mla citation format government report

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How to Cite Something in MLA Format

MLA formatting refers to the writing style guide produced by the Modern Language Association. If you’re taking a class in the liberal arts, you usually have to follow this format when writing papers. In addition to looking at MLA examples, it helps to know the basics of the style guide.

Parenthetical Citations

MLA requires parenthetical citations within the document. This means you must include source information inside parentheses placed after a quotation or paraphrase from a source. Each parenthetical citation must have the page number where you found the information you used. It may also have the author’s or creator’s name. Do not use a comma to separate the name and the date.

In-text Citations

The format for in-text citations depends on the format of the source material. For print material like books and journals, you need the author’s name and publication date. If the source has two authors, use and to join them and the term “et al.” if it has more than two authors. You can also reference the authors in the document and include only the page number in parentheses.

Citations for Nonprint Material

If you use nonprint materials as sources, you have to cite them. However, you don’t have to include page numbers with the in-text citations. You do have to include information like the name of the work, the creator’s name and the year of publication on the Works Cited page.

When you complete the Work Cited page, each source requires additional information. For images, you need to include contributors, the reproduction number and URL where you located the image online. Movies must list the director’s name and distributor. A TV series needs the episode title and number, series title, season number and network. Pieces of music should include the title of the track and album and the record label.

Works Cited List

When you use MLA format, you must have a Works Cited page that lists all of the sources you used for the paper. This page goes at the end of the document on a separate page. You list all of the sources in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name. Make sure the page is double-spaced and that you follow the specific guidelines for formatting each entry.

Citation Generators

If you don’t have access to printed MLA style guides or don’t understand how to format your sources, you can turn to a citation generator. There are several citation generators available online for free or as part of a subscription service. You can also find them in word processing programs.

To use a citation generator, you enter information about each source. The program automatically formats the sources for the works cited page. You can also select the places in the document to add in-text citations.

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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Government Documents

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On This Page: Government Documents

Government document from a website - author and publisher are different, government document from a website - author and publisher are the same, government document in print, abbreviating months.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

In MLA 9th ed., citations of government documents have been simplified for student papers. For student papers citing a small number of government documents, the  MLA Handbook  recommends treating government documents "just like any other source written by an organization" by "record[ing] the name as presented by the source" (120). For advanced projects where many government documents are cited, more detailed recommendations can be found in the  MLA Handbook and in some online guides. You may see specialists follow these rules in order to provide complete information about the government, department, and agency and to standardize Works Cited entries.

In non-specialist and student papers, the  MLA Handbook  recommends shortening the publisher to the name of government and the primary agency only. Providing the names of sub-agencies is optional (171).

Access Date

Works from the web can be changed or removed at any time, so it is important to include the date you accessed the material in your citation. This is  optional , but is especially important when there is  no date  specifying when the item (web document, article, webpage) was produced. Add the access date to the end of your citation.  E.g. Accessed 23 July 2019.

The format of all dates is: Day Month (shortened) Year. E.g. 5 Sept. 2012.

Write the full date as you find it on the source. If there is only a year listed, you will only put the year in your citation. For others, you will also include a month and day if they are given.

If there is no date listed, just leave it out unless you can find that information available in a reliable source. In that case the date is cited in square brackets to show that you found that information somewhere else.  E.g.  [2008]

Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an. Do not use all-caps (except for words like USA where each letter stands for something), even if the words appear that way on the book or article.

If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).

Note : For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Author. Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition,  Name of Government  Primary Agency , Publication Date, URL. Accessed Day Month Year site was visited .

Note:  In MLA 9th ed., citations of government documents have been simplified for student papers. For student papers citing a small number of government documents, the  MLA Handbook  recommends treating government documents "just like any other source written by an organization" by "record[ing] the name as presented by the source" (120). For advanced projects where many government documents are cited, more detailed recommendations can be found in the  MLA Handbook and in some online guides. You may see specialists follow these rules in order to provide complete information about the government, department, and agency and to standardize Works Cited entries.

Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition,  Name of Government  Primary Agency , Publication Date, URL. Accessed Day Month Year site was visited .

Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Name of Government Primary Agency, Publication Date.

