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Data Science

Guide to support students in using Library resources to locate and access datasets.

Citing Datasets

Datasets must be cited in the same manner as any other source to give credit to the author/creator and to enable other researchers to locate the source. Check the source to see if the publisher or distributor provides a citation.

APA

APA Structure

  • Author Last Name, First Initial. (Year of publication). Title of dataset in italics. (Any numerical identifier and version number for the data in parentheses without italics, separated by a semicolon). [Description of resource, for example, Dataset]. Publisher. DOI or URL.

APA Example

  • O’Donohue, W. (2017). Content analysis of undergraduate psychology textbooks (ICPSR 36966; Version V1) [Data set]. ICPSR. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36966.v1
  • Parenthetical citation: (O’Donohue, 2017)
  • Narrative citation: O’Donohue (2017)

MLA

The MLA Handbook, 9th edition, does not specify a format for citing datasets. It is recommended to use the general format for citing web documents.

MLA Structure

  • Author. Title of dataset. Publisher, Publication Date, Location. Publisher name, Date of publication (format DD Month YYYY), location. doi/url of data

MLA Example

  • Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 2020 National Census of Ferry Operators. United States Department of Transportation, 01 March, 2022, Washington DC. https://www.bts.gov/NCFO

Social Explorer Citations

Citations are available in Social Explorer.

In Tables, select Info icon > Citation > Citation format (drop down arrow) > Copy Citation. Always double check to ensure the citation meets formatting standards.

In Maps, select Info icon > Citation > Citation format (using drop down arrow) > Copy Citation. Always double check to ensure the citation meets formatting standards.