Frequently Asked Questions

Citations and Style Guides

  1. How do I cite a government document in my term paper bibliography?
  2. How do I cite media for my research papers?
  3. How do I find information about the law (court cases, bills, statutes and codes, regulations, or law reviews)?
  4. Where can I get information on formatting citations or using a particular style guide?

  1. How do I cite a government document in my term paper bibliography?

    Our Citation and Style Guide Web page provides general guidelines for citing various types of publication, including government documents.

    The University of Nebraska Government Documents Department Web site has guidelines and samples of citations of government publications formatted in MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian styles. UTSA provides guidelines on citing government documents in APSA style.

    DocsCite, a service provided by the Arizona State University Libraries, automatically constructs a citation for you in MLA or APA format, based on information you enter.

    The Government Documents Department also has some style manuals you may find helpful on reserve at the Government Documents Service Desk, which is located on the 3rd Floor of Willis Library.

    If you are writing for a class or for publication, your instructor or publisher is always the final authority to consult for determining which style to use as well as for determining the proper format for a specific citation.

    In order to avoid last-minute deadline crises, we recommend that you always make a photocopy of the title page, and/or write down the call number of any government publication you use for research projects. Without this information, it is extremely difficult to relocate a document you may need for writing your bibliography.

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  2. How do I cite media for my research papers?

    Please see Citing Media for citation guidelines.

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  3. How do I find information about the law (court cases, bills, statutes and codes, regulations, or law reviews)?

    Detailed information about finding and using legal resources is available in our Law Subject Guide.

    LexisNexis Academic and West Campus Research provide online access to legal materials for members of the UNT community.

    ProQuest Congressional provides online access to congressional, legislative, and regulatory materials for members of the UNT community.

    LexisNexis State Capital provides online access to information about state law, legislation, and legislators for members of the UNT community.

    For further assistance with legal research, please visit the Government Documents Service Desk on the 3rd Floor of Willis Library, or contact the Government Documents Department by E-mail, postal mail, or telephone.

    The Government Documents staff are not attorneys or paralegals and are neither authorized nor qualified to practice law. We can help you identify and locate print and online sources and can assist you in using these sources, but we cannot conduct research for you, give you legal advice, or interpret laws or cases for you.

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  4. Where can I get information on formatting citations or using a particular style guide?

    Try this set of tutorials: Citations & Style Guides.  It offers guidance on using a number of different style guides, provides examples and help in citating special materials, using citation management software, and provides links to materials in our collections, and on the web that may be helpful to you.

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