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ASA (7th ed.) Citation Style Guide: Government Documents & Legal Citation

Government Documents and Grey Literature

"In general, ASA style recommends that (1) all references, including those from legal periodicals, should be included in a reference list (rather than in footnotes...); and (2) consistency should be maintained in citing legal references" (American Sociological Association Style Guide, 7th ed., 2022:70).

Government document citations include:

  • Author or authors. The Author may be a government or corporate entity.
  • Year.
  • Title of Report/Document. Provide the report number in brackets if given.
  • Publisher. Omit the publisher information if the author and the publisher are the same 
  • Page numbers (if provided)
  • DOI or URL is hyperlinked. "Retrieved from" is omitted.

See American Sociological Association Style Guide, 7th ed., 2022:70-75 for more information.

Report by a Government Agency or Other Organisation

Group Author. Year. "Title of Report/Webage." Publishing Group (if different than Authoring Group), Month Day. URL.

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. 2019. "Sources and Uses of Budget 2019 Measures by Organization for April 2019." Government of Canada, April 26, https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/planned-government-spending/sources-uses-budget-measures-organization/sources-uses-budget-2019-measures-organization-04-april.html 

In Text

(Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat 2019)

Report by Individual Authors at a Government Agency or Other Organization

Author Last Name, First Name. Year. "Title of Report." Website. Publisher. URL

Choi, Rebecca. 2024. "Child Care Arrangements for Children Aged 0 to 5 With Long-Term Conditions or Disabilities, 2023." The Daily, April 22. Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2024022-eng.htm

In Text

(Choi 2024)

Laws

Youth Criminal Justice Act, S.C. 2002, c.1 (2002)

In Text

(Youth Criminal Justice Act 2002)

Court Decision

Case name, Court docket/case number (Year). URL (if published online)

R. v. Latimer, SCC 1 (2001). https://decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1836/index.do 

In Text

(R v. Latimer 2001)