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Data Sources: Citing Data

A guide to finding data. While not exhaustive, this guide will get you started!

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The Basic Elements

Citing data is much like citing an article, book, or anything else. Look for the common following elements and apply them to the style you're using. Sometimes not all will be available, but include as much information as possible.

Author

The creator of the data. Could be individuals or an organization/corporation.

Date

The date the data was published or posted online.

Title

The name of the data set.

Edition or Version

The edition or version number of the data -may not be present.

Publisher & Publisher Location

The publisher of this information. Most often, an organization such as the U.S. Census Bureau.

Distributor

If you did not retrieve the data directly from the publisher, include the distributing organization. For example, Clarita data [publisher] retrieved from SimplyAnalytics [distributor].

Retrieval Location

This can be a DOI, URL, or other permanent identifier others can locate the data.

 

*Adapted from MSU Libraries Data Citation Guide: http://libguides.lib.msu.edu/citedata

Examples

APA:

United States Census Bureau, Population Division. (2015). Annual estimates of the resident population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015 [Data file]. (American Factfinder version). Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=PEP_2015_PEPANNRES&prodType=table

MLA: 

United States Census Bureau, Population Division. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015. American Factfinder version. Web. 18 February 2016.

Chicago (Author-Date):

United States Census Bureau, Population Division. 2015. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015. American Factfinder version. http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=PEP_2015_PEPANNRES&prodType=table