Chicago 17th edition (notes–bibliography)
How to cite a dataset in Chicago 17th edition (notes–bibliography)
Datasets have versions. Citing one without its version number or DOI makes your analysis impossible for anyone else to reproduce.
THE FORMAT
A dataset in Chicago, at a glance
Last, First. Title of Dataset. Version N. Repository Name, Year. DOI or URL.
Lindqvist, Peter, and Adaeze Okonkwo. Delta Rice Salinity Survey, 2015–2021. Version 2.1. Calder Data Archive, 2022. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/4KQ2XB.
1. Peter Lindqvist and Adaeze Okonkwo, Delta Rice Salinity Survey, 2015–2021, version 2.1 (Calder Data Archive, 2022), https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/4KQ2XB.
In prose: 12. Lindqvist and Okonkwo, Delta Rice Salinity Survey.
Lindqvist, Peter. Awash Basin Household Water Use Survey. Version 1.0. Calder Data Archive, 2019. https://data.calder.edu/collections/awash-household-survey.
In text: 4. Peter Lindqvist, Awash Basin Household Water Use Survey, version 1.0 (Calder Data Archive, 2019), https://data.calder.edu/collections/awash-household-survey.
Copyeditor formats APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE automatically — cite a source once and the bibliography builds itself. See how citations work .
BEFORE YOU FORMAT
What Chicago needs from a dataset
Elements to collect
- Creator or creators of the dataset
- Year the version you used was published
- Title of the dataset
- Version number
- Repository that hosts it
- DOI or persistent identifier
- Description of the format, when the style asks for one
Rules specific to this entry
- Chicago 17 says relatively little about datasets. The conservative approach — and the one shown here — is to follow the book pattern, italicize the dataset title, and slot the version and repository where an edition and publisher would go. Say in a note which convention you adopted if a marker might query it.
- The version number is not decoration. Without it nobody can tell which snapshot of the data your numbers came from, which defeats the point of citing the dataset at all.
- Most repositories publish a recommended citation. Keep its elements — creators, title, version, repository, DOI — and re-punctuate them into Chicago form rather than pasting it in whole.
- Only the first creator is inverted in the bibliography, and Chicago spells out “and” rather than using an ampersand.
Building the entry, step by step
Collect the details
Before you format anything, gather every element Chicago needs for a dataset: Creator or creators of the dataset; Year the version you used was published; Title of the dataset; Version number.
Build the bibliography entry
Arrange those details in the Chicago order: Last, First. Title of Dataset. Version N. Repository Name, Year. DOI or URL.
Add the in-text citation
In the body of your paper, cite it as 1. Peter Lindqvist and Adaeze Okonkwo, Delta Rice Salinity Survey, 2015–2021, version 2.1 (Calder Data Archive, 2022), https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/4KQ2XB. — or work the same reference into your sentence as 12. Lindqvist and Okonkwo, Delta Rice Salinity Survey..
Check it against the exceptions
Chicago 17 says relatively little about datasets. The conservative approach — and the one shown here — is to follow the book pattern, italicize the dataset title, and slot the version and repository where an edition and publisher would go. Say in a note which convention you adopted if a marker might query it.
Chicago RULES
The conventions behind every Chicago entry
The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.) is the authority. Where a journal or department publishes its own house rules, those win — check your submission guidelines before the bibliography is final.
The rules that apply across every source — author order, capitalization, how the bibliography is sorted, and where Chicago entries most often go wrong — are collected on the Chicago 17th edition (notes–bibliography) guide.
The same dataset in another style
Switching styles late in a draft is normal. Here is the same source formatted five other ways.
Questions about Chicago and datasets
What if the dataset has no author?
Move the title into the author position and alphabetize by the first significant word of that title — ignoring an initial “A”, “An” or “The”. In the text, use a shortened form of the title where the author name would go.
What do I need before I can cite a dataset?
Creator or creators of the dataset, Year the version you used was published, Title of the dataset, and the rest of the elements listed above. Datasets have versions. Citing one without its version number or DOI makes your analysis impossible for anyone else to reproduce.
Is there anything unusual about a dataset in Chicago?
Chicago 17 says relatively little about datasets. The conservative approach — and the one shown here — is to follow the book pattern, italicize the dataset title, and slot the version and repository where an edition and publisher would go. Say in a note which convention you adopted if a marker might query it.
What else catches people out here?
The version number is not decoration. Without it nobody can tell which snapshot of the data your numbers came from, which defeats the point of citing the dataset at all.
Can I reformat this dataset in another style later?
By hand, you would retype the entry — the element order, punctuation and italics all differ between styles. In Copyeditor, sources are stored as structured data, so switching between APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE reformats every citation and the whole reference list at once.
Cite it once
and never reformat it again
Copyeditor keeps sources as structured data, so switching between APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE reformats every citation and the whole bibliography at once.
