Research Guides: Health Care Policy, Politics, and Process: Citing Government Documents

Agency Reports

There are two main principles to citing an agency report:

Periodicals: Agency reports that are published periodically in volumes take the same form as journal articles.
Agency reports that are titled and disseminated separately take the same form as books by institutional authors. If the agency numbers it’s reports, as does the U.S. Government Accountability Office, that designation should be included as part of the title.

Example: U.S. Gen. Accounting Office, GAO-02-802, SSA: Enhanced Procedures and Guidance Could Improve Service and Reduce Overpayments to Concurrent Beneficiaries 11 (2002).

Congressional Documents

Official numbered documents issued by the House or Senate. The following abbreviations are used:

House Report: H.Rpt. Senate Report: S.Rpt.

House Document: H.Doc. Senate Document: S.Doc.

In-text Citation: Abbreviation Report No., Year (Example: H. Rep. No. 114-51, 2015)

Reference List Entry: Abbreviation Report No. (Year). (Example: S. Rep. 114-94 (2015))

Congressional Records are issued in “the Daily Edition”, and “the Permanent Edition”. Use of the Permanent Edition is advised, except for issues not yet published in it (Bluebook, 2010, p. 13). The Publication Manual of the APA does not include citing Congressional Record. The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is used in place of the APA Manual for materials not citations not covered in the APA Manual.

Citing the Permanent Edition

In text Citation: Volume Cong. Rec. Page Number, Year. (Example: 141 Cong. Rec. 38585, 1995)

Reference List Entry: Volume Cong. Rec. Page Number (Year). (Example: 141 Cong. Rec. 38585 (1995), Or: 141 Cong. Rec. 38585 (1995) (Appointment of Senate Acting President Pro Tempore))

Note: There can be more than one entry (issue discussed) on one page of a day’s Congressional Record. A single Congressional Record citation, therefore, does not summarize all of the day’s events in Congress. For example, on the same page OF 141 Cong. Rec. 38585, 1995, there is also an entry for the Senate consideration of The Middle East Peace Facilitation Act of 1994. The citation for that would be: 141 Cong. Rec. 38585 (1995) (Consideration of The Middle East Peace Facilitation Act of 1994)

Citing the Daily Edition

Note: The Daily Edition includes the letters H, S, and E, before page numbers.

In-Text Citation: Volume Cong. Rec. Letter Page Number, Year. (Example: 161 Cong. Rec. S7224, 2015)

Reference List Entry: Volume Cong. Rec. Letter Page Number (daily ed. Date) (Title). (Example: 161 Cong. Rec. S7224 (daily ed. Oct. 7, 2015) (Consideration of Bill S. 2162, Librarian of Congress Succession Modernization Act of 2015).)

In-text Citation: Title, Year. (Example: Unconstitutionality of Obama's Executive Actions on Immigration, 2015)

Reference List: Title: Hearings before “Committee Name”, Congress, # Cong. Page (Year). (Example: Unconstitutionality of Obama’s Executive Actions on Immigration: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, 114^th Cong. 202 (2015).)

Note: The page number following the Congress, “202” in the example above refers to the page number of the official pamphlet that was prepared for the hearing (APA, 2010, p.16-17).

In-Text Citation: Title, Year. (Example: Unconstitutionality of Obama's Executive Actions on Immigration, 2015)

Note: According to the APA Publication Manual, only cite the title of the hearing, not the name of the person giving the testimony.

Reference List: Title: Hearings before “Committee Name”, Congress, # Cong. Page (Year) (Testimony of "Name" (testifying in their personal capacity), Rank, Affiliation). (Example: Unconstitutionality of Obama’s Executive Actions on Immigration: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, 114^th Cong. 25 (2015) (Testimony of Elizabeth Price Foley (testifying in her personal capacity), Professor, Florida International University College of Law).)

Note: The rank and affiliation of the person giving the testimony is not required.

Citations by Source Type

Encyclopedia: Volume Number Name of Encyclopedia Title of Topic § Section number (Year). (Example: 18 Am. Jur. 2d Copyright and Literary Property § 87 (2015).)

Law Journal: Author Name(s), Title of Article, Volume Number Abbreviated Name of Law Journal/Review (see Table 13 of Bluebook) Page Number(s) (Year). (Example: Susan Nevelow Mart, Protecting the Lady from Toledo: Post-USA PATRIOT Act Electronic Surveillance at the Library, 96 Law Libr. J. 449 (2004).)

Restatements of the Law: Restatement (Edition) of the Law: Title § Section Number (Year). (Example: Restatement (Third) of the Law: The Foreign Relations of the U.S. § 5 (1987).)