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MLA Citation Guide

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Citing Print Government Publications

A government publication is one that emanates from some level of government (federal, state, city, etc.) and from a government agency (United Sates Department of Justice, New York State Education Department, etc.) Like other documents produced by a corporate author,often you will not know the personal author of the document. Cite the government agency that issued it as author listing the name of the government followed by the name of the agency (you may abbreviate this if it is identifiable by context), followed by the title of the publication. Then list publication information as usual. Because they may differ so considerably from each other in terms of authorship, government publications may p resent some difficulty. Be sure to consult the MLA Handbook.

CONTENTS OF THIS BOX

Publications from Government Agencies

Congressional Publications

Acts and Court Cases

Basic Format

Name of Government from which the publication emanates, Name of Responsible Agency .

Title of the publication (italicized). Publisher's Name, Date.

What does a citation look like?

United States. General Accounting Office. Vietnamese Amerasian Resettlement: Education, Employment and Family

Outcomes in the United States. General Accounting Office, 1994.

Name of Government. Part of Congress that produced the document. Title of the document (italicized),

number , session (optional). Publisher's Name, Date.

United States. Cong. S. Committee on Government Operations. Watergate Reorganization and Reform

Act of 1975. Hearings 94th Cong., first sess. Washington: GPO, 1975 .

To cite an act, give the name of the act, its Public Law number, the date and its Statutes at Large Cataloging number. Use Pub. L. to abbreviate Public Law and Stat for Statures at Large.

Name of Act , Public Law Number. Date it was enacted. Statues at Large. Cataloging Number.

Aviation and Transportation Security Act. Pub L. 107-71. 19 Nov. 2001. Stat. 115.597.

To cite a court case, list the names of the first plaintiff and the defendant, the number of the case, the name of the court that decided the case, and the date of the decision

Name of first plaintiff, Name of first defendant. Case Number. Name of Court. Date of decision.

Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico. No. 80-2043. Supreme Ct. of the US,

25 June 1982.

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MLA Citation Guide (8th Edition): Government and Legal Documents

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Government Document From a Website

Name of Government, Name of Agency. Title of Document: Subtitle if Given.  Collection/Series, Volume, Publication Date, Page Numbers.  Publishing Agency , URL (without the https:// ).

Government Document in Print

Government, Agency, Committee. Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Publisher, Hearing Date. Congress Number, Session Number. 

Legal Citations

Because of the complexity of legal citations, MLA follows a legal citation style guide for citing sources such as legislation and case law. Legal citations in your Works Cited list will look significantly different from other material that you may cite. In the MLA Handbook, government/legal sources are address in section 2.1.3. 

For a guided work-through of citing legal sources in MLA style, go to the  MLA website  or reference the handouts included here. 

• Government Information Sources - MLA Style citations Sample citations to U.S., state, local, and international government sources in print, microform, and online. Special thanks to the University of Nevada - Reno Library for putting this together.
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MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Government & Legal Documents

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Table of Contents

Government document from a website.

Government Document In Print

Court Decision

Statute (legislation), unenacted bill or resolution.

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an.

If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).

The format of dates is: Day Month (shortened) Year. E.g. 5 Sept. 2012.

Whether to give the year alone or include a month and day depends on your source: write the full date as you find it there.

If no date is listed, omit it unless you can find that information available in a reliable source.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.

Legal Citations

From the MLA Style website: "Following one of the fundamental principles of MLA style, writers citing legal works should document the version of the work they consult—not the canonical version of the law, as in legal style. As with any source in MLA style, how you document it will generally depend on the information provided by the version of the source you consulted." See " Documenting Legal Works in MLA Style " on the MLA website.

Known Author

Cite the author of the publication if the author is identified. Otherwise, start with the name of the national government, followed by the agency (including any subdivisions or agencies) that serves as the organizational author. For congressional documents, be sure to include the number of the Congress and the session when the hearing was held or resolution passed as well as the report number. US government documents are typically published by the Government Printing Office.

Name of National Government, Agency, Subdivision. Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Access Date.

Works Cited List Example:

United States, Congress, House, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. Government Publishing Office, 17 Apr. 2012, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg50208/html/CHRG-111hhrg50208.htm. 112th Congress, 2nd Session, House Report 112-445. Accessed 22 Oct. 2019.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Shortened Title of Document)

Unknown Author

If a personal author or a corporate author (e.g. government agency or organization) cannot be identified, start the citation with the title of the document.

Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Access Date.

