Government documents present a unique challenge for writers and researchers who must adhere to strict formatting standards. The American Psychological Association style, commonly known as APA style, provides a specific set of rules for citing these official publications to ensure clarity and consistency. Mastering the citation of a government document is essential for academic work in fields such as public administration, political science, and public health, as it directly impacts the credibility of the research.
Understanding Government Publications in APA
APA style treats government documents as a distinct category of source material, separate from books or journal articles. These publications are produced by entities at the federal, state, or local level and can range from congressional hearings to statistical yearbooks. The core principle of an APA government document citation is to prioritize the authoring entity, followed by the year of publication, the title, and the specific identifier for the document.
Author Identification and Attribution
When constructing a citation for a government document, the author is almost always the agency or department responsible for the publication, rather than an individual. For example, the author would be listed as "U.S. Department of Health and Human Services" rather than the specific civil servant who drafted the report. The full name of the agency should be used on the first reference, and it is acceptable to use standard abbreviations, such as "NASA" or "CDC," if they are widely recognized. This approach immediately informs the reader of the institutional weight behind the publication.
Structuring the Reference Entry
The structure of the reference entry follows a logical sequence that mirrors the hierarchy of the document itself. After the author and date, the title of the document should be presented in sentence case, meaning only the first word of the title and subtitle, as well as proper nouns, are capitalized. Following the title, the publication number is included in parentheses if available, and this is often followed by the location of the publisher, typically the city and the agency name. For documents retrieved online, the direct URL or the name of the database is required to allow readers to locate the original source.
Citing In-text and Parenthetical References
In-text citations for government documents follow the standard APA format of the author and year, enclosed in parentheses. When the author is an organization, the full name of the agency should be written out, or the standard abbreviation should be used if it is familiar to the audience. For narrative citations, where the author is mentioned within the sentence as part of the prose, the year follows the name of the agency. This method seamlessly integrates the source into the discussion without disrupting the flow of the argument.
