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Datasets and Statistics

The guide links you to resources about datasets and statistics.

How to Cite Datasets in Chicago Style

Chicago (16th edition)

For a complete description of citation guidelines refer to The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition Webster Reference 2nd Floor Z253 .U69 2017.

Datasets are not discussed in The Chicago Manual of Style.

According to IASSIST*, the essential components of a citation to a dataset are the following:*

  • "Author: Name(s) of each individual or organizational entity responsible for the creation of the dataset."*
  • "Title: Complete title of the dataset, including the edition or version number, if applicable."*
  • "Date of Publication: Year the dataset was published or disseminated."*
  • "Publisher and/or Distributor: Organizational entity that makes the dataset available by archiving, producing, publishing, and/or distributing the dataset."*
  • "Electronic Location or Identifier: Web address or unique, persistent, global identifier used to locate the dataset (such as a DOI). Append the date retrieved if the title and locator are not specific to the exact instance of the data you used."*

These elements can be combined as in the examples below, Chicago-style.

Note 19. Stephen Ansolabehere, Maxwell Palmer, and Amanda Lee, Precinct-Level Election Data, V1 (January 20, 2014), distributed by Harvard Election Data Archive, http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/21919 UNF:5:5C9UfGjdLy2ONVPtgr45qA==.
Bibliographic
Entry		 Ansolabehere, Stephen, Maxwell Palmer, and Amanda Lee. Precinct-Level Election Data. V1. January 20, 2014. Distributed by Harvard Election Data Archive. http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/21919 UNF:5:5C9UfGjdLy2ONVPtgr45qA==.

* IASSIST (International Association for Social Science Information Services & Technology), Special Interest Group on Data Citation, Quick Guide to Data Citation (2012), webpage, http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/files/ICPSR/enewsletters/iassist.html. Creative Commons License (CC BY 3.0 US), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/.

How to Cite Statistics in Chicago Style

Chicago (16th edition)

For a complete description of citation guidelines refer to The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition Webster Reference 2nd Floor Z253 .U69 2017.

Statistics on the Web

For original material on webpages that are not (part of) formally published documents, The Chicago Manual of Style recommends including as many of the following citation components as possible: title; author; site's owner or sponsor; date of publication, revision, or modification, otherwise the access date; and URL.

Note 43. "World Press Freedom Index 2014," Reporters Without Borders, data visualisation by Pierre-Alain Leboucher and Dorian Ratovo, accessed August 25, 2014, http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php.
Bibliographic
Entry		 Reporters Without Borders. Pierre-Alain Leboucher and Dorian Ratovo. "World Press Freedom Index 2014." Accessed August 25, 2014. http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php.

Statistics in a Book

Except for citing a table in a book in a footnote (footnote 35 below), statistical tables are not discussed. Other examples below are based on options for citing "a specific chapter (or other titled part of a book)."

Author is also the source of information in table

The following models may be used when the author of the item you want to cite is also the source of the information in the table. Footnote 35 involves a table that is untitled. "Reconstructed Interest Group Ratings of the President" is the title of table 2.17 in the King and Ragsdale book and is used in the other examples.

Note 35. Gary King and Lyn Ragsdale, The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988), 86-87, table 2.17.
36. Gary King and Lyn Ragsdale, "Reconstructed Interest Group Ratings of the President," in The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988), 86-87, table 2.17.
37. Gary King and Lyn Ragsdale, "Reconstructed Interest Group Ratings of the President," table 2.17 in The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988).
Bibliographic
Entry		 King, Gary and Lyn Ragsdale. "Reconstructed Interest Group Ratings of the President." In The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency, 86-87, table 2.17. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988.
King, Gary and Lyn Ragsdale. "Reconstructed Interest Group Ratings of the President." Table 2.17 in The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988.
King, Gary and Lyn Ragsdale. The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988. See esp. table 2.17, "Reconstructed Interest Group Ratings of the President."

Author is not the source of information in table

Authors commonly use statistics or an entire statistical table from another source. However, because the author may have adapted the table or the statistics from the original source and because the original source may be unavailable, it is recommended to follow the rule that "both the original and the secondary source must be listed" and that "authors are expected to have examined the works they cite" if possible. Footnote 52 is patterned on an example from Chicago, with modified language, in which the cited source is mentioned first. Another options is footnote 53 in which the citing source is mentioned first. Other variations that include the table title, such as "President's Most Important Domestic Programs" in footnote 54, are also possible.

Note 52. Paul Light, The President's Agenda (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 70, table 5, cited as the source by Gary King and Lyn Ragsdale, The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988), 67, table 2.6.
53. Gary King and Lyn Ragsdale, The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988), 67, table 2.6, citing as the source Paul Light, The President's Agenda (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 70, table 5.
54. Gary King and Lyn Ragsdale, "President's Most Important Domestic Programs," in The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1988), 67, table 2.6, citing as the source Paul Light, The President's Agenda (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 70, table 5.