Wayne G. Basler Library: APA Citation Guide, 7th edition: Government Document

Online Government Document

For more tips on citing government sources, check out the Government Publication section under the Books tab.

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):

(Author Last Name or Government Author, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(Author's Last Name or Government Author, Year, page, section, or paragraph number )

References:

Surname, First Initial. or Name of Government Agency. (Year). Title of document: Subtitle (Report No. xxx [if available]). Publisher Name. https://doi.org/xxxxx or URL of specific document

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):

(National Institutes of Health, 2012)

In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(National Institutes of Health, 2012)

References:

National Institutes of Health. (2012, August 20). Distinct brain activity in hoarders. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/distinct-brain-activity-hoarders

TIP: To abbreviate or not abbreviate?

QUESTION: If I am citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the in-text citation, do I need to use the full name or can I just use CDC?

ANSWER: Corporate author names (corporations, organizations, and government agencies) that are readily identified by an abbreviation you should include the full name in the first citation along with the abbreviation in brackets and then all other subsequent in-text citations use the abbreviation.

Example: First in-text citation