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.
- 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.
- If there is a series or report number, include it after the title.
- 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:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. OR Government Name. Name of Government Agency. (Year). Title: Subtitle (Report No. xxx [if available]). Publisher.
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Example
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:
U. S. Food and Drug Administration/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. (2004). Worsening depression and suicidality in patients being treated with antidepressant medications: FDA public health advisory.