  Healthy People 2020.  Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. 2011, www.healthypeople.gov/. Accessed 6 July 2016 .

 (Title of Document)

  Example : (Healthy People 2020)

Government Document in Print

Title of Document : Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date.

Dictionary of Occupational Titles . Dept. of Labor. Employment and Training Administration, 1977.

( Title of Document )

Government Entity as Author. Name of the Case . Date of the Decision. Title of Container, Publisher, URL (if online).

United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education . 17 May 1954. Legal Information Institute , Cornell U Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483.

In-Text Paraphrase:

(United States Supreme Court).

In-Text Quote:

(United States Supreme Court Syllabus (d)).

Italicize the case name in the text of your paper also.

Government Entity as Author. Name of the Public Law. Title of Container , Date, Pages. Publisher , URL (if online).

United States, Congress. Public Law 104-191, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. govinfo.gov, 1996. U.S. Government Printing Office , https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-104publ191.

(United States Congress)

(United States Congress Section 264)

Government Entity as Author. Name of the Bill or Resolution. Title of Container , URL. Congressional session, Bill/Resolution number, last status.

Example (Senate):

United States, Congress, Senate. Anti-Phishing Act of 2005. Congress.gov, https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/472. 109th Congress, Senate Bill 472, Introduced 28 Feb. 2005.

Example: (House):

United States, Congress, House. Anti-Phishing Act of 2005. Congress.gov, https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/1099. 109th Congress, House Resolution 1099, Introduced 03 Mar. 2005.

(United States Congress, House)

(United States Congress, House Section 1351 "Internet Fraud")

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Citation guides

All you need to know about citations

How to cite a government report in MLA

Government reports are usually published by an organization that is also its author. In these cases, the name of the organization is included only as the publisher and the reference entry starts with the title. If you accessed the report online, click here for the citation format .

To cite a government report in a reference entry in MLA style 9th edition include the following elements:

• Author(s) name: If the report was published by an organization that is also its author, omit the author and start with the title.
• Title of the report: Titles are italicized when independent. If part of a larger source add quotation marks and do not italize.
• Report number: Give the report number if available.
• Publisher: If the name of an academic press contains the words University and Press, use UP e.g. Oxford UP instead of Oxford University Press. If the word "University" doesn't appear, spell out the Press e.g. MIT Press.
• Year of publication: Give the year of publication as presented in the source.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of a government report in MLA style 9th edition:

Author(s) name . Title of the report . Report no. Report number , Publisher , Year of publication .

Take a look at our works cited examples that demonstrate the MLA style guidelines in action:

A government report with a publisher that is also its author

2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices . U.S. Department of State , 2017 .

A report by a government agency

Raponi, Michael A. . Federal PKI Compliance Report . Report No. 13-19 , U.S. Government Publishing Office , 2013 .

This citation style guide is based on the MLA Handbook (9 th edition).

More useful guides

• How do I cite a company’s report?
• MLA Citation Guide 8th Edition: Government publications
• Advice on Few Tricky Sources (MLA, 8th Edition)

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Government Document from a Website

Government document in print, legislation, court decisions.

Examples taken from the  MLA Handbook: Ninth Edition .

Examples taken from the MLA Handbook: Ninth Edition .

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MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): Government Documents

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Government document from a website, government document in print, government document from a database.

Note : For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Access Date

In the 9th edition of the MLA Manual, accessed dates are no longer used for most entries.  The exception is if you have a web source without a publication date or which has been altered or removed.  This date will be added to the end of the entry. E.g. Accessed 23 July 2022.

The format of dates is: Day Month (shortened) Year. E.g. 5 Sept. 2012.

Whether to give the year alone or include a month and day depends on your source: write the full date as you find it there.

If no date is listed, omit it unless you can find that information available in a reliable source.

Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an.

If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).

Name of Government  Department, Agency or Committee.  Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Publication Date, URL. 

Name of National, State or Local Government, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee.  Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Publication Date.

Name of National, State or Local Government, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee.  Title  of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Publication information, Publication Date.  Database Name,  URL. 

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MLA Citation Style Guide: 7th Edition

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Commonly Cited Government Publications

Citing a technical report in mla, citing legal materials in mla.

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Author's Last Name, First Name (If given). Name of the Government. Name of Issuing Agency, abbreviated. Title of Publication .  Washington: G.P.O, Year. Medium.

