Government Documents
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Citing Government Information
Many government publications and websites can be cited using the standard citation style required by your professor or discipline.
Some databases and information sources are providing links to citations in a variety of formats. ALWAYS double-check to see that the citation style is the current version as not all citations will be updated.
A frequent problem is the question of authorial responsibility as many government publications are not published with an individual's name as author, so the agency is used instead.
The less-used sources that you may need to cite are legal documents and Congressional records and learning to decipher the elements of information you have in your document will help you cite properly and accurately.
APA
Diana Hacker's APA Style: Documenting Sources
See example #30 for government document citations in the "List of References" page.
Citing Government Documents: American Psychological Association (University of Nebraska)
MLA
Diana Hacker’s MLA Style: Documenting Sources
Site is for all types of information sources, but includes section on legal and government citations. (See examples #52 and 53 in the "List of Works Cited" page.
Citing Government Information Sources Using MLA (University of Nevada, Reno)
Chicago
Diana Hacker's Chicago Style: Documenting Sources
See example #24 for government documents in the "Model Notes and Bibliography" page.
Guide to Citing Government Publications (Indiana University)
CSE (sciences)
Diana Hacker's CSE Style: Documenting Sources
See example #17 for government reports in the "Reference List" page.
Legal
The Bluebook: a Uniform System of Citation (see CSUSM Research Help Desk)
University of Chicago Law Review Style Sheet (known as the Maroon Book)
Reviews legal citation formats and citing sources commonly found in law research.
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (Cornell University)
Agency-specific
Various Federal government agencies provide help in citing their materials. The formats may NOT be in the most current version of the style manual, so review carefully. Here are some sample sites:
- National Library of Medicine and specific MedLine instructions and Citing Medicine
- National Center for Health Statistics: Print and Electronic
- Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States (how to include repository, series and record numbers in the citation.)
- Library of Congress (Specifically for online sources from American Memory and addresses citing visual media as well as text.)
- U.S. Congressional Documents (Library of Congress, based on the Bluebook and Chicago styles for examples of citing statutes, bills and other Congressional materials.
International
Citing Foreign Government Documents
Citation Generator
DocsCite (Specifically for government documents from University of Arizona, use APA, MLA or Chicago)