Congressional Hearing Citation Generator
Cite a published House or Senate committee hearing — or one witness's testimony — in APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago 18. Enter the hearing title, committee, Congress and date, add the witness and page if you cite one, and get the reference, in-text citation and footnote. Free, no sign-up.
Hearing details
Type it in sentence case, as APA wants — capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. MLA and Chicago get title case automatically.
The full name without the chamber, e.g. Committee on the Judiciary.
On the title page of the printed record. The Bluebook form uses it when it differs from the hearing year.
Your citations
Enter the hearing title, the Congress and the hearing date to see your citations.
How to Use the Congressional Hearing Citation Generator
- 1. Open the printed hearing on GovInfo. Search GovInfo's Congressional Hearings collection. The cover gives the title, the committee, the Congress and session and the date of the hearing; the title page shows the year the record was printed.
- 2. Enter the title in sentence case. Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns, as APA wants; the generator converts it to title case for MLA and Chicago. Leave out the “Hearing before the committee” phrase — it is added for you.
- 3. Name the committee and chamber. Type the committee's name without the chamber — Committee on the Judiciary — and a subcommittee if one held the hearing.
- 4. Add a witness if you cite one person. Give the witness, their title or organization and the page where their statement appears. APA adds (testimony of …) and Chicago adds (statement of …).
Parts of a Hearing Citation
A hearing is printed as a pamphlet with its own title: the record of what a committee heard. The legal form, which APA and Chicago both build on, keeps the title from the cover and adds who held the hearing, the Congress, the page and a year.
| Part | Example | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program for Borrowers | The title on the cover of the printed hearing |
| Committee | Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions | Who held it; the Bluebook abbreviates Senate, House, Committee and Subcommittee |
| Congress and page | 113th Cong. 40 | The 113th Congress (2013–2014); the page where the cited statement begins |
| Year | (2016) | In legal form, the year the record was printed — here two years after the hearing |
| Witness | (statement of Deanne Loonin, National Consumer Law Center) | Whose testimony you cite |
APA 7 (§11.6) italicizes the whole title in sentence case, gives the year of the hearing and adds (testimony of …) for a single witness. Chicago 18 (§14.185) follows the Bluebook: title case, the page after the Congress, the year the record was printed and (statement of …), in notes only. MLA 9 treats the hearing as a government publication: the committee is the author, the title is italic, and the publisher and date follow, as in the MLA Style Center's hearing example.
Hearing Citation Examples
Senate Hearing 113-829, the HELP Committee's March 27, 2014 hearing on federal student loans — the hearing the APA Publication Manual uses as its example — citing Deanne Loonin's statement on page 40:
APA 7th edition
Reference list:
Strengthening the federal student loan program for borrowers: Hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, 113th Cong. (2014) (testimony of Deanne Loonin). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CHRG-113shrg22607
In-text (parenthetical):
(Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program, 2014)
In-text (narrative):
Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program (2014)
MLA 9th edition
Works Cited:
United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program for Borrowers. U.S. Government Publishing Office, 27 Mar. 2014, www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CHRG-113shrg22607.
In-text citation:
(United States, Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program)
Chicago 18th edition (notes)
Footnote:
Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program for Borrowers: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, 113th Cong. 40 (2016) (statement of Deanne Loonin, National Consumer Law Center), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CHRG-113shrg22607.
Common Mistakes
- Giving the hearing year in a Bluebook note. Legal form dates the printed record; check the title page for the year it was printed.
- Pasting the all-capitals cover title. Write the title in normal capitalization.
- Quoting a witness without saying who. Add (testimony of …) in APA or (statement of …) in Chicago, and the page.
- Citing a news report of the hearing. Cite the printed hearing on GovInfo.
- Treating a committee report as a hearing. A report (S. Rep. No., H.R. Rep. No.) is a different document; cite it with the Report Citation Generator.
- A bibliography entry in Chicago. Chicago cites hearings in notes only.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you cite a congressional hearing in APA 7?
- Italicize the hearing title with its “Hearing before the …” phrase, then give the Congress and year: Strengthening the federal student loan program for borrowers: Hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, 113th Cong. (2014), followed by the URL. In text: (Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program, 2014).
- How do you cite testimony from a hearing?
- Cite the hearing and name the witness. APA adds (testimony of Deanne Loonin) after the year; Chicago adds (statement of Deanne Loonin, National Consumer Law Center) and the page where the statement begins. MLA keeps the committee as the author, so name the witness in your sentence.
- How do you cite a hearing in MLA?
- Use the committee as the author, the hearing title in italics, then the publisher, the date and the URL: United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program for Borrowers. U.S. Government Publishing Office, 27 Mar. 2014, www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CHRG-113shrg22607.
- Where do I find a hearing's details?
- GovInfo's Congressional Hearings collection has the printed record of most hearings, with the title, committee, Congress, session and date held, and the Senate Hearing or House serial number. Committees often post prepared statements sooner, but the printed record is the version to cite.
- Why is the year in the Chicago note different from the hearing date?
- Bluebook rule 13.3, which Chicago follows, dates a hearing by the year its record was published. Records often appear a year or two later — the March 2014 student-loan hearing was printed in 2016 — so check the title page.
- Do hearings go in a Chicago bibliography?
- No. Chicago 18 cites hearings, like other legislative documents, in notes only.