific guidelines for citing generative AI in this style. The University of Newcastle suggests referencing Generative AI in the same way as for personal communication. This is because like personal communications, AI Generated content is difficult to reliably reproduce. 

Generative AI examples

  • When prompted with “What is a proper noun?” OpenAI's ChatGPT (24 December, 2022) replied “A proper noun is a type of noun that refers to a specific, unique person, place, thing, or idea.”
  • A generative text program stated "Australia is a hot, vast country" (ChatGPT, 19 January 2023)
  • According to OpenAI's ChatGPT, "student needs are dependent upon a variety of factors" (24 December, 2022)

 

Reference list entries are not required. 

It is an expectation of the University of Newcastle that all work submitted for assessment is the student's own original work. Prior permission must be obtained from a course coordinator before submitting work generated using an AI tool. 

Using AI tools without permission may be considered an academic integrity violation and may result in disciplinary action.

 

Related resources for more details

 

Subjects: Referencing