If you have used someone else’s dataset for your research, you should give proper credit to its creators.
At minimum, these elements should be present in any dataset citation:
The way these elements would be arranged, or combined together in the finished citation, would depend on the citation style requirements of the publisher.
When saving a data citation to your citation management software (e.g. EndNote), remember to specify the Reference Type as “dataset”. By doing this, if your chosen citation style (e.g. APA 6th Edition) has a predefined format for citing datasets, that format will be applied to the citation when you insert it into your paper.
[Reference Type selection box at the top right hand side of EndNote Screen]
If “dataset” is not available in the list of Reference Types (Note: other software may call this field Item Type or Document Type), select an electronic resource type (e.g. online journal article).
Other Universities' Guides on Citing Data
Here are some guides from other universities on citing datasets:
Further Readings
A one-page chart that compares the presence of data citation instructions in different citation style guide manuals. Produced by Purdue University and Michigan State University.
This comprehensive guide will help you create links between your academic publications and the underlying datasets, so that anyone viewing the publication will be able to locate the dataset and vice versa. It provides a working knowledge of the issues and challenges involved, and of how current approaches seek to address them.