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"Copilot" is a family name, not one product. Microsoft uses it for a consumer chat app, for the assistant inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, and (through GitHub) for a coding tool. They call for different treatment, so the first job is to identify yours. The general rules for all AI tools are in the main guide to citing AI tools.
A note on the examples. None of the style authorities publishes a worked Copilot reference, and your own chat is private to you. So the formats below are the authorities' templates applied to Copilot, with [bracketed] slots for your details.
Which Copilot did you use?
| You used | What it is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot at copilot.microsoft.com or in the Copilot app | A standalone chatbot | Cite it with the formats below |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat with a work or school login | A standalone chatbot, with sharing controlled by your organisation | Cite it; you may have no public link |
| Copilot inside Word, PowerPoint, Excel or Outlook | AI integrated into everyday software | No reference in APA; disclose if your policy asks |
| GitHub Copilot in an editor | A coding assistant published by GitHub | See the coding assistants guide |
| Bing Chat, before 15 November 2023 | The earlier name of the chatbot | Cite as Bing Chat, Microsoft |
What is specific to Copilot
The author is Microsoft. You cite what you used and the company responsible for it, not the model underneath.
The model is often not shown. If the interface names a model or mode, record it. If it does not, write Copilot with no version. Guessing a model because you read about it somewhere is worse than leaving the slot empty. APA accepts the plain tool name, and the MLA entry below simply omits the version slot when you have nothing to put in it.
You can share a whole conversation or a single response. Microsoft's support page describes both options and says people who open your link cannot change your original conversation; if they continue it, Copilot makes a separate copy for them. Who can open the link depends on the account: with a personal account, anyone you give the link to can open it after signing in with a Microsoft account; with a work or school account, only people in your organisation can. Sharing one response is useful when the rest of the conversation is irrelevant or private. Links can be deactivated later, so keep your own copy.
Work and school tenants. Microsoft's admin documentation says administrators can turn sharing off for the whole organisation, and that a shared link does not give readers access to the files, emails or meetings Copilot referred to. If your answer was grounded in an internal document, a reader outside the organisation cannot verify it. Treat it as non-retrievable and describe the document in your text.
APA 7
Microsoft. ([year, month day]). [Title of the chat] [Generative AI chat]. Copilot. [URL of the shared chat]
Microsoft. ([year]). Copilot [Large language model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com
In text: (Microsoft, [year]). Copy the share URL exactly as Copilot gives it to you. For comparison, APA's own example of a shared chat reads: OpenAI. (2025, August 21). High school grammar topics [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. https://chatgpt.com/share/68a77b60-0ee4-800c-9acc-cd3fd573c311
MLA 9
"[Your prompt, or a description of what Copilot generated]" prompt. Copilot, Microsoft, [Day Mon. Year], [URL of the shared chat, or copilot.microsoft.com].
If the interface named the model or mode, add it after the container, where MLA puts the version. In text, use a shortened title in quotation marks. MLA's August 2025 post shows Copilot only in a screenshot about clicking through to the sources an AI cites; its worked citations are for ChatGPT and DALL-E. The entry above applies the same template to Copilot.
Chicago
- Text generated by Copilot, Microsoft, [Month Day, Year], [URL of the shared chat].
With the prompt: Copilot, response to "[your prompt]," Microsoft, [Month Day, Year]. These follow the two note forms in Chicago's online Q&A, whose own example is: 1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, January 10, 2026, URL. Library guides to the 18th edition say no bibliography entry is needed unless you have a public link; if so, file it under Microsoft. Author-date guides show a parenthetical such as (ChatGPT, March 7, 2023) in place of the note.
Harvard (Cite Them Right)
Following Robert Gordon University Library's reproduction of Cite Them Right. With a link: Microsoft Copilot ([year]) [The query you submitted]. Copilot response to [Your Name]. Available at: [URL of the shared chat] (Accessed: [day month year]). Without: Microsoft Copilot ([year]) Copilot response to [Your Name], [day month]. In text: (Microsoft Copilot, [year]).
IEEE, Vancouver and AMA
None of the three has a reference format for a chatbot. IEEE requires disclosure in the acknowledgments of AI-generated content, including text, figures, images and code, identifying the system, the sections and the level of use. University guides to the AMA Manual of Style (section 3.15.13) say not to cite generative AI in the reference list and to describe its use in the text instead, with the tool name, version, manufacturer and dates. Vancouver has no official AI guidance; UCD Library, for example, treats a chat like a personal communication mentioned only in the text. ICMJE requires authors to describe AI use in the cover letter and manuscript. If an engineering instructor wants a numbered entry, our adaptation of the IEEE Reference Guide's software format is: [1] Microsoft. Copilot. ([year]). Accessed: [Mon. Day, Year]. [Online]. Available: https://copilot.microsoft.com
Copilot in Word, PowerPoint and Outlook
APA's Part 2 guidance (September 2025) draws the line clearly: you would not cite spell-check, so you do not need to cite Copilot within Microsoft Word. MLA's original 2023 guidance asked writers to acknowledge functional uses, such as editing prose or translating words, in a note or in the text, and its 2025 post on describing AI use makes the same point more broadly. Put those together and the safe practice is a short disclosure without a reference. A pattern to adapt:
I used Copilot in Microsoft Word to [what it did, for example shorten the introduction and check grammar]. The arguments, structure and sources are my own.
Whether you are allowed to do this at all is a course-policy question. Some courses permit grammar support but not AI rewriting of assessed work, and the difference matters with a tool that does both.
When Copilot gives you sources
Copilot answers often carry numbered web links. APA and MLA both say the same thing: open the links, read them, and cite those pages. MLA warns that AI tools can make up sources, and APA warns that AI summaries can mischaracterise them, so check each one. See citing sources you found through AI tools.
Sources
All pages were checked on 21 September 2026.
- American Psychological Association, Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 1, reference formats and Part 2, AI as a search engine and AI integrated into common software (9 September 2025)
- MLA Style Center, How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? (Updated and Revised) (13 August 2025), the original 2023 post and Beyond citation: describing AI use in your work
- The Chicago Manual of Style Online, Q&A: citing content developed or generated by AI. The 18th edition's section on AI-generated content is paywalled, and the library guides number it differently: McMaster University Library cites 14.111 and Monash University Library cites 14.112. We also followed Columbia College Library and Western Technical College Library
- Cite Them Right is paywalled; we followed Robert Gordon University Library
- IEEE Author Center, Submission and peer review policies: AI-generated content and the IEEE Reference Guide (software format)
- The AMA Manual of Style is paywalled; we followed Himmelfarb Library, George Washington University and Duquesne University Library. For Vancouver, UCD Library
- ICMJE, Recommendations: artificial intelligence, use by authors
- Microsoft, Microsoft Ignite 2023: AI transformation and the technology driving change (15 November 2023; Bing Chat becomes Copilot)
- Microsoft Support, Share conversations and responses in Microsoft Copilot
- Microsoft Learn, Manage content sharing for Microsoft Copilot