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Lichtenberger Engineering Library

Citing Sources

Citation format instruction for technical & scientific writing.

American Psychological Association (APA)

General Format for Reference List

If dataset has a doi
Rights holder, A. A. (Year). Title of program (Version number)[Dataset]. doi: doi number

If dataset has no doi
Rights holder, A. A. (Year). Title of program (Version number)[Dataset]. Retrieved from http://xxx

Example
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies. (2013). Treatment episode data set -- discharges (TEDS-D) -- concatenated, 2006 to 2009 [Dataset]. doi:10.3886/ICPSR30122.v2

In Text Citation

​Your text here with the reference in the sentence and the reference goes at the end of the sentence using the format (Rights holder, year).

Chicago

General Format for Footnotes/Endnotes
#. Name of the database (descriptive phrase or record locator; access date), URL. 

Subsequent references to same same 
Next #. Name of database, descriptive phrase or record locator.

Example

1. NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (object name IRAS F00400+4059; accessed April 6, 2016), http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/.
2. NASA/IPAC, object name IRAS F00400+4059.

If the title for standard is long a shorted title can be used in subsequent references so long is it is still obvious where it came from. The full title must be used for the first reference to a source. (See example above)

General Format for Bibliographic Entry

​Name of the database (descriptive phrase or record locator; access date). URL. 

Example

NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (object name IRAS F00400+4059; accessed April 6, 2016). http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/.

Modern Language Association (MLA)

MLA has not developed a specific citation style for datasets, the general rules for citing a web document may be applied.

General Format for Reference List

​Author Last Name, First Name. Title of dataset. (Version). Publisher location: Publisher name, Date of publication. Medium of publication. Date accessed. doi/url of data

Example

​Pew Hispanic Center. Changing channels and crisscrossing cultures: A survey of Latinos on the news media. (Data file and code book). Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2004. Web. 19 Sep 2011. <http://pewhispanic.org/datasets/signup.php?DatasetID=5>

In Text Citation
Your text about the reference (Organization, Title of dataset).