Citing Sources

Important Note

Government information comes in a variety of formats, including books, journals, websites, committee hearings, and more. For this reason, there is no single style manual exclusively for citing government sources. Each style guide will have rules for particular source types. A government published book, in other words, will be cited like all other books.  Some style guides do have citation examples for more specific government publications.

The Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources is helpful in identifying bibliographic information for various government sources.  However, it must be used in conjunction with whatever style manual you are using for the rest of your citations.

Online Guides for Government Sources

Guide: Citing U.S. Government Publications : Guide from based largely on Garner and Smith's The Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources (1993). You will still need to consult your specific style manual to fine tune these examples, but it is helpful in understanding the various types of government documents. (Indiana University Bloomington)

MLA Style Citation Guide: Government & Legal Documents: Provides sample citations and formatting advice for government publications in MLA Style. (University of Portland Library)

How to Cite US Government Documents in APA Citation Style : Provides sample citations, mostly for legal and congressional materials, in APA styles. When the specific case is not addressed by the pertinent style manual, they look to the BlueBook for Legal Citation. (Cornell University Libraries)

Chicago Style Citation Guide: Government & Legal  Documents : Provides sample footnotes and bibliographic citations in Chicago style. (University of Portland Library)
 

How to Cite Government Information Resources like a Pro (Revised and Updated) : This webinar from Bobby Griffith (University of North Texas) explains how to identify various publication information for government documents and provides cited examples for its various formats in several different citation styles. The Presentation Slides and Citation Template Tools can be downloaded for quick reference and include examples for MLA, APA, Chicago, and more formats.