U.S. Government Research: Common Citations

Common Government Publication Citations

Government citations can be confusing.  The list below includes the most common types of citations you might find as you do U.S. government research.

 

 

 

            Source cited                                                                                              Official citation:

1)  “Slip” opinions*   (Supreme Court decisions)                                                        =  No. 95 - 813
                                                                                                                                            (yr.) -(docket #);

• Full-text available at the Supreme Court website

 2)  U. S. Reports*   (Supreme Court decisions)                                                           =   427  US   246
                                                                                                                                          (vol.)       (page)

• Full-text available from Nexis Uni (Choose Criminal Justice and scroll down the page to view recent and landmark decisions.  You can also go to Guided Search and search by case name, citation, or keyword.
• Oyez Project at Chicago-Kent College School of Law

 3)  Federal Register*   (preliminary U.S. agency regulations)                                   =   54   FR  310067
                                                                                                                                 (vol.)      (page no.)  

• cumulated in Code of Federal Regulations (see #4 below);
• also available full-text on Nexis Uni (Choose: Menu > All Sources > Search Within Sources > Federal Register > Drop down menu next to Federal Register: Add source as a search filter; or, Choose: Advanced Search > Legal > Administrative Codes and Regulations > Registers > search, then limit to Sources > Federal Register.)
• and on Govinfo-->Scroll down the page to find a link to the Federal Register.  Covers 1936 to the present.

4)  Code of Federal Regulations*       (final U.S. agency regulations)                       =  45  CFR  161
                                                                                                                               (title)       (part)

Federal site:  eCFR

5)  "Slip” laws*  (Public and Private laws)                                                                  =  PL       95  -  103
      Before online resources existed, slip laws were just that:  individual                          (Pub.Law)(Cong.)(law #)

printings of each law as it was passed. 

• cumulated in Statutes at Large (see #6 below);
• Available on Govinfo: Listed by Congress.

6)  Statutes at Large*  (Public laws)                                                                           =  80  Stat. 3
                                                                                                                                  (vol.)       (page)

• Library of Congress Law:  Statutes at Large
• and at LC’s American Memory site (1789-1875):

7)  U.S. Code*   (legal code of U.S.)                                                                          =   20  USC  36
     (Y 1.2/5: yr.)                                                                                                        (title)       (section)

• Cornell University Law Library
• Office of the Law Revision Counsel:  U.S. Code

9)  U.S. Treaties and Other International Agreements                                             =  10  UST  1351
                                                                                                                           (vol.)       (page)

10)  Congressional Bills* (text of proposed legislation)                                              = H.R. or S.  1234
      Congress.gov: Legislation                 

11)   Congressional Record* (text of Congressional debates)                                   
        Congressional Record, 1957 to the present

          Congressional Record, browseable back to 1873

12)  Congressional Committee Hearings and Prints* (transcripts of committee proceedings or research)   = normal book citation
      Browesable at Govinfo

        Can also be found by Google searching subject of the hearing and "congressional hearing"

13)  Congressional Reports and Documents (text of committee decisions or committee publications)    

        Congressional Research Service Reports at University of North Texas

        Every CRS Report
14)  Congressional Serial Set.  

The U.S. Congressional Serial Set, commonly referred to as the Serial Set, contains the House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports bound by session of Congress.

It began publication with the 15th Congress, 1st Session (1817). Documents before 1817 may be found in the American State Papers. In general, it includes: committee reports related to bills and other matters, presidential communications to Congress, treaty materials, certain executive department publications, and certain non-governmental publications.

The House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports are available from the 104th Congress to present.

      Scanned version from 1957 to 2015 at Govinfo 

      Scanned version from 1833 to 1917 at the Library of Congress 

      American State Papers at the Library of Congress