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APA (7th ed.) Citing Guide: Data Sets, Software & Tests

APA 7th Edition

This guide is representative of the 7th edition Publication Manual of APA and focuses on a student paper structure.

APA examples are not exhaustive and focus on referencing and citations. Assistance from your professor and/or Writing Centre is suggested for clarification.

Users are responsible for interpretation of APA style guidelines and to seek further assistance when necessary.

Effective September 2020.

Mobile app - Whole app

There are two things to consider when using mobile app as an information source, are you referencing the whole app or a piece of information.

Follow this format for the whole app. 

Sample format:

Author, A. A. or Name of Group. (Date). Title of work (Version number) [Mobile app].  Publisher. http://xxxxx

Reference list entry:

Farlex, Inc. (2019). Medical dictionary by Farlex (Version 3.1) [Mobile app]. App Store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/medical-dictionary-by-farlex/id1015991271

Data Sets

Reference list entry:

Statistics Canada. (2020, July 14). Table 18-10-0204-01 Electric power selling price index monthly [Data set]. https://doi.org/10.25318/1810020401-eng

City of Toronto. (2020, March 16). About wellbeing youth - legal justice support [Data set]. https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/wellbeing-youth-legal-justice-support/  

See Publication Manual Section 10.9 and APA Style

Data Sets (Vividata example)

Vividata collects consumer information through surveys. Users use the data visualization software, Dapresy, to generate tables.

Example:

Vividata generated table

Image Source: Vividata. (2020). [Demographics by generation/age and personally watch Disney channel] [Data set]. https://vividata.ca/

Reference List Entry:

Vividata. (2020). [Demographics by generation/age and personally watch Disney channel] [Data set]. https://vividata.ca/

Note: The title is in square brackets as you need to create a title for the data you've generated. To describe the item, "Data set" is added and is also in square brackets. The generated data will probably be presented in your paper or presentation as a table or as a graphic. Follow the Tables and Figures recommendations for in-text citations.

In-Text Citation

For all of the examples above, the in-text citation follows the same format unless noted with the example. Refer to the Publication Manual, Section 8.17 for explanation with multiple authors.

Parenthetical citation format: (last name of author(s), year)

e.g. (Farlex, 2019)

e.g. (Statistics Canada, 2020)

Narrative citation format: include the author's or authors' names in the sentence, with the date in brackets

e.g. Farlex (2019) wrote...

e.g. Statistics Canada (2020) wrote...

More in-text citation information on this guide.