Government Authors and Documents - MLA 9, 5.20
- Record the name of the organization, agency, office, bureau, etc. as it appears in the source
- if working with many government sources, you may choose to standardize the names of the government entities so that the entries can be consolidated. (Yes, that is in conflict with the first point, but, it is allowable for convenience sake)
- Order of "authorship" is: first, name of state or nation government, second, name of agency or agencies, from largest to smallest. Spell out government name even if the source doesn't. Example: United States, Congress, House. The commas separate the different names of government and agencies.
- On Works Cited page, use three hyphens for any mane repeated from the author element in the previous entry.
Examples:
United States, Congress, House...
---, ----, Senate.
---, Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Treat the rest of the citation as you would a book.
- If congressional document, include the number and session of Congress, the chamber (house or Senate), and the type and number of the publication.
- Types of congressional publications include bills, resolutions, reports, and documents.
