Guides on How To Cite Your Work
Whether you're writing a paper or creating a work of art, everyone needs to cite their work. Below are links to formatting and style guides.
Academic Citation Resource Guide
This guide is a great place to start if you're unsure about which citation style to use.
APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences.
Chicago Manual of Style is commonly used by those in literature, history, and the arts. Note: Please log in with your MICA username and password to access the entire Chicago Manual of Style
MLA Formatting and Style Guide
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities.
Where to Find Open Source Data
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions.
Open Data Baltimore is a catalog of data on topics such as City Government, City Services, Culture & Arts, Finance, Geography, Health, Housing and Development, Neighborhoods, Public Safety, and much more. Items in this catalog range from datasets, charts, maps, calendars, files and documents, and more. The datasets can be filtered on the website or exported (with several format options) and manipulated locally.
Data.gov is the home of the U.S. Government's open data. Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more.
"Our team, comprised of economists, data scientists, designers, researchers and business executives, worked for over a year with input from policymakers, government officials and everyday citizens to develop Data USA, the most comprehensive website and visualization engine of public US Government data."
The U.S. Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. They honor privacy, protect confidentiality, share our expertise globally, and conduct our work openly.
Note: Historic census records from 1790 to 1940 are maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration, not the U.S. Census Bureau.
1940 Census (National Archives)
The 1940 census records were released by the US National Archives April 2, 2012, and brought online through a partnership with Archives.com. This website allows you full access to the 1940 census images, in addition to 1940 census maps and descriptions.
The free knowledge base with 14,819,922 data items that anyone can edit.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Its mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision-making. As an independent statistical agency, BLS serves its diverse user communities by providing products and services that are objective, timely, accurate, and relevant.
The World Bank provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.
Other Resources for Data
This list was compiled by faculty member Rob Rolleston.
General Collections
30 Places to Find Open Data on the Web
GitHub: curran / Data : A collection of public data sets
UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository
Where to find data to use with R
Finding Data on the Internet - insider-R
GitHub: caesar0301 / Awesome Public Data Sets
Data is Plural by Jeremy Singer-Vine: A weekly newsletter of useful/curious datasets.
Education
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Mass Department of Education Data Challenge (GitHub)
City/State Open Data Initiatives
Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance
Mass Big Data Director (Massachusetts)
Tableau
Tableau for Teaching User Group (registration required)
APA Style
APA 6th edition
For a complete description of citation guidelines refer to pp. 210-211 (datset) and p. 212 (unpublished raw data) of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition [Call Number: BF 76.7 .P83 2010].
Data set
Basic form:
Author/Rightsholder. (Year). Title of data set (Version number) [Description of form]. Location: Name of producer.
or
Author/Rightsholder. (Year). Title of data set (Version number) [Description of form]. Retrieved from http://
Example:
Pew Hispanic Center. (2008). 2007 Hispanic Healthcare Survey [Data file and code book]. Retrieved from http://pewhispanic.org/datasets/
Unpublished raw data from study, untitled work
Basic form:
Author, F. N. (Year). [Description of study topic]. Unpublished raw data.
Example:
Smith, J.A. (2006). [Personnel survey]. Unpublished raw data.
APA Style Guide to Electronic References
For a complete description of citation guidelines refer to p. 16 of the APA Style Guide to Electronic References (2007) [Call Number: PN 171 .F56 A63 2007].
Data set
Pew Hispanic Center. (2008). 2007 Hispanic Healthcare Survey [Data file and code book]. Available from Pew Hispanic Center Web site: http://pewhispanic.org/datasets/
Note: Available from, rather than Retrieved from, indicates that the URL takes you to a download site, rather than directly to the data set file itself.
Graphic Representation of Data
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). [Interactive map showing percentage of respondents reporting "no" to, During the past month, did you participate in any physical activities?]. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Retrieved from http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/gisbrfss/default.aspx
APA 5th edition
For a complete description of citation guidelines refer to p. 264 (unpublished raw data) and p.281 (data file, available from government agency and from NTIS website) of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition [Call Number: Z 253 .A55 2001].
Unpublished raw data from study, untitled work
Basic form:
Author, F. N. (Year). [Description of study topic]. Unpublished raw data.
Example:
Smith, J.A. (2006). [Personnel survey]. Unpublished raw data.
This list was reproduced from University of Michigan's Research Guides. For more data citation examples see their Research Guide.
