|
Citing Government Publications
Styles for citing online publications are still changing. To be sure, you should consult the most recent edition of the appropriate style manual. At the Reserve Desk in Crumb Library you will find a copy of the MLA handbook for writers of research papers, the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, the Chicago Manual of Style, and others.
Basic assistance in citing using APA or MLA styles - at DocsCite
The basics for MLA style are:
- Author, if one is listed. If not, use the name of the government agency responsible for the document. Ex. United States. Cong. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs.
- Title of the document, underlined.
- Place of publication
- Publisher - the agency, or Government Printing Office, for example.
- Year of publication
- for online documents - the date of viewing. Ex. 12 September 2006
- for online documents - the URL in brackets. Ex. <http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_rn015.pdf>
Additional information is needed for some kinds of documents - following the title.
- For Congressional documents, include the number of the Congress and the session # - Ex. 107th Cong. 1st sess.
- Many Congressional documents are numbered using abbreviations:
- Bills: S.33 or HR.77
- Resolutions: H.Res.20
- Reports: S.Rpt.107-112
- Documents: H.Doc.107-33
Some legal documents such as public laws, the Federal Register, the U.S.Code, and Supreme Court decisions have special citation formats. See the link above,
Other useful guides for citing documents - which may includes additional examples more relevant to the type of document you are wanting to cite:
|
