Cite Sources

the reference page in a textbook

UBC Learning Commons CC:BY

How to Cite Sources



Silhouettes by geralt from Pixabay

Who wrote or created it? Examples:

  • Is the author/creator anonymous or pseudonymous?


Depending on the material type:

  • Who published it? (primarily print materials)

Other points to consider:



Was the work originally created in another language?



by geralt from Pixabay, CC0


Just a few examples:



Where by Anonymous Account from Flickr, CC-by-2.0



by geralt from Pixabay, CC0
  • When was it published?
Note: you will need to cite each source that you used twice: first in the text of your paper at the exact point where you quote or paraphrase someone else's work. This is called an "in-text citation," "footnote," or "endnote" depending on the style you are using. You'll be typing out the citation a second time in your list of Works Cited, References or Bibliography.

Here are some samples of the most common types of citations that you will see. The major styles all have official guides - these have the most detailed and accurate instructions for:

  • determining which elements to cite.
  • formatting the citations - both in the body of your paper and in the bibliography/list of references.
  • most of the formats your sources will come in.

If you need to cite something which is not covered here - check out the relevant style guide for specific assistance or contact the Library for more help. You will also find further helpful hints in the other sections of this guide.

Elements of a citation: Print Book, MLA style.

Edited Book citation Chicago Style


Print Book, anthology with editor, APA Style

Edited Book citation APA Style


Article, single author, Chicago Style

Footnote citation Chicago Style
Bibliography citation Chicago Style


Major Style Guide Access



Which style should I use?



Are some Help-Guides/Sites better than others?

It depends on your needs:


I'm looking at the style guide - now what?


Analyze your sources

Start with authorship:


Check the index





ACS (American Chemical Society)

ACS is the standard style used for Chemistry.

APA (American Psychological Association)

American Psychological Association (APA) style is the standard style used for psychology and many other academic disciplines, especially the social sciences.

APA Style Guides Online

APA Style Guide In Print

ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers)

Biology 140


The Chicago Manual of Style provides two distinct citation styles: Humanities style (notes and bibliography) and Scientific/Social Sciences styles (parenthetical author/date references and reference list). Be sure to check with your instructor regarding which style they prefer that you use. Chicago style is sometimes called Turabian style, which is a modified version.

Chicago/Turabian Style Guides Online

Chicago/Turabian Style Guides in Print

CSE (Council of Science Editors)


A parenthetical style used most commonly in the UK and Australia.

IEEE Style (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

IEEE Style is used primarily in Electrical and Computer Engineering


Used primarily in Law


Modern Languages Association (MLA) style is one of several styles for academic citation. It is used in the humanities, especially English.

MLA Style Guides Online

MLA Style Guide in Print

Vancouver Style / Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

Commonly used in medical and scientific journals













Citation Builder




Ball by Geralt from Pixabay

Data or Statistics?

Before plunging in make sure you know whether you are referencing data or statistics. Unfortunately, the terms are sometimes used as though they are interchangeable. This is not the case: "statistics are the interpretation and summary of data" while "data are raw information from which statistics are derived" ("Data or Statistics?" Finding and Using Data for your Research).


The most important thing to remember is that you want your citation to include enough information so that a reader could find the same dataset again in the future, even if the link you provide no longer works. It's necessary to include a mixture of general and specific information to help them be certain that they've found the same dataset that you were referring to.

Citing data has not always been standard practice, especially if it is data you have collected yourself, but as data becomes more and more widely shared proper attribution is increasingly important. Citing datasets helps them become part of the scholarly record and gives proper credit to the creator of the dataset.

Puzzle Parts by Hans from Pixabay

Most of the time this information wouldn't be included in the dataset itself, but would be located in the item record of the data repository.

Many data repositories provide information about how to cite their products - look closely to see if you can find anything. This is your best bet for relevant information, as the structure of repositories and how they display different elements varies widely.

