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Cite Your Sources: Citing Data & Statistics

Learn tips and tricks for finding, creating and citing your sources!

APA 6th Edition

For a complete description of citation guidelines, refer to p. 179 (citing specific parts of a source) and p. 205 (entry in a reference work) of the of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition (2010) [Call Number: BF 76.7 .P83 2010 available at the Reference Desk and in the stacks]. 

Citing Specific Parts of a Source
In text: Indicate the page, chapter, figure, or table within the parenthetical citation.

Basic form:

(Author, Year, Table #)

Example:

(National Center for Education Statistics, 2008, Table 3)

Entry in a Reference Work
APA does not provide specific information on how to cite a statistical table, but use this general format to cite part of a source (e.g. a statistical table) in the bibliography.

Basic form:

Author. (Year). Title of entry. In Editor (Eds.), Title of reference book (pp. xxx-xxx). Retrieved from http:// OR Location: Publisher OR doi:xxxx.

Examples:

National Center for Health Statistics. (2016). Health, United States, 2015: With Special Feature on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Center for Health Statistics. (2016). Health, United States, 2015: With Special Feature on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus15.pdf

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009).  Table 151: Percentage of public and private high school graduates taking selected mathematics and science courses in high school, by sex and race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1982 through 2005. In U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (Ed.), Digest of Education Statistics (2009 ed.). Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables/dt09_151.asp.

American Veterinary Medical Association. (2010). Table 1204: Household Pet Ownership: 2006. In U.S. Census Bureau (Ed.), Statistical Abstract of the United States (129th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s1204.pdf

Graphic Representation of Data

Basic form:

Author. (Year). [Description of graphic]. Source title. Retrieved from http:// OR Location: Publisher OR doi:xxxx.

Example:

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

In text:

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005)

NYC Department Of Health sources:

Community Health Profiles (PDFs):

Example:

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (2018). Community Health Profiles 2018, Brooklyn Community District 17: East Flatbush. Retrieved from https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2015chp-bk17.pdf

In text:

(New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2018)

EpiQuery:

Basic format:

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. [DATE OF DATA SET] Name of Survey or Surveillance Module: Name of survey/surveillance measure. Retrieved from http://nyc.gov/health/epiquery

Example:

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (2015). Community Health Survey 2016: Overweight and Obesity, 2016 (Age-adjusted). Retrieved from  http://nyc.gov/health/epiquery

(The URL of the table created only works for the person who created the table, so for the citation you need to put the URL of the landing page instead.)

In text:

(New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2016)

 

NYC Dept of Planning Census Fact Finder:

Basic format:

New York City Department of Planning. [DATE OF DATA]. Name of Data Profile, Date of Data Profile: Neighborhood(s) selected, Name of Survey Measure. Retrieved from maps.nyc.gov/census

Example:

New York City Department of Planning. (2014). American Community Survey Profile, 2010-2014: Flatbush, Housing. Retrieved from maps.nyc.gov/census/

(No URL is generated by the mapping tool for the table created, so for the citation you need to put the URL of the landing page instead.)

In text:

(New York City Department of Planning, 2014)

 

NYC Dept of Planning, Community Portal sources:

Statement of Community District Needs

Basic format:

Name of Community District. [DATE OF REPORT] Statement of Community District Needs and Community Board Budget Requests, Fiscal Year 20XX.  Retrieved from URL of PDF of report

Example:

Brooklyn Community District 17. (2017) Statement of Community District Needs and Community Board Budget Requests, Fiscal Year 2018.  Retrieved from http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/community/community-portal/statement_needs/bk17_statement_2018.pdf

In text: 

(Brooklyn Community District 17, 2017)

MLA 7th Edition

For a complete description of citation guidelines refer to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition (2009) [Call Number: LB2369.G53 2009 at the Reference Desk and in the stacks].

A work in a Reference
MLA does not provide specific information on how to cite a statistical table, but use this general format adapted from the rules for citing a work in an anthology (p. 157), an article in a reference work (p. 160), and guidelines for citing electronic materials (p. 181).

Basic form:

Author. "Title of entry." Title of book. Edition. Ed. Editor's name(s). Place of publication: Publisher, Year. Page range. Medium of publication.

For web publications, add date of access.  URL is optional (MLA 7th no longer requires the use of URLs as an acknowledgement that they change often).

Example:

American Veterinary Medical Association. "Table 1204: Household Pet Ownership: 2006." Statistical Abstract of the United States. 129th ed. Ed. U.S. Census Bureau. Washington D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010. Web. 14 July 2010. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s1204.pdf>.

Acknowledgement

Examples on this page that are not NYC specific are orignally from the University of Michigan guide to How to Cite Data and Statistics.  http://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=439304&p=2993300