Research Guides: Economics: Citing Sources

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers detailed information about the most common citation formats: APA, MLA, and Chicago Manual of Style. These links will take you to general format information. Use the left sidebar on the Purdue OWL page to find more specific information about citation styles for different types of sources.

APA Style (7th edition) Resources

Publication Manual 7th Edition of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association
ISBN: 9781433832154
Date: 2019-10-01
The style manual of choice for writers, researchers, editors, students, and educators in the social and behavioral sciences, natural sciences, nursing, communications, education, business, engineering, and other fields, the manual offers guidance on choosing the headings, tables, figures, language, and tone. Includes resources for students on writing and formatting annotated bibliographies, response papers, and other paper types, guidelines on citing course materials, and guidance on writing clearly, precisely, and concisely.

APA Style guidelines for citing ChatGPT.

Much like the policies on using Generative AI, like ChatGPT, the citation requirements for GenAI will vary from course to course. Always check with your professor for their AI citation expectations.

Citing Datasets

ICPSR's Quick Guide to Data Citation
The IASSIST organization of data professionals recommends consulting the ICPSR's Quick Guide to Data Citation for suggestions on the best way to cite data in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.
How To Cite Data
A comprehensive guide with examples from Michigan State University Libraries.

Citing the U.S. Census

Citing Census Data, Tools, Technical Documents, and Research
Proper citation ensures that Census Bureau statistical products and research can be discovered, reused, replicated for verification, and credited for recognition to measure usage and impact.

Data users who create their own estimates using data from disseminated tables and other data should cite the Census Bureau as the source of the original data only. Conclusions drawn from any analysis of these data are the sole responsibility of the performing party.

In APA Style:

If you're citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau (data.census.gov), you can follow APA 7th edition guidelines for webpages on a website with a retrieval date.

Examples:

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Without health care coverage in ZCTA5 90804. U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved September 27, 2022,

from https://data.census.gov/

Here's a brief explanation of each element in the reference list:

For the author element, use U.S. Census Bureau.
Use n.d. for no date since there is no date for this specific web page.
Use the title of the data point as the title of the work and use italics.
Then list U. S. Department of Commerce as the parent agency.
Add a retrieval date. This is uncommon in APA 7th edition, but you should include it here since contents of a page are designed to change over time.
Include the URL for data.census.gov.

In Chicago Style:

When creating Dynamically generated tables, maps, and files from data.census.gov always include:

U.S. Census Bureau as the author
Name of the database or other data repository/source (e.g., data.census.gov), set off by quotation marks, or follow publication citation style;
The name of the person who generates the tabulation, etc., e.g., "generated by John Smith;"
The name of the software package used to generate the tabulation, if known, e.g., "using data.census.gov;"
The URL of the application software's main or first page set off by angle brackets, e.g., <https://data.census.gov/cedsci/>;
The date, within parenthesis, when the user generated the tabulation, e.g., (8 April 2020).

Examples:

U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2018 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B01003; generated by John

Smith; using data.census.gov; https://data.census.gov/cedsci/ (8 April 2020).

U.S. Census Bureau; Economic Annual Surveys, Table CB1700CBP; generated by Jane Jones; using data.census.gov;

https://data.census.gov/cedsci/ (1 April 2020).

In MLA Style:

"Title of Census Data Set." Name of Survey, Publishing Organization, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Access Date.

Example:

"Comparative Economic Characteristics." 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, United States Census Bureau, 2017,

factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACD/15_5YR/CP03/0500000US32031. Accessed 12 July 2017.