Collect the relevant pieces of information about the source, including the author, title of the document, date of publication, and publisher or publication information, such as the Internet address of the document. If the author is unknown, use the government agency.
List the author or authors first. Government surveys often do not list primary authors as they are nationwide endeavors involving many people. Use the sponsoring government agency instead. For example, the U.S. Census has no single author, so you would list the U.S. Census Bureau instead.
List the year of publication next if you are using American Political Science Association (APSA) or American Psychological Association (APA) styles. If you are using Modern Language Association (MLA) style, list the year at the very end.
List the title of the survey or document.
List the publisher or publication information. Often, government documents are published by the Government Printing Office (GPO) or by the agency that conducted the survey. If the publisher is unknown, you may instead include the URL or Internet address of the survey, followed by the date that you personally accessed the document.
Add the year of publication if you are using MLA style. If you are using APA or APSA, the publication information is the final item.
Review the specifics of your chosen citation style to ensure you accurately placed each piece of information and used italics, quotations or parentheses when necessary.
List the last name of the author. If there is no identifiable author, list the government agency or department that sponsored the survey instead.
List the year of publication if you are using APA or APSA styles. If you are using MLA style, omit the year.
List the specific page number from which you are drawing the relevant information. If you are citing the survey as a whole, you may omit this step.
Enclose this reference in parentheses.
Place this reference immediately following the cited information in your paper.