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APA Citation Guide (7th Edition): Government Documents

Formatting

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.

Tips

Author

Government Documents often have a group/corporate author listed instead of a specific person's name. The author may be the name of a department, commitee or agency.

When the government department, agency or committee that created the document is also the publisher, put the word Author where you'd normally put the publisher name.

Titles

Capitalize the first letter of the first word of the title. If there is a colon (:) in the title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

Capitalize the first letter of proper names in titles, such as names of places or people. Example: Canada

Place of Publication

For cities in the US and Canada list the city name and the province or state code. For other countries, list the city name and the country. Examples: Toronto, ON ; Tokyo, Japan

Electronic Government Documents

Many government documents are now published electronically as well as in print. Don't include the place of publication or a publisher for an electronic book (ebook). Instead provide the url and the date you last viewed the document.

Government Document From a Website

Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee. (Year of Publication, Month Day). Title of document: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Retrieved Month Day, Year that you last viewed the website, from url

Example

Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services. (2010, April 27). Your preschool child's speech and language development. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/earlychildhood/ speechlanguage/brochure_preschool.aspx
In-Text Paraphrase

(Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Year)

Example: (Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2010)
In-Text Quote

(Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section)

(Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2010, By Age Five section, para. 4)

Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from.

Government Document In Print

Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee. (Year of Publication). Title of document: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publication City, Province, State or Country: Publisher Name often shortened.

Example

Health Council of Canada. (2007). Canadians' experience with chronic illness care in 2007. Toronto, ON: Author.

Note: >When the government department, agency or committee that created the document is also the publisher, put the word Author where you'd normally put the name of the publisher.
In-Text Paraphrase

(Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Year)

Example: (Health Council of Canada, 2007)
In-Text Quote

(Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Health Council of Canada, 2007, p. 4)