If you quote a YouTube video in an essay, a paper or an article, the thing you cite is the video, not the transcript. A transcript is the tool that helps you find the passage and check the words. This guide is the working routine for doing that carefully with AIOS Scribe. For the exact punctuation of each citation style, it points to the blog's format-by-format reference.
What you are actually citing
- Cite the video. Its creator said the words, and the video is what a reader can go and watch.
- Do not cite AIOS Scribe as the source of a quotation. It is a tool, in the same way a notebook is.
- Do not cite the AI summary. It is a reading aid written by a model, not something the speaker said.
The routine
- Get the transcript by transcribing the video, and switch to the Timestamps view.
- Find your passage. Search for a distinctive word and note the time next to the line.
- Listen to it. Open the video at that timestamp and play the passage. The transcript was written by an AI, and misheard words, wrong names and missing “not”s are the usual faults. Quote what you heard, not what the transcript says.
- Collect the citation details from YouTube itself. AIOS Scribe does not give you the channel name or upload date, so take the video title, the channel, the upload date and the web address from the video's own page.
- Record the time. Most styles want a time locator for a quotation so that a reader can find it. Write down the start and end of the passage. A link ending in
&t=754(seconds) opens the video at that point, and the Markdown download already contains one for every line. - Write the reference in your style (APA, MLA or Chicago). Check your institution's edition of the style guide, because the rules for online video are updated from time to time.
A note to keep with each quotation
Whatever style you use, keep this much alongside every quotation while you work:
"The words, exactly as you heard them." Speaker: (name, if known) Video: (title) by (channel), uploaded (date) Time: 12:34 to 12:51 Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID&t=754 Checked by ear: yes
The last line matters most. It is the difference between a quotation you checked and one you copied from a machine.
Where the formats are
The blog post How to Cite YouTube Videos in Academic Writing sets out the APA, MLA and Chicago formats, what to do with edited or deleted videos, and when a video is not a suitable source. For turning a transcript into usable quotations, see How to Extract Quotes from YouTube Videos.
Limits worth knowing
- An AI transcript is not an official transcript from the video's creator.
- If you publish a quotation as a block of text, do not present it as a verified transcript unless you have checked every word of it yourself.
- This guide is general information about good practice, not advice about your institution's rules or about copyright. Your tutor, editor or style guide has the final say.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I cite the transcript as my source?
- You cite the video the words came from. A machine-made transcript is a finding aid, and it can contain errors, so it is not the source.
- Does AIOS Scribe give me the channel name and upload date?
- Not currently. Take the title, channel, upload date and address from the video’s YouTube page.
- Should I quote straight from the transcript?
- Only after you have listened to the passage and corrected the transcript where it differs. Then quote what the speaker said.