To cite a policy in MLA style, the core elements required are the individual or organization’s author name (if different than the organization that published the work), policy title, the name of the organization that published the work, and the year of publication.

Policy authored AND published by an organization

In-text citation template & example:

(Abbreviated Policy Title)

(Policy on the Continuum)

Reference list entry template & example:

Author Name* (Individual or Organization). Policy Title. Publishing Organization Name, Year.

Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education. Teaching Council, 2011.

Policy where author and publisher are different

Note that the author name is not necessary when the organization both wrote and published the work; however, the author name is necessary when one organization authored the work and another published the work.

Reference list entry example:

Department of Education. Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education. Teaching Council, 2011.

To cite a policy in APA, use the core required elements: the name of the individual author or organization, the publication year, the title of the policy, the publisher, and the DOI/URL (if applicable). The table below shows how to format the in-text citation and the reference list entry for a policy in APA.

In-text citation template and example:

(Individual Author’s Surname/Organization Name, Year of Publication)

(China’s State Council, 2018)

Reference list entry template and example:

Individual author’s Surname, F.M./Organization Name. (Year of publication). Title of the policy. Publisher. URL

China’s State Council. (2018). On the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2018-02/04/content_5263807.htm

* Do not repeat the publisher’s name if the publisher and author are the same.