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Citing Government Documents

This research guide provides resources to cite government documents.

Federal Depository

The Leonard Lief Library at Lehman College is a Federal Depository Library.

What are Government Documents?

Government Documents are informational materials produced by a government agency. Government Documents may be issued on paper, microfiche, compact disc, DVD or online.

Tips to Citing Government Documents

Tip 1: [Titles] Some titles on government documents are very long. Write down the entire title to differentiate from other long titles that are similar.

Tip 2: [Authors] A Government Document is published by a government agency. You may come across different types of authors depending on the document.

Type of authors you will find:

  1. One personal author
  2. Document with a few personal authors
  3. Federal Agency or Agency Author (A-Z List)
  4. Series with a Corporate Author
  5. Editors with no author
  6. No author-citing a multivolume work

Tip 3: When the author and publisher are identical, use the word "Author" as the name of the publisher.

(Gathered from the sources cited in this Research Guide)