How to Cite NotebookLM

APA does not currently publish a dedicated example for this exact source type. The format below applies APA's current AI citation principles to this source.

What APA does publish is two worked AI forms: an AI tool — Google. (2025). Gemini 3 Flash [Large language model]. https://gemini.google.com — and an AI chat, which adds the day and a title and moves the tool's name after the brackets. See APA's AI references examples page and its reference-formats post and judge for yourself. The entry below sits between the two: it takes the tool form's year-only date and [Large language model] label, and the chat form's habit of putting a description in the title slot and NotebookLM after the brackets. APA publishes neither combination. It is built from APA's own elements and its own stated rules — the company is the author, the label is adaptable, and the version parenthetical is retired — but the arrangement is Citation[Z]'s, so a marker who wants one of APA's two printed forms is not wrong to ask for it.

And check first whether you need this entry at all. APA's companion post on AI as a search engine says that if you used AI "as a search engine or intermediary to find information, similar to using Google search or a database search, it is in most cases not necessary to cite AI at all" — you cite the sources you went on to read. The entry below is for when the report itself is what you are discussing.

Google → year → description of the output → [Large language model] → NotebookLM → link. Build it in the generator under Manual Entry → AI tool.

There is no version parenthetical. APA withdrew version-by-default in September 2025 and asks for the model name instead — and NotebookLM is the tool, not a model or a version, so it belongs in the source element rather than in brackets after the title. If you can share the notebook or the exchange, APA's chat form is the better fit: see how to cite an AI conversation.

NotebookLM is Google's AI research assistant: you upload your own sources (PDFs, docs, slides, links) and it answers questions, summarizes, and builds study guides grounded in those documents. Students use it to digest readings fast — which raises a citation question most tools don't: are you citing the AI, or the sources it read?

Because the output is AI-generated, disclose and cite it. But NotebookLM is unusual in that it points back to your original materials — so often the better citation is the source itself.

• Cite NotebookLM when you're quoting or relying on its generated summary, answer, or study guide.
• Cite the original source when NotebookLM just pointed you to a fact in a document you uploaded — go to that document and cite it directly. It's stronger and more verifiable.
• Often, cite both — the source for the fact, and NotebookLM if its synthesis shaped your wording.
• Keep your prompt/question in a note so the output is reproducible.

NotebookLM can turn your sources into an AI "podcast" — an Audio Overview. That's cited differently (as AI-generated audio). See how to cite an AI audio overview. APA's current guidance for AI is published, not pending: its AI references examples page and its reference-formats post carry both forms and the rule that replaced version numbers.