How to Reference the Federal Register

Initiate your Works Cited entry with the name of the office or agency. For regulations in the Federal Register, commence with 'United States' to specify the federal government. Insert a comma after 'United States,' then append the name of the specific executive department or agency that issued the regulation. Conclude with a period after the agency's name.

• Illustration: United States, Food and Drug Administration.

Title the Regulation. Regulations in the Federal Register begin with a title listed at the top. Use title case, capitalizing all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. End the title with a period.

• Example: United States, Food and Drug Administration. 'Premarket Tobacco Product Applications and Recordkeeping Requirements.'

Indicate the Volume and Page Number. Specify the volume number of the Federal Register followed by 'Fed. Reg.' Then list the page number where the regulation starts. If the page number has 5 or more digits, use commas. Omit the period after the page number.

• Example: United States, Food and Drug Administration. 'Premarket Tobacco Product Applications and Recordkeeping Requirements.' 84 Fed. Reg. 50,566

Include the Publication Date in Parentheses. Add a space after the final page number and open parentheses. Write the date in month-day-year format, using the 3-letter month abbreviation. Place a period outside the closing parentheses.

• Example: United States, Food and Drug Administration. 'Premarket Tobacco Product Applications and Recordkeeping Requirements.' 84 Fed. Reg. 50,566 (Sep. 25, 2019).

MLA Works Cited Format

United States, Department or Agency, 'Title of Regulation in Title Case.' Vol. # Fed. Reg. Page # (Month Day, Year).

Incorporate the Initial Component of Your Works Cited Entry into Your In-text Citation.

When referencing the regulation within your paper's text, follow it with a parenthetical citation leading to the Works Cited entry. For the parenthetical citation, utilize the first components from your Works Cited entry, usually 'United States' and the executive department or agency's name.

• Example: Manufacturers are required to maintain records proving the legality of tobacco products, like vaping devices (United States, Food and Drug Administration).
• If you've mentioned the executive department or agency in your text, you may not need a parenthetical citation at the sentence's end. For instance, if you've written: 'After vaping-related fatalities, the US Food and Drug Administration implemented regulations governing vaping device marketing,' you wouldn't require a parenthetical citation since you've identified the executive agency in the sentence.

Commence your reference list entry with the regulation's title. Refer to the regulation's heading to retrieve the complete title. Employ title case, ensuring the capitalization of all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. Conclude the title with a period.

• Example: Mammography Quality Standards Act.

Specify the volume and source of the regulation. Indicate the volume number, followed by a space, and then the abbreviation 'Fed. Reg.' Subsequently, include the page number where the regulation starts. Avoid using commas between digits of the page number.

• Example: Mammography Quality Standards Act. 84 Fed. Reg. 11669

Include the publication date within parentheses. Present the date in month-day-year format without abbreviating the month's name. If the regulation is not final, append the status information before the date, as indicated in the 'action' line of the regulation's heading. Conclude with a period after the closing parentheses if the date concludes your citation.

• Example: Mammography Quality Standards Act. 84 Fed. Reg. 11669 (proposed March 28, 2019)

Incorporate details regarding the regulation's future location, if provided. Upon reviewing the regulation's heading, locate the CFR line. If available, include the future codification information after the date. Begin a new parenthetical and indicate 'to be codified at,' followed by the volume and part number where the regulation will be codified. Use 'pt.' as the abbreviation for part and place a period after the closing parenthesis.

• Example: Mammography Quality Standards Act. 84 Fed. Reg. 11669 (proposed March 28, 2019) (to be codified at 21 C.F.R. pt. 900).

APA Reference List Format

Title of Regulation in Title Case. Vol. # Fed. Reg. Page # (status Month Day, Year) (to be codified at Vol. # C.F.R. pt. #).

When citing in-text, use the regulation's title and the year. In APA style, in-text citations should include the first element of the reference list entry and the publication year. Place this information inside parentheses at the end of any sentence discussing the regulation, within the closing punctuation.

• Example: The regulation aims to modernize existing mammography standards (Mammography Quality Standards Act, 2019).
• If the regulation's title is mentioned in the text, immediately follow it with the publication year. If both the title and publication year are included, no parenthetical in-text citation is necessary.

Begin your bibliography entry with the regulating agency as the author. Individual authors are not typically attributed to federal regulations; instead, the department or agency issuing the regulation is considered the author. Conclude the author's name with a period.

• Example: Department of Labor.

Enclose the regulation's title in quotation marks. Following the department or agency's name, provide the full title of the regulation within quotation marks. Utilize title case, ensuring the capitalization of all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. Place a period inside the closing quotation marks to conclude the title.

• Example: Department of Labor. 'Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for Registration, Amendment of Regulations.'

Specify the volume, issue number, and publication date of the Federal Register. Italicize the words 'Federal Register,' followed by the relevant volume number. After the volume number, add a comma, then 'no.' to denote the number, and include the issue number. Next, input the date in month-day-year format, ensuring that the month is not abbreviated. Conclude this section with a colon.

• Example: Department of Labor. 'Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for Registration, Amendment of Regulations.' Federal Register 84, no. 122 (June 25, 2019):

Include the starting page number of the regulation and, if applicable, the URL. Following the colon, indicate the page number where the regulation begins. Avoid using commas for digit separation. End this section with a period. If you accessed the Federal Register online, append the direct URL to your citation, ensuring a period follows the URL.

• Example: Department of Labor. 'Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for Registration, Amendment of Regulations.' Federal Register 84, no. 122 (June 25, 2019): 29970. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-06-25/pdf/2019-13076.pdf.

Chicago Bibliography Style

Department or Agency. 'Title of the Regulation in Title Case.' Federal Register Vol. #, no. # (Month Day, Year): Page #. URL.

Modify punctuation for footnotes used in-text citations. In footnotes referencing the regulation within the text, adapt the punctuation from your bibliography entry. Replace internal colons with periods, retaining the final period. If the page number cited differs from the regulation's initial page, utilize the appropriate page number in the footnote.

• Example: Department of Labor, 'Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for Registration, Amendment of Regulations,' Federal Register 84, no. 122 (June 25, 2019): 29970, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-06-25/pdf/2019-13076.pdf.

Chicago Footnote Style

Department or Agency, 'Title of the Regulation in Title Case,' Federal Register Vol. #, no. # (Month Day, Year): Page #, URL.

• The Federal Register undergoes daily updates and is accessible online at https://www.federalregister.gov/. Here, you can find digital PDFs mirroring the printed version of the Federal Register.