Treaty Citation Generator
Cite a treaty or international convention — multilateral or bilateral — in APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago 18. Enter its name, the date it was signed or adopted and, for Chicago, its treaty-series citation, and get the reference, in-text citation and footnote. Free, no sign-up.
Treaty details
The official name, as the treaty series or depositary gives it.
Abbreviate and hyphenate as the Bluebook does, e.g. U.S.-Mex. or U.K.-Fr.
Your citations
Enter the treaty's name and the date it was signed or opened for signature to see your citations.
How to Use the Treaty Citation Generator
- 1. Find the official name and date. The UN Treaty Collection, the State Department's treaty pages or the treaty's own text give the official name and the date it was signed, adopted or opened for signature.
- 2. Choose multilateral or bilateral. For a two-party treaty, add the parties the way the Bluebook abbreviates them — U.S.-Mex. — for the Chicago note.
- 3. Add the treaty series. Pick U.N.T.S., U.S.T., T.I.A.S. or another series and give the volume and first page, or the T.I.A.S. number. APA does not use it; Chicago does.
- 4. Add where you read it and copy. Give the website and URL for MLA and APA, then copy the reference, in-text citation or footnote.
Reading a Treaty Citation
A treaty is identified by its name and date and found in a treaty series, a numbered collection of treaty texts. 1577 U.N.T.S. 3 means volume 1577 of the United Nations Treaty Series, page 3 — where the Convention on the Rights of the Child begins.
| Abbreviation | Series | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| U.N.T.S. | United Nations Treaty Series | Treaties registered with the United Nations since 1946 |
| U.S.T. | United States Treaties and Other International Agreements | Agreements the United States joined, 1950–1984 |
| T.I.A.S. | Treaties and Other International Acts Series | U.S. agreements issued one at a time; recent ones by number |
| I.L.M. | International Legal Materials | An unofficial reprint, often the first published text |
| Stat. | United States Statutes at Large | U.S. treaties before 1950 |
| L.N.T.S. | League of Nations Treaty Series | Treaties registered from 1920 to 1946 |
APA 7 (§11.10) asks for three things: the name, the date of signing or approval, and a URL if there is one — and the reference ends with the URL, with no period after it. Chicago 18 (§14.191) follows the Bluebook's treaty rule in a note: the name, the parties of a bilateral treaty, the article you cite, the date and the treaty series. MLA 9 styles the name in roman type, gives the date and where you read it, and ends with a description such as Multilateral treaty, as the MLA Style Center's own examples do.
OSCOLA, the UK legal style, puts the dates in brackets after the name: Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990) 1577 UNTS 3. For EU treaties and legislation, use the EU Law Citation Generator.
Treaty Citation Examples
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly in New York on November 20, 1989, read on the UN Treaty Collection:
APA 7th edition
Reference list:
Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4
In-text (parenthetical):
(Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989)
In-text (narrative):
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
MLA 9th edition
Works Cited:
Convention on the Rights of the Child. 20 Nov. 1989. United Nations Treaty Collection, treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4. Multilateral treaty.
In-text citation:
(Convention on the Rights of the Child)
Chicago 18th edition (notes)
Footnote:
Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4.
Common Mistakes
- Using the entry-into-force date. APA, Chicago and the Bluebook date a treaty by its signing or adoption; OSCOLA gives both dates.
- Citing a summary instead of the treaty. Cite the treaty series, the depositary's page or an official copy, not a news story or study guide.
- Abbreviating the parties in MLA. U.S.-Mex. belongs in the legal note; MLA describes the treaty in words.
- Choosing U.N.T.S. for a U.S. treaty. The Bluebook prefers U.S.T. or T.I.A.S. for treaties the United States joined, with U.N.T.S. as a parallel citation.
- A period after the URL in APA. APA's treaty reference ends with the URL.
- A bibliography entry in Chicago. Chicago cites treaties in notes only.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you cite a treaty in APA 7?
- APA's treaty reference has three parts: the name, the date it was signed or approved, and a URL if available — Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989, followed by the URL. In text, cite the name and year: (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989).
- How do you cite a treaty in MLA?
- Give the treaty's name in roman type, the date, the website or publisher you used with its URL, and a short description at the end — Multilateral treaty, or Bilateral treaty. In text, give the name, shortened if it is long: (Convention on the Rights of the Child).
- What does U.N.T.S. stand for?
- The United Nations Treaty Series, the UN's published collection of the treaties registered with it since 1946. In 1577 U.N.T.S. 3, 1577 is the volume and 3 the first page. The UN Treaty Collection website shows the volume and page on each treaty's status page.
- Which date do I use: signing, adoption or entry into force?
- Use the date the treaty was signed — or, for a convention adopted by an international body and then opened for signature, the adoption date. APA, Chicago and the Bluebook use that date; OSCOLA gives the adoption and entry-into-force dates together.
- How do I cite a bilateral treaty?
- In legal form, add the parties after the name, abbreviated and joined by a hyphen: Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, U.S.-Japan, April 2, 1953, 4 U.S.T. 2063. MLA describes it in words instead.
- Do treaties go in a Chicago bibliography?
- No. Chicago 18 cites treaties in notes only, following the Bluebook. Give the treaty series volume and page so a reader can find the text.