Skip to Main Content

Research Data Management: Data Citing

A data management plan (DMP) is a written document that describes the data you expect to acquire or generate during the course of a research project, how you will manage, describe, analyze, and store those data, and what mechanisms you will use at the end

Data Citing

Citing Data

A dataset citation includes all of the same components as any other citation:

  • author,
  • title,
  • year of publication,
  • publisher (for data, this is often the archive where it is housed),
  • edition or version, and
  • access information (a URL or other persistent identifier such as a doi or handle).

It is essential to cite / reference data correctly and consistently.

The following provide helpful guidelines on how to do this:

Citation Software

Citation software helps you to:

  • Import citations from your favourite databases and websites.
  • Build and organize bibliographies.
  • Format citations for papers.
  • Take notes on articles and save them in your collection of citations.
  • Save and organize PDFs, screenshots, graphs, images, and other files for your research.

Examples include:

  • RefWorks
  • Mendeley
  • EndNote (NWU Referencing Manager)
  • Zotero
  • Papers