NURS 7322 - Healthcare Policy, Analysis and Advocacy: Citing

From Senate.gov

There are 4 types of legislation -

Bills

• H.R. – House Bill
• S. – Senate Bill

Simple Resolutions

• H. Res. – House Simple Resolution
• S. Res. – Senate Simple Resolution

Concurrent Resolutions

• H. Con. Res. – House Concurrent Resolution
• S. Con. Res. – Senate Concurrent Resolution

Joint Resolutions

• H.J. Res. – House Joint Resolution
• S.J. Res. – Senate Joint Resolution

Find more information and detailed definitions on the GovInfo site below.

APA does not specialize in legal citations. If your citation varies from the examples on this page, APA suggest that authors consult the Bluebook, a uniform system of citation commonly used in legal writing.

Read the APA blog entry on legal citation from the archived APA 6th Style Blog. While APA 7th edition provides more examples of legal citations, it does not appear that the guidance itself has changed.

The Texas legislature recognizes the following citation manuals:

• The Green Book
• Texas Legislative Drafting Manual

Website - A government website will be cited the same way as any other website in APA.

• Reference List:

Elements: Entity Name. (date). Title of document [Format description (optional)]. URL.

Example: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017, April 6). Health in all policies. https://www.cdc.gov/policy/hiap/index.html

• In-text:

Elements: (Entity Name, year).

Example: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017) or (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017).

Statute - A statute is a bill that has been enacted into law (P.L.).

• Reference List:

Elements: Name of the Statute, Title number Source § Section number(s) (Year).

Example: Family and  Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601-2654 (2006).

• In-text:

Elements: Title (year).

Example: Family and  Medical Leave Act of 1993 (2006) or (Family and  Medical Leave Act of 1993, 2006).

Policy -- If the policy you choose is a public law, please follow the instructions for citing statutes.

• Reference List:

Elements: Organization that made the policy. (year). Title of the policy (Policy No. ## if applicable). URL.

Example: American Heart Association (2019). Ethics policy. https://www.heart.org/en/about-us/statements-and-policies/american-heart-association-ethics-policy-details.

• In-text:

Elements: (Organization that made the policy, year).

Example: (American Heart Association, 2019).

Government Report

• Reference List:

Elements: Government author. (year). Title of report: Subtitle of report if applicable (Report No. ###). URL.

Example: Veterans Health Administration. (2013). National Veteran Health Equity Report: FY2013. https://www.va.gov/healthequity/NVHER.asp.

• In-text:

Elements: (Government author, year).

Example:  (Veterans Health Administration, 2013)

Bill - Bills that have been been passed into law need to be cited as public laws (see the discussion of statutes below), unless you are referring to a historical piece of the legislative process.

• Reference List:

Elements: Title [if relevant], bill or resolution number, xxx Cong. (year).

Example: Presidential Funding Act of 2010, S. 3681, 111th Cong. (2010) or

Without the title it would look like this: S. 3681, 111th Cong. (2010).

• In-text:

Elements: Title (year).

Example: Senate Bill 3681 (2010) or (S. 3681, 2010)

No date

• Use (n.d.)

Elements

• Incorporate as many of the elements for each citation type as possible.
• Skip elements you cannot find.
• The most important part is that the reader can find your reference.