APA Citation Style does not have a separate category for government publications. According to APA, government documents can be considered Books, Technical/Research Reports or Brochures.
Helpful Tips:
- Treat a government document as a book, report, or brochure.
- If a person is named on the title page, use her or him as author.
- If no person is named, use the government agency, department, or branch as a group author (Ex. 31, p.205).
- Give the name of the group author exactly as it appears on the title page. If the branch or agency is not well known, include its higher department first.
- If the group author is also the publisher, just use the word Author after the location (p. 203).
- If there is a series or report number, include it after the title (p. 205).
- The manual refers to the GPO (U.S. Gov. Printing Office). Canadian equivalents may be: Queen’s Printer, Ministry of Supply and Services, Canadian Government Publishing, etc.
General Format
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):
(Author Surname OR Name of Government Organization, Year)
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(Author Surname OR Name of Government Organization, Year, page number)
References:
Example 1
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):
(Gilmore et al., 1999)
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(Gilmore et al., 1999, p. 5)
References:
Example 2
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):
(Edwards, Sims-Jones, Hotz, & Cushman, 1997)
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(Edwards, Sims-Jones, Hotz, & Cushman, 1997, p. 2)
References:
Example 3
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):
(Ontario Ministry of Health, 1994)
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(Ontario Ministry of Health, 1994, p. 7)
References:
Example 4
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):
(U. S. Food and Drug Administration, 2004)
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(U. S. Food and Drug Administration, 2004, p. 8)
References:
