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UNI Rod Library

SW 4144: Social Policies & Issues - Forsman; Velazquillo Franco

Citing Legislation

Use the example below to cite legislation in-text and in your References list (adapted from example 16 from APA 7th edition, p. 364). Note the example includes no author, but the bill name and number, followed by the number of the Congressional session, the year, and the URL. Definitions follow.

 

Citation for Federal bill:

Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act, H.R. 1100, 113th Congr. (2013). https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/houose-bill/1100

In-text citation: (Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act, 2013)

 

Definitions: 

  • Unenacted = not (yet) passed
  • Concurrrent resolution = acted upon in both the House & Senate. Resolutions are usually not proposing changes in law/policy, but rather are more akin to announcements.
  • Simple resolution = introduced & acted upon in only the House or Senate
  • Full glossary

Citing Video Congressional Testimony

APA gives us a way to cite testimony before Congress. Below is a suggested citation of an online video of an entire Congressional testimony (from APA 7th 11.6 example 14):

 

Federal real property reform: How cutting red tape and better management could achieve billions in savings, U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. (2016) (testimony of Norman Dong). http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/233107

 

In-text parenthetical citation:

(Federal Real Property Reform, 2016)

Citing Press Releases

Press releases from members of Congress, state legislators, and/or non-profit organizations can be a great source of perspectives for or against pending legislation. For an example APA citation for press releases, see https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/press-release-references

Citing Websites

Examples for citing websites, including news & government agency websites: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/webpage-website-references