The most important elements to include are:

Author/Creator - This could either be the personal name of the researcher, or the institution that collected the data.

Title - Include the full title as it appears in the record for the dataset, including table or catalogue numbers if they are provided. If there is more than one title and you want to cite a part within a whole (such as a series within a table, etc), you can include both titles in the same way that you would include other parts within a whole, such as an article within a journal, or a chapter within a book.

Publication date - Most datasets should include some kind of publication date, even if it is hard to find.

Identifier and/or Link - Most published datasets should have some sort of a unique identifier, most commonly a DOI or a URI. This is the most reliable way to identify a particular resource. Many dataset providers will include a permanent URL in addition to or instead of a unique identifier. Link the DOI to the data source if you are working digitally, or include the URL in print.

Other elements that may be good to include:

Edition or Version - This may help to identify your dataset if it is one that undergoes continuous changes.

Resource Type - Include if the style you are using normally includes a resource type

Publisher - This could be the repository where it's located, or whoever has verified the data.

Statistics Canada has a reference building tool that can help you identify which elements to include for a wide range of data and statistics products.

Clock by Geralt at Pixabay

Once you've tracked down all the right elements, you'll need to put them together by using the appropriate style guidelines, consistent with the rest of your citation list.


Many of the major style guides do not yet include specific instructions about how to cite datasets. In order to create a citation for a dataset, you'll need the same basic pieces of information as you would for any other citation. As described in the UBC library's general How to Cite guide, these are found by asking Who/What/When/Where about the item you are citing.

At this point, APA is the only major style that has given specific examples of how to create a data citation.

For other styles, you will need to arrange the elements in the same way as other resources with similar elements. Think about the similarities between the elements you have and the ones in more common resources (ie: a repository may be like a publisher, a series within a table may be like a chapter within a book). This can help you to build out your citation even if you don't have a specific example to model.

Links to style guide resources can be found on the library's How to Cite guide.

Dataset repositories, also known as research data repositories, provide researchers with a stable place to store and provide others with access to their research data:

  • subject/research domain
  • data re-use and access
  • metadata.

UO Libraries. "Data Repositories". Research Data Management

Binary by Geralt from Pixabay

Some dataset repositories also have their own guidelines and suggestions for how to construct a data citation, which elements to include, and where to find those on the site. Look carefully around the repository's website to see if you can find any information about citing their data.

If you are interested in looking at some research data repositories here is a very short list. Databib maintains a very extensive list of research data repositories if you would like to explore further.

  • figshare A cloud-based storage system which "allows researchers to publish all of their data in a citable, searchable and sharable manner." NOTE: "all figures, media, poster, papers and multiple file uploads (filesets) are published under a CC-BY license... All datasets are published under CC0"
  • UK Data Service Provides "single point of access to a wide range of secondary data including large-scale government surveys, international macrodata, business microdata, qualitative studies and census data from 1971 to 2011." Mostly UK data, but also includes some data from IGOs like the IMF, OECD and the World Bank.
  • ICSPR "An international consortium of more than 700 academic institutions and research organizations....ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences. It hosts 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields."
Question Mark by Geralt from Pixabay

I can't find all the elements I need:

The different elements needed for the citation may be hard to find, depending on the source of your dataset. The information usually provided about datasets is not as standardized as it is for books and articles, which can make things confusing.

  • Several data and statistics repositories actually collect datasets from several different agencies and providers. If you're unable to find enough information about the dataset in the repository, tracking down the dataset where it was originally published may turn up additional information.
  • Many data providers will offer their own guidelines for citing their datasets. This can help to decode some of the language used to describe particular elements. Sometimes these guidelines are general for the whole site, and sometimes they will be linked directly from the dataset record itself.
  • Do your best to include as many elements as possible and keep your data citation consistent with the rest of your list. If some key element is unavailable, try to make sure there is still enough information so that someone else can find it.

