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APSA Citation Guide

This guide will provide outlines, examples, and tips for citing in APSA citation style. The APSA style is used mostly in the political sciences.

Legal & Public Documents: General

Legal and public documents have different guidelines than other source types in APSA style, as listed below:

  • They not included on a reference list, although they must have an in-text citation.
  • The first page number of the document or case is cited directly after the name with no intervening punctuation, and then specific page numbers are given, separated by a comma. These can be sections or paragraphs, and should include the corresponding symbols. 
  • Abbreviations usually use periods or apostrophes.
  • Common abbreviations should be capitalized (e.g., No., Sess.) 
  • For in text citations, ordinal numbers (e.g., 2d, 3d) should be used rather than 2nd, 3rd, etc.

Legal & Public Documents: Examples

Legislative documents include Laws & Statutes, Bills & Resolutions, and Congressional Publications.

Laws & Statutes: General

Laws & Statutes public laws in the U.S. Statutes at Large and U.S. Code. Citations for Laws & Statutes include:

  • Title
  • Law number
    • Starts with Pub. L
    • Number starts with No.
  • Location in Statutes at Large or U.S. Code, with appropriate abbreviation
    • Statutes at Large: Stat.
    • U.S. Code: U.S.C.
  • Date

Laws & Statutes: Example

Homeland Security Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107–296, 116 Stat. 2135 (2012). 

Bills & Resolutions: General

Citations for Bills & Resolutions include:

  • Title
  • Appropriate Abbreviation
    • House Bill: H.R.
    • House Resolution: H.R. Res.
    • Senate Bill: S.
    • Senate Resolution: S. Res.
  • Bill or Resolution Number
  • Congress
  • Date

Bills & Resolutions: Example

Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, H.R. 1599, 114th Cong. (2015).

Congressional Publications

Congressional Publications include Congressional Hearings, Congressional Reports & Documents, and the Congressional Record.

Congressional Hearings: General

Congressional Hearings citations include:

  • Title
  • Congress
  • Date
  • Speaker's Name, Title, and Affiliation

Congressional Hearings: Example

Facebook, Social Media Privacy, and the Use and Abuse of Data: Joint Hearing Before the S. Comm. on the Judiciary and the S. Comm. on Commerce, Science and Transportation, 115th Cong. (2018) (statement of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook).

Congressional Reports & Documents

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate produce reports and documents. In general, they follow the same citation format as Bills and Resolutions, but with the following abbreviations used:

  • House Reports: H.R. Rep.
  • House Documents: H.R. Doc.
  • Senate Reports: S. Rep.
  • Senate Documents: S.Doc

Congressional Record: General

Congressional Record citations include:

  • Volume of the Congressional Record
  • Page Number
  • Date

Congressional Record: Example

112 Cong. Rec. 16 (1996).

Executive documents includes both presidential documents and treaties.

Presidential Documents: General

Presidential documents include Proclamations, Executive Orders, Vetoes, and Addresses. These may be published in various places:

Most of these sources use a standard abbreviation, which can be found in the Chicago Manual of Style.

Presidential Documents: Example

The example listed below shows a citation for a Proclamation published in the Federal Register:

  • Proclamation No. 5142, 49 Fed. Reg. 341 (1984).

Treaties: General

For treaties, citations must include:

  • Full name of the treaty
  • Parties that signed the treaty
  • Exact date the treaty was signed
  • Volume and treaty number
  • Reporter name

Treaties may be published in various places, but the U.S. Department of State's Finding Agreements website (link opens to new window) can help with locating them.

Treaties: Example

Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, U.S.-U.K.-U.S.S.R., Aug. 5, 1963, 14 U.S.T. 1313.

Judicial documents include Cases & Court Decisions and Constitutions.

Cases & Court Decisions: General

Citations for Cases & Court Decisions include all of the following, when available:

  • Case Name
  • Year
  • Volume Number, if applicable
  • Abbreviated name of reporter, if applicable
  • Ordinal series number of the reporter, if applicable
  • Opening page number of decision
  • Actual page cited
  • Abbreviate name of the court
  • Year decision was made

Court Decision Example:
Eaton v. IBM Corp., 925 F. Supp. 487 (S.D. Tex. 1996).

Constitutions: General

Citations for Constitutions include:

  • Abbreviated title of the constitution
  • Article number, using Roman numerals (e.g., I, II, III)
  • Subdivision number, using Arabic numerals (e.g., 1, 2, 3)

Constitutions: Example

U.S. Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 2.

State Laws & Municipal Ordinances: General

Citations for state laws & municipal ordinances include:

  • Abbreviated title
  • Code
  • Date of the Current Code

State Laws & Municipal Ordinances: Example

Wis. Stat. § 36.09(3) 2015