POL 325: Congress and the Presidency: Citing Gov Docs

Government agencies are often the author of the source so they are used both in the in-text and Works Cited page as the author. 

IN-TEXT 

Name the government, department, as well as the agency (if there is one) in the in-text citation.

EXAMPLE
(United States, Dept. of Transportation, Natl. Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
Note: if there is a page number on the document, cite the page number in the parentheses - (United States, Dept. of Transportation, Natl. Highway Traffic Safety Administration, ###). 

WORKS CITED ENTRY

Government Report or Document

General Format:
Government, department, agency. Title of Work. Website Title, Month Year, URL. 

EXAMPLE
United States, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs & Border Protection. FY2016 Performance and Accountability Report. U.S. Customs  and Border Protection, March 2017, https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/
assets/documents/2017-Mar/FY-2016-CBP-PAR-508C.pdf 

MLA

The Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style is most commonly used in humanities disciplines such as English, foreign languages, literary criticism and comparative literature, and cultural studies.

*If you introduce the author(s) in the text, you don't need an in-text citation. For example, you could say, "Fulkerson et al. found that as a child ages, the frequency of family meals decreases."

Always check with your professor and syllabus for specific information on how you should use and cite AI-generated sources.

MLA does not consider Generative AI, like ChatGPT, as an author.

IN-TEXT
If there are persons names on the document, use their names as authors for both the in-text or Reference list entry. Otherwise use the department, agency, or branch as the author. 

EXAMPLE
(U.S. Customs & Border Protection, 2017).
Note: if there is a page number on the document, cite the page number as well in the parentheses (Agency name, year, p.#).

REFERENCE LIST ENTRY

Government Report or Document
General Format: 

Department, Agency. (Year, Month). Title of work. Retrieved from URL 
If the document has a number, place the number in parenthesis after the work's title. 

EXAMPLE
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs & Border Protection. (March, 2017). FY2016 performance and accountability report. Retrieves from https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/
assets/documents/2017-Mar/FY-2016-CBP-PAR-508C.pdf 

APA

The American Psychology Association (APA) citation style is most commonly used in disciplines such as social sciences, business, nursing, and education.  

*If you introduce the author(s) in the text, you don't need a full in-text citation, just the year in parenthesis after the author. For example, you could say, "Fulkerson et al. (2006) found that as a child ages, the frequency of family meals decreases."

Always check with your professor and syllabus for specific information on how you should use and cite AI-generated sources.