Citing data in your writing, posters, and presentations is an important step in providing credit to the data producer, but also allowing readers to better understand your findings and research and to build on your work by using the same data to answer different questions.
The elements that should be included in a complete citation of data are:
Many sources of data provide examples of citations in different citation styles to make citing those sources easy. In other cases, you'll have to create the citation yourself, depending on the citation style you're using. Here is a quick guide to citing data in different citation styles:
The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is an organization made up of member institutions with the aim of aquiring, perserving and making available social science data. ICPSR archives data collections in sociology, political science, history, and economics. ICPSR has seven special areas of emphasis in gerontology, substance abuse and mental health, criminal justice, child care, health and medical care, education, and demography.
As CMU faculty, student or staff, you have access to ICPSR's rich collection of data resources, as well as teaching materials to assist in teaching with data. Membership also provides discounts on a wealth of training and learning opportunities offered by ICPSR.
For more information about ICPSR, visit this ICPSR research guide.
