On this page
Updated . Example details checked against cancer.gov, NIH Publication No. 18-2059 (2018).
The APA format
Pattern
Agency Name. (Year). Title of report (Report No. 123). Parent Agency. URL
- Group author in full.
- Report number in parentheses after the title, not italic.
- Publisher: the parent department when it differs from the author; leave it out when they match.
- Abbreviation in the text, introduced once: (National Cancer Institute [NCI], 2018).
A real example
Reference entry
National Cancer Institute. (2018). Taking time: Support for people with cancer (NIH Publication No. 18-2059). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/takingtime.pdf
In-text citation
(National Cancer Institute, 2018, p. 7)
When details are missing
- No number: leave out the parentheses.
- No date: (n.d.).
Common mistakes
- Repeating the author as publisher. If they are the same, give it once.
- Italic report number. Only the title is italic.
Or let Format do it.
Choose Report or government document and fill in the agency, title, report number, publisher, year and link. Format writes the References entry and the in-text citation in APA 7, exactly as shown above, and builds the References page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Where does the department go?
In the publisher position, before the URL.
Is a fact sheet a report?
Yes, cite it the same way, with [Fact sheet] after the title if it helps.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in APA
Every source kind is on the APA page, and every style is on How to cite.