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How to Cite Federal Acts With APA

Just as quickly as the United States Congress makes laws, legal scholars and students cite these laws, or statutes, in discussion and defense of their particular scholastic interest or emphasis. If you are a legal scholar or student and the organization or authority for which you write requires the use of APA style, you will want to rely on the guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA) when citing your legal sources, such as federal acts, in the body of your text and in your reference list.

Instructions

    • 1

      Write the name of the act followed by the year it was enacted in parentheses for an in-text citation in APA style. For example, write, "The Fallow Fields Seizure Act (1911) is the precedent in this case."

    • 2

      Begin your reference-list citation of a federal act by writing the name of the act. For example, write, "Fallow Fields Seizure Act of 1987."

    • 3

      Write the title number of the volume of U.S. Code in which the act appears, preceded by a comma and followed by "U.S.C." U.S.C. is an abbreviation for "United States Code." For example, write, "Fallow Fields Seizure Act of 1987, 17 U.S.C."

    • 4

      Write a section symbol followed by the section number of the volume in which the act appears. A section symbol looks like an elongated S with a hole in the middle (represented in this example by "SS"). For example, write, "Fallow Fields Seizure Act of 1987, 17 U.S.C. SS 13101."

    • 5

      Write the Latin abbreviation "et seq." to indicate the act continues after the section cited. For example, write, "Fallow Fields Seizure Act of 1987, 17 U.S.C. SS 13101 et seq." Italicize et seq. in an actual citation.

    • 6

      Write the name of the publisher followed by the year of publication and enclosed in parentheses. For example, in this example the publisher is LexisNexis. Write, "Fallow Fields Seizure Act of 1987, 17 U.S.C. SS 13101 et seq. (LexisNexis 1993)."

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