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Guidelines to APA Style: Data sets, software and AI reference examples

Libguide on citing sources in APA Style.

Index

Last update: October 9, 2024.

Data set

Owner of the data set. (Publication year). Title of data set (Version number) [Data set]. Publisher. Retrieved Month day, year, from http://xxxx or https://xxxx or https://doi.org/xxxx

Data sets consist of research data ('raw data') used in a document for a table, for example.

  • If there is no version number it is omitted.
  • The publication date for published sets is the year of publication and for unpublished sets is the year(s) of collection.
  • If you are citing existing data or statistics, cite the publication in which the data were published (e.g., a journal article, report, or webpage) rather than the data set itself.
     

Pew Research Center. (2018). America trends panel Wave 26 [Data set]. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/dataset/american-trends-panel-wave-26/


Parenthetical citation: (Pew Research Center, 2018)
Narrative citation: Pew Research Center (2018)
 

Software or mobile app

  • Common software (e.g. Word, Excel, Photoshop or SPSS) and mobile apps (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) mentioned in the text, but not paraphrased or quoted, do not need citations. Simply give the proper name of the software or app along with version number in the text, if relevant.
Data were analysed with IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 25).

 

Author, A. (Publication year). Name of programme (Version number) [Description]. Publisher. Retrieved Month day, year, from http://xxxx or https://xxxxx

  • The publication year of a computer software is the year of publication of the version used.
  • The bracketed description is flexible: [Computer software], [Mobile app], [Apparatus and software].
  • For a mobile app the publisher can be stated as Google Play Store or App Store.
  • To cite a content of a social media app see Social media.

Koha-community. (2021). Koha Library Software (Version 20.05.09) [Computer software]. Koha. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://koha-community.org/


Parenthetical citation: (Koha-community, 2021)
Narrative citation: Koha-community (2021)
 

Impala Studios. (2021). Weather+ (Version 4.11.12) [Mobile app]. Retrieved August 17, 2021, from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/weather/id404516121


Parenthetical citation: (Impala Studios, 2021)
Narrative citation: Impala Studios (2021)
 

AI tool

Developer. (Publication year). Name of AI-tool (Version number) [Generatieve AI]. http://xxxx or https://xxxxx

  • If you are using an AI tool for your coursework, include a description of how you used AI within your work. Also include the prompt and the text generated in your report, in the text or in an appendix.
  • Omit the retrieval date in the reference entry.
  • Ask your teacher if AI-tools may be used for your course work.
  • See also the manual The APA guidelines explaned: Generative AI.

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Version 3.5) [Generative AI]. https://chat.openai.com


Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

or

Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript)
Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript)