How to Cite Government Documents in Chicago Style

How to Cite a Government Document in Chicago: Quick Answer

Class the document first. An agency report or commission book uses Chicago bibliographic form: corporate author, italic title, year, report number, and a persistent URL. A congressional report adds the chamber, committee, Congress, session, and H. Rep. or S. Rep. number. A Congressional Research Service product is a named-author report with a CRS number (R45410), not a House or Senate report. A statute, bill, hearing, or court opinion uses Bluebook form in a note and usually stays out of the bibliography. CMOS 18 (2024) is the current professional handbook. Turabian 9 (2018) still follows CMOS 17 and often still wants a city of publication.

The worked-example page How to Cite a Government Document in Chicago shows one generated pattern. Use this guide when you need the class decision, the CMOS 18 paragraph numbers, and examples you can look up. Court opinions and statutes are only sketched here; the full legal forms live in How to Cite Legal Cases and Court Documents and the Law Citation Guide.

Current manuals: CMOS 18, Turabian 9, and the Bluebook

The current professional handbook is The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition, published by the University of Chicago Press in September 2024. It replaced the 17th edition (2017). Student papers that say "Turabian" still follow Kate L. Turabian, *A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations*, 9th edition (2018), which was updated to CMOS 17. A tenth Turabian edition is announced for late 2026; until that book is out, Turabian 9 is the student text. Those books are the same family, not the same edition. See Turabian vs Chicago when a syllabus names one and a website names the other.

For legal instruments, Chicago does not invent a third system. CMOS 18 §§14.177–14.186 follow The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 22nd edition (2025), for cases, statutes, bills, hearings, and many legislative reports. That is why a statute and an EPA yearbook cannot share one template. Lone Star College's CMOS 18 legal guide maps the new numbers: cases at 14.177–14.180, statutes at 14.183, bills at 14.184, hearings at 14.185, and reports at 14.186. Douglas College maps Canadian public documents to 14.194–14.197. LibGuides that still cite 14.269–305 or 14.281 are quoting CMOS 17.

Those sentences are from the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide. Government documents are exactly the unusual sources the notes system was built to hold: numbered reports, serial-set volumes, hearings, and presidential papers. Author-date still works when the source is an agency book with a clear year. It becomes a poor fit the moment you need a Congress number, a session, and a report number in the same citation.

Which Chicago system? Notes first for public documents

History, public-history, and many political-theory seminars want notes-bibliography. Political science, public policy, and economics papers more often want author-date. The assignment sheet wins over any field default. If the instructor says Chicago and does not name a system, ask. Do not mix superscript notes and parenthetical years in one paper.

Chicago's legal chapter has long said that almost all legal writing uses notes and that a work cited in Bluebook form need not be repeated in the bibliography. CMOS 18 keeps that split in §§14.177–14.186. If you are writing author-date and you cite more than a handful of statutes or cases, add notes for those items rather than forcing them into a parenthetical.

CMOS 18 changes that actually affect government citations

Three 18th-edition changes show up immediately on government sources. Older handouts that still require a city, write "U.S. Congress" with periods in a Chicago bibliography, or omit a stable URL are following CMOS 17 or a campus template that has not been revised.

No place of publication for modern books and reports

The official notes-and-bibliography sample page now states the rule in one sentence:

That sentence is from Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations. What's New in the 18th Edition repeats it as a keyed change: "14.30. A place of publication is no longer required in citations of books." Treat a post-1900 agency report the same way you treat a modern book: name the agency, italicize the title, give the year, and add a report number or URL. Do not add "Washington, DC: EPA" or "Washington, DC: GPO" unless you are following CMOS 17, Turabian 9, or a department sheet that still wants the city. For a book or report published before 1900, the city is often more useful than a publisher name (CMOS 14.31). The 1875 Red Cloud Agency report below keeps Washington for that reason.

US without periods in Chicago prose and bibliographic authors

Chicago prefers US to U.S. in ordinary prose and in bibliographic authors (US Congress, US Census Bureau). The official CMOS Q&A on US abbreviations explains the logic. Bluebook legal citations are a different system and keep the reporter abbreviation U.S. (347 U.S. 483). Do not "correct" a Supreme Court citation to US.

Stable URLs, GovInfo packages, and archived copies

When you consult a government document online, add a URL. Prefer a persistent GovInfo, Congress.gov, Federal Register, CRS, or agency publication URL over a session-specific search result. CMOS 14.104 now allows a Wayback Machine or similar archived snapshot when the live page is gone. Access dates are still optional when the document has a publication or release date; include one when the page is undated or likely to be updated in place.

Copy the package ID from the document you opened. A campus CMOS 18 guide that cites House Report 112-445 but pastes the hearing package CHRG-111hhrg50208 is attaching the wrong file. The report number and the GovInfo package have to describe the same object.

Recover the identifiers before you format

A Chicago government citation is only as good as the identifiers you copied off the document. Format last. Collect these facts from the title page, the GovInfo details screen, or the Federal Register header, then choose a class.

The official US repositories are GovInfo (Government Publishing Office), Congress.gov (Library of Congress), CRS Reports, and the Federal Register. Historical congressional reports also live in the US Congressional Serial Set. Use the name printed on the document for the publisher: Government Printing Office on older title pages, Government Publishing Office after the 2014 rename. GPO is acceptable once the full name has appeared.

Agency reports and yearbooks: Chicago bibliographic form

When a government publication behaves like a book — a titled report, a statistical abstract, a commission volume — cite it as a book with a corporate author. List the jurisdiction only if it is not already in the agency name. CMOS 18 drops the city for a post-1900 imprint.

Example: 9/11 Commission Report

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States published The 9/11 Commission Report on July 22, 2004. GovInfo still hosts the official GPO edition as package GPO-911REPORT (ISBN 0-16-072304-3). Page 339 opens chapter 11, "Foresight—and Hindsight."

Example: EPA numbered report (fifth edition, 2024)

Keep the report number. It is how a reader finds the edition you used. The fifth edition of EPA's Climate Change Indicators in the United States is EPA 430-R-24-003 (July 2024). It replaced the fourth edition, EPA 430-R-16-004 (2016). The report's own suggested citation still points to epa.gov/climate-indicators. Chapter "Heat on the Rise" begins on page 13.

Example: pre-1900 report (keep the city)

Thomas C. Fletcher's 1875 investigation of the Red Cloud Indian Agency is the print government-document example used by CMOS teaching guides, including the University of Portland CMOS 18 guide. Because it was published before 1900, the city stays (CMOS 14.31).

Congressional reports, CRS products, documents, and hearings

Bibliography entries for congressional publications usually begin US Congress, then Senate or House, then the committee. Notes often drop US and sometimes the chamber if the committee name is unambiguous. Include the Congress, the session, the year, and the document number. CMOS teaching examples use 2d sess. (not 2nd) and H. Rep. / S. Rep. / H. Doc. / S. Doc. Bluebook 22 Rule 13.4 writes the same House report as H.R. Rep. No. Either form is acceptable in a CMOS 18 paper; pick one system and stay with it.

Example: Senate report (CMOS teaching pattern)

The handbook example for a committee report is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee print on the Mutual Security Act of 1956. The note form below is the one Chicago itself uses; the bibliography adds the full US Congress. Senate hierarchy.

Example: House report with a persistent record

House Report 107-609 (July 24, 2002) is the Select Committee on Homeland Security report on the Homeland Security Act of 2002. GovInfo files it as CRPT-107hrpt609. Part 1 is the usual citation unit. The same bill number is H.R. 5005; do not use the bill number as if it were the report number.

Example: Congressional Research Service report

A CRS product is not a committee report. CMOS 14.186 and Bluebook 22 Rules 13.4 and 15.1(c) cite it under the analysts and the service, with the R-number in the title line. Lisa N. Sacco and Emily J. Hanson's The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA): Historical Overview, Funding, and Reauthorization is CRS R45410 (April 23, 2019). The copy opened for this page is R45410.4.pdf on Congress.gov. Later updates of the same product number can change a coauthor; copy the names from the PDF you used.

Example: published hearing (Bluebook form, CMOS 14.185)

Published hearings are closer to legal materials than to books. CMOS 18 §14.185 follows the Bluebook 22 Rule 13.3 hearing form: italic title from the cover, Before the committee, Congress number, cited page, year, and a parenthetical for the witness when you cite testimony. The House Select Committee Day 3 hearing on H.R. 5005 is GovInfo package CHRG-107hhrg83173 (July 17, 2002, serial no. 107-3). Comptroller General David M. Walker's oral statement begins on printed page 199. Cite the hearing you opened. Do not attach a witness from a different hearing to this title.

Example: Senate document and the Serial Set

Chicago's classic Senate-document example is the 1941 declarations of war. The serial number points a reader into the Congressional Serial Set. Lone Star's CMOS 18 legal guide also reprints the Bluebook short form S. Doc. No. 77-148.

Example: Congressional Record

Cite the permanent bound Congressional Record when you can, not the daily edition. A speech can be attributed in the note; the bibliography can list the volume. The CMOS teaching example is Senator Edward M. Kennedy speaking on 10 March 1982 (97th Cong., 2d sess.). 1982 is the second session of the 97th Congress, not the first. Bluebook 22 Rule 13.5 covers the same debates.

Executive orders and the Federal Register

An executive order is a presidential document. Cite the order number, the title, and the Federal Register printing. The Bluebook short form (Exec. Order No.) is acceptable in a note-heavy legal paper. A history paper can treat the Federal Register like a magazine: volume, issue, date, and opening page.

Executive Order 14008, "Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad," was signed on January 27, 2021, and printed at 86 Fed. Reg. 7619 (February 1, 2021). The Government Publishing Office HTML copy is FR Doc. 2021-02177.

Statutes, bills, and cases: notes only

This is the line most general Chicago pages miss. A public law, an unenacted bill, and a court opinion are legal citations. CMOS 18 §§14.183, 14.184, and 14.177–14.180 follow the Bluebook and put them in notes. They do not belong in the bibliography unless you are citing a book or article that reprints them. Do not force US Congress onto Brown v. Board of Education.

The reporter abbreviation U.S. is part of the Bluebook citation, not a Chicago country abbreviation. Lone Star's CMOS 18 restatement of the Affordable Care Act and Brown matches these forms. For reporter tables, parallel citations, and state courts, use How to Cite Legal Cases and Court Documents. For law-review habits, use the Law Citation Guide.

State, local, and non-US documents

Start with the jurisdiction only when the agency name does not already contain it. Health Canada does not need a second Canada in front. California Air Resources Board does not need State of California unless you are distinguishing it from a city body with a similar name. CMOS 18 still omits the city for a modern imprint.

CMOS 18 §14.194 tells US writers citing more than a few Canadian legal or public documents to use the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (the McGill Guide). For an occasional Canadian report in a US-context paper, Chicago bibliographic form or the Bluebook is enough. Douglas College reprints that CMOS 18 sentence on its government-documents page.

Example: Canadian federal report (catalogue number, no extra jurisdiction)

Health Canada's Human Health Effects of Wildfire Smoke (May 2024) is catalogue no. H144-123/2024E-PDF (ISBN 978-0-660-71379-3; publication 240056). The catalogue record is publications.gc.ca 9.936795. The catalogue number is the recovery key; repeating Canada in the author slot is not. Page 8 is "Disproportionately impacted populations" and the start of the conclusions.

Municipal plans and state legislative prints follow the same hierarchy: city or state, department or committee, italic title, year, and a stable URL. If you found the item in an archive rather than as a published report, switch to the archival form in How to Cite Primary Sources and Archives in Chicago Style.

United Nations documents and treaties

UN citations privilege the issuing body and the document symbol. The symbol (A/RES/217 (III), S/RES/2773) is how UN Digital Library and documents.un.org retrieve the text. Treaties may be cited by title, date of adoption or signature, and a treaty-series or official-text URL.

Author-date when the source is an agency report

Author-date is the right Chicago system for a policy or public-health paper that cites agency books the way a science paper cites monographs. Put a short form in the parentheses if the agency name is long, and spell the abbreviation out in the reference list. Do not use author-date as a dumping ground for hearings, bills, or cases.

Example: WHO statistical yearbook

World health statistics 2025: monitoring health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals is a titled annual report with a clear year, which is what author-date needs. WHO released it on 15 May 2025. The electronic edition is ISBN 978-92-4-011049-6 (76 pages). "Key messages" begins on page 3. Each edition supersedes the last; do not keep a 2023 citation if you opened the 2025 PDF.

Example: same 9/11 report in author-date

If the same paper also cites H. Rep. 107-609 or Brown v. Board of Education, keep those in notes. Chicago allows a reference list and a small set of notes in one work when the legal citations will not compress.

Online government documents, PDFs, and datasets

A PDF on an agency site is still the report, not a generic website. Cite the report, then add the URL. A HTML explainer with no titled PDF is closer to a web page; see How to Cite Websites and Blog Posts in Chicago Style. A downloadable microdata file is a dataset (CMOS 14.157): name the creator, the dataset title, the portal, a version or release date, and a persistent URL.

The Census Bureau posted the 2020 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary Files in legacy FTP format on August 12, 2021, and posted the same figures on data.census.gov on September 16, 2021. Cite the release you used.

Presidential remarks that exist only as a press-office transcript can be cited as a web document under the speaker, with the office and a stable archive URL. Barack Obama's June 25, 2013, Georgetown University address on climate change is still on the Obama White House archive.

Common errors

Official sources and further reading

When a generator, a LibGuide, and the title page disagree, the manuals and the official repositories win.

• Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide — official description of notes-bibliography versus author-date.
• Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations — CMOS 18 samples, including the 14.30 place-of-publication note.
• Author-Date: Sample Citations — matching author-date patterns.
• What's New in the 18th Edition — keyed list of CMOS 18 changes, including 14.30, 14.104, and 14.157.
• CMOS Q&A: US without periods — CMOS 10.4 logic for US versus U.S.
• University of Chicago Press. 2024. The Chicago Manual of Style. 18th ed. See chapter 13 for the two systems and §§14.177–14.186 and 14.194–14.197 for public and legal documents.
• Turabian citation guide — student companion still aligned to CMOS 17.
• Lone Star College CMOS 18 government and legal guide — current paragraph map (14.177–14.186) and the Sacco–Hanson CRS / H.R. Rep. No. 107-609 / Walker hearing restatements.
• University of Portland CMOS 18 government guide — Fletcher print example and note-only legal forms. Check its URLs before you copy them.
• Douglas College CMOS 18 government documents — CMOS 14.194–14.197 Canadian public-document map.
• GovInfo — official GPO repository for the Congressional Record, congressional reports, and the Federal Register.
• Congress.gov — bills, reports, CRS PDFs, and committee pages from the Library of Congress.
• Federal Register — executive orders and agency rules as published.
• UN Digital Library — resolutions and document symbols.

Related Guides

• How to Cite a Government Document in Chicago (worked example)
• How to Cite Primary Sources and Archives in Chicago Style
• How to Cite Legal Cases and Court Documents
• How to Cite Websites and Blog Posts in Chicago Style
• How to Cite a Book in Chicago Style
• How to Cite Government Reports in APA
• Turabian vs Chicago
• Law Citation Guide: Bluebook Basics