When citing the Congressional Record , include the date, page numbers and medium format.

For other congressional documents, include number and session of Congress, which house (S for Senate or HR for House of Representatives), and the type and number of the publication.

United States.  National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. 9 / 11 Commission R eport : The Official R eport of the 9 / 11 Commission and Related Publications .  Washington: G.P.O, 2004. Print.

Last-name, First-name and First-name Last-name . “Title of Chapter.” Document Title . Government Publication Number. Place of Publication: Publishing Agency, Year. Pages of chapter. Format. Date Month Year of Access.

Roy, Lindsay E., Holly L. Watson, and H. Lee Nigg. 4He . SRNL-L4222-2012-00015. Aiken, SC: Savannah River National Laboratory, 2012. Web. 17 September 2012.

Smith, Joshua E. and Eugene J. Peterson. “National Technical Nuclear Forensics.” The Los Alamos Science Pillars: The Science of Signatures. LA-UR-12-24168. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2012. 11. Web. 17 September 2012.

The MLA Handbook recommends following the Bluebook uniform system of citation for legal materials. The MLA  Handbook provides some information on citing legal sources in section 5.7.14.  For more in-depth information on citing legal materials, see The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation .   

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Citing Canadian government documents: MLA Style

On this page, reports by individual author, standing committee reports.

• Department reports

Government regulations

Debates (hansard).

• Committee proceedings
• Acts and statutes

Rules and explanations

Online vs. print government documents, works cited list, in-text citation (6.4.5), abbreviations (5.5.20. p. 175), additional resources.

 Department reports

Note: do not italicize the titles of laws, acts, or similar documents (MLA Handbook, 7th ed. Section 5.7.14, p. 205 [ print ]).

R. v. Nguyen. 1 S.C.R. 826. Supreme Court of Canada. 2009. Supreme Court of Canada . Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

Committee proceedings 

Acts and statutes 

Federal Accountability Act. Statutes of Canada, c.9 . Canada. Department of Justice. 2006. Department of Justice . Web. 13 Feb. 2010.

See also Library  Citing Guide for Statistics Canada, PCensus Estat and CHASS  

Many government documents are most often accessed online, and so almost all the examples above are for documents accessed online. In MLA citation style there are a few differences between citing a document online and citing one in print.

(MLA Handbook, 7th ed. Section 5.5.20, pp. 174-177 [ print ])

• If you do not know the writer of the document, cite as author the government agency that issued it. State the name of the government first, followed by the name of the agency.

Provincial:

British Columbia. Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs.

Canada. Commission of Inquiry into Part-Time Work.

• If the agency has subgroups, arrange the subgroups in descending order, with periods in between.

Canada. Parliament. Senate. Standing Senate Committee on National Finance.

•  The title of the publication, italicized, should follow. After the title, include the number of the reading, session, parliament, or other number of the publication, if the document has one.

Finally, include the place, publisher, date and the medium of the publication consulted (e.g. print, web, etc.) If it is a web resource, include the website (italicized) and the date accessed.

• If known, the document's writer may either begin the entry or the agency can go first, and the writer's name can follow the title and the word By or an abbreviation (such as Ed . for editor or Comp . for compiler).

If the city of publication is not included on a document, but you can reasonably assume where it was published (e.g., Ottawa for many Canadian government publications, Victoria for many B.C. government publications), put the city name in square brackets, e.g.:  [Ottawa]

When citing two or more works issued by the same government, substitute three hyphens for the name in each entry after the first. If you also cite more than one work by the same government agency, use an additional three hyphens in place of the agency in the second agency and each subsequent one.

• To cite a government document, you may use the author's (e.g., British Columbia. Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs) name followed by a page reference: 

However, MLA suggests including a long name in the text so that the reading is not interrupted:

When citing publications such as bills, reports, resolutions and documents, use these abbreviations where applicable. Note: do not use them to shorten words in the "author" area, but in the part of the citation following the title (see example below).

Parliament - Parl.

Session - sess.

Report - Rept.

Resolution - Res.

Document - Doc.

Library MLA Citation Guide, 8th Edition -- General guide to MLA-style citation

Brief Guide to Citing Canadian Government Sources -- Guide by Queen's University for citing government resources. Note that this resource does not use MLA Style, but does have some useful examples.

Government Information Citation Guides - Courtesy of Concordia University