Federal Government Resources: General Information Resources

Government documents often present special problems in creating citations. For example, a government document may not have a personal author, or the publication date or title may not be clear. They differ widely in purpose, style, and content, and the standard style manuals may not give examples for citing all these formats in a consistent fashion. For this reason, several authors have developed manuals specifically addressing the problems of citation peculiar to government publications.

Often a government publication will offer a suggested citation for itself. Check the front (recto) or back (verso) of the title page. Also, many Scholarly and Professional Style Manuals provide (usually limited) information on how to cite government documents.

If you are writing for a class or for publication, your instructor or publisher is always the final authority to consult for determining which general style to use, as well as for determining the proper format for a specific citation.

Government documents often present special problems in creating citations. For example, a government document may not have a personal author, or the publication date or title may not be clear. They differ widely in purpose, style, and content, and the standard style manuals may not give examples for citing all these formats in a consistent fashion. For this reason, several authors have developed manuals specifically addressing the problems of citation peculiar to government publications.

Often a government publication will offer a suggested citation for itself. Check the front (recto) or back (verso) of the title page. Also, many Scholarly and Professional Style Manuals provide (usually limited) information on how to cite government documents.

If you are writing for a class or for publication, your instructor or publisher is always the final authority to consult for determining which general style to use, as well as for determining the proper format for a specific citation.