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MLA Style Guide, 8th Edition


Citing Government Publication

When an entry starts with a government agency as the author, begin the entry with the name of the government (e.g. United States), followed by a comma and the name of the agency. Between them, add any organizational unites of which the agency is part (as, e.g., the House of Representatives is part of Congress). All the names are arranged from the largest entity to the smallest.

For the parenthetical citation, also list all of the administrative units in order from largest to smallest. Abbreviate commonly abbreviated words like Dept.

Government Publications

In-Text Citation

(United States, Congress, House, Committee on the Judiciary 14)

Works Cited

United States, Congress, House, Committee on the Judiciary. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, December 1, 2015. Government Printing Office, 2015.


Including the number and session of Congress, the chamber, and the type and number of the publication is optional and is added to the end of entry.


---, ---, Senate.


When documenting two or more works by the same government, substitute three hyphens for any name repeated from the author in the previous entry.
[---, ---, ] replaces [United States, Congress,]


---, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


[---,] replaces United States,

In-Text Citation

(United States, Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 3)

Works Cited

United States, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Controlling Mosquitoes at Home." Zika Virus, 5 May 2016, www.cdc.gov/zika/prevention/controlling-mosquitoes-at-home.html.

In-Text Citation

(United States, Dept. of Criminal Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 2)

Works Cited

United States, Department of Criminal Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "Law Enforcement and Juvenile Crime." National Criminal Justice Reference Service, by Howard Snyder, Dec. 2001, www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/191031.pdf.