The data I'm using comes from multiple sources:

Sometimes datasets can be drawing information from multiple sources at once, making them confusing to cite. This is particularly common when creating charts and tables, whether you are making them yourself or using online tools built in by the data providers.

You must cite ALL the sources of your data.

  • If you are combining data from several series from the same provider, cite all the series. (eg: combined series in CANSIM)
  • If you are combining data from several different providers, cite all the sources. (eg: a table you've made comparing trade data from Industry Canada to employment data from CANSIM)
  • If you're including a table or graph in your paper which combines data from multiple sources, include a note describing which data elements came from where, with in-text citations. Give each source an entry in your reference list. This guide from SFU shows citation examples in APA style of tables and figures drawing from multiple data sources.
  • If you're not including a table or graph, provide this same information in the text of your paper.
  • If your data is drawing from so many sources that citing each source in the traditional manner is unreasonable, see the section on "Microattribution" in the Digital Curation Centre guide.
Network by Geralt from Pixabay

Much of the information on this page has drawn on the following very thorough guide to citing data, which includes an extensive bibliography should you wish to do further reading on the subject. Ball, A. & Duke, M. (2012). ‘How to Cite Datasets and Link to Publications’. DCC How-to Guides. Edinburgh: Digital Curation Centre. Available online: -

UBC Library's general How to Cite guide provides links to different style guides and more in-depth information about identifying the elements of a citation.


The DOI Citation Formatter tool will generate a citation based on a DOI in the citation style of your choice. Make sure to double-check that all of your elements have ended up in the right place!


My citation doesn't match anything in the guide

If you can’t find an example that matches your source exactly, base your citation on the closest example you can find.

  • Be consistent with formatting and punctuation.
  • Make sure you include enough information so that someone else reading your reference list could find the sources you’ve listed.
  • Librarians can help you locate citation rules and examples; however, they cannot format or proof-read your citations for you.

I'm supposed to include an element but I can't find it in my source

Some elements, such as authors for websites, DOIs and permanent URLs can be tricky to track down. Don't assume that because some elements are not easy to find that the information doesn't exist. Frequently the information is available if you look for it - though DOIs in particular are not created for every journal article that you will find.

  • If you don't immediately see an author associated with a website, online article, blog entry etc. look for "about us," "help," "more information," and/or "contact us" type links to see if these sections contain information about the authorship/ownership of the site and its various content areas.
  • A DOI, also known as a "digital object identifier," is a permanent identifying number assigned to an article. Many journals and databases assign a DOI to each article they own/provide access to. As mentioned above, DOIs are not assigned to every single journal article. That said, most will have a DOI so look very carefully on the article's title page and/or the detailed description of the article which appeared in your results list before deciding that there isn't a DOI for the article.
  • Sometimes the URL which appears in your web-browser is not "permanent." It is only valid for your current session and will expire as soon as you navigate away from the webpage or shut down your computer. Do not use a temporary, or "session-based" URL in your citations:
    • if the browser URL contains the phrase "sessionid," "SID," or "session" it's mostly likely a temporary URL
    • if the browser URL is very long with a lot of symbols it's likely a temporary URL
    • if the article description contains a link to a "permanent URL," "PURL," "Permalink," "Stable URL" or some similar phrase then the browser URL is most likely temporary.

Look carefully on the article's title page and/or the detailed description of the article which appeared in your results list to see if there are any links to a permanent URL for the article.

I let the computer generate my citation but it doesn't look right

Some databases, such as Academic Search Complete, ABI/Inform and the Library's Summon search have tools which can automatically generate a citation for you. However, citations generated with these tools may not be perfectly formatted.

  • You will always need to carefully review and edit auto-generated citations for accuracy.
  • Ultimately, it is your responsibility to make sure that your citations are accurate, consistently formatted and contain all the required elements.
The content in this section of the guide has been adapted from David Lam Library's Business Citation Examples PDF

Tell us what you think of the Cite Sources Guide. Please select a response.

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...