WCSU is a depository library for the federal government.  As a participant in the Federal Depository Library Program, WCSU receives copies of many government documents on an ongoing basis.  To locate federal and other government documents in the Haas library, use WestSearch.

Government documents are printed by federal, state, and local agencies.  They are generally available in multiple formats, and are issued by either the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) or other governmental agencies.

When citing government documents it is good practice to include as much identifying information as possible.  While formatting your citation may be tricky, you are less likely to encounter problems with your bibliographies if you include all identifying information.

Depending on your instructor and course, you will be required to submit your citations in one of many styles.  The most commonly utilized citation styles are APA, Chicago/Turabian, and MLA. 

When entering author or publisher information, remember that government documents may not have an author or publisher!  It is common for government documents to instead be printed by an agency.  In such instances, substitute the agency name for the author and the printer name for the publisher.

Regardless of citation style, be sure to italicize the title of your document when creating your bibliography.

And (finally!) if the citation example below contains parentheses, you must include parentheses in your own works cited.  If you omit them, you have not formatted your citation correctly.

APA

If you are using APA citation style, citations - regardless of authorship or publisher - are typically arranged in the following format:

Author. (Date). Title (Publication number). Place of publication: Publisher.  

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule.  If your publication was printed by the NTIS or ERIC, the publication and/or report number should be placed at the end of your citation:

NTIS: Author. (Date). Title. Place of publication: Publisher. (Publication number)

ERIC: Author. (Date). Title (Report number). Place of publication: Publisher. (ERIC document number) 

Chicago/Turabian

Chicago style citations are highly variable, depending on format, agency, and document type.  If you require assistance formatting government document citations in Chicago style, please speak with the Serials and Government Documents Librarian, or a Reference Librarian.

When in doubt, list all information in the following format:

Author. Title, edition, statement.  Place of publication: Publisher, Date. (Series elements). (Notes).

MLA

Like Chicago, MLA format varies depending on medium.  Be certain to specify the medium used (print, micrographic, electronic) for MLA citations.  In general, MLA citations should be written as follows:

Author. Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Date. Medium.

For additional citation formatting information, see our Citation Style Guides.