Chicago 18 (Author-Date) Dataset Citation Generator

Citing a dataset (empirical research data repository) under the Chicago Manual of Style (Author-Date System) framework requires combining Chicago Manual of Style (author-date)'s punctuation hierarchy with the specific metadata of the source. To construct a compliant entry, researchers must collect the investigator or agency name, publication year, dataset title, version number, data repository name (e.g., Zenodo, Dryad, ICPSR), and persistent DOI. In the body of your paper, Chicago Manual of Style (author-date) utilizes parenthetical author-year citations with no comma between the author and year, e.g., (Author Year, page), which links directly to an entry organized in alphabetical by author family name and chronological by publication year.

When formatting a dataset in Chicago Manual of Style (author-date), pay close attention to contributor names and capitalization. Specifically, Chicago Manual of Style (author-date) enforces inverting only the first author name (Last, First) while writing subsequent co-authors in normal order (First Last) connected by the word "and", and applies headline-style Title Case for all titles, placing analytical works in quotation marks and standalone containers in italics. Chicago Author-Date places the year immediately after the author without parentheses in the reference list, and spells out first names rather than reducing them to initials. Furthermore, if your dataset does not display an individual creator, the rule is straightforward: credit the collecting institution, laboratory, or government bureau that compiled the dataset.

For digital and online dataset references, Chicago Manual of Style (author-date) stipulates placing the DOI (https://doi.org/...) or stable URL at the very end of the entry, requiring an access date only when no publication date exists. Always include the bracketed descriptor [Data set] in APA or the repository identifier so readers distinguish raw data from a published paper. Using the client-side Chicago Manual of Style (author-date) Dataset generator below, you can automatically parse URLs, DOIs, or ISBNs and apply these exact Citation Style Language (CSL) rules locally in your browser with zero server tracking.