On this page
Updated . Example details checked against cancer.gov, NIH Publication No. 18-2059 (2018).
The MLA format
Pattern
Agency Name. Title of Report. Report number, Publisher, Year, URL.
- Author: the agency, written in full. Since MLA 9, no government name in front (not “United States, National Cancer Institute”) unless your instructor wants it.
- Report number as printed, after the title.
- Publisher: the department that issued it, when different from the author.
- Agency is also publisher: start with the title.
A real example
Works Cited entry
National Cancer Institute. Taking Time: Support for People with Cancer. NIH Publication No. 18-2059, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018, www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/takingtime.pdf.
In-text citation
(National Cancer Institute 7)
When details are missing
- No number: leave it out.
- PDF with no page numbers: cite a section or leave the page out.
Common mistakes
- The title in quotation marks. A standalone report is italic.
- Abbreviating the agency. Spell it out in Works Cited; abbreviations can appear in your prose after you introduce them.
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 Works Cited entry and the in-text citation in MLA 9, exactly as shown above, and builds the Works Cited page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Do I need “United States” first?
Not in MLA 9 for most papers. Older editions started with the government; MLA 9 starts with the agency or the title.
How do I cite a long agency name in the text?
In full in parentheses, or name it in your sentence and give the page alone.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in MLA
Every source kind is on the MLA page, and every style is on How to cite.