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

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://).

Works Cited List Example

United States, Congress. Public Law 115-16: Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act. Public and Private Laws, vol. 131, Feb. 2017, p. 11-12. U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-115publ6/pdf/PLAW-115publ6.pdf.

In-Text Citation Example

 (Title of Document)  (Government, Agency Page Number)

 Example: ("Promoting")  (United States, Congress 11)  (United States, Bureau of Land Management)

 Note: You can use a shortened form of the title by listing the first word or words of the full title.

Government Document in Print

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

Works Cited List Example

 United States, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Crimes Associated with Polygamy: the Need for a Coordinated State and Federal Response. U.S. Government Publishing Office, 24 July 2008. 110th Congress, 2nd Session. Microfiche. 

In-Text Citation Example

 (Author Page Numbers)

 Example: (United States, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary 4)

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. 

Handouts