Best examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing

Core patterns and real examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing

Let’s start with what you actually need: concrete, realistic examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing. Then we’ll break down the patterns behind them.

Below are sample Harvard-style references for different kinds of government documents you’re likely to use in 2024–2025.

Example 1: U.S. federal agency report (online PDF)

Reference list entry
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2023, Youth risk behavior survey: data summary & trends report 2011–2021, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA, viewed 10 November 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm.

In-text citation
Short narrative citation:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC 2023), rates of persistent sadness among high school students have increased.

Parenthetical citation:
Adolescent mental health indicators worsened over the last decade (CDC 2023).

This is one of the best examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing when the report has a clear institutional author, year, title in italics, publisher, place, and URL with access date.

Example 2: U.S. federal report with report number

Reference list entry
National Center for Education Statistics 2024, The condition of education 2024 (NCES 2024-144), U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC, viewed 5 November 2024, https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/.

In-text citation
Recent data show widening gaps in postsecondary enrollment (National Center for Education Statistics 2024).

If your Harvard style guide allows or encourages report numbers, you can include them in parentheses right after the title, as in this example of citing a government report in Harvard referencing.

Example 3: UK government report with a department as author

Reference list entry
Department for Education 2023, Special educational needs in England: January 2023, UK Government, London, viewed 12 November 2024, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.

In-text citation
The number of students with education, health, and care (EHC) plans has risen steadily (Department for Education 2023).

This is a good example of citing government reports in Harvard referencing when the author is a government department rather than an individual.

Example 4: International organization report (treated like a government body)

Reference list entry
World Health Organization 2024, Global report on hypertension: improving health through better control, WHO, Geneva, viewed 15 October 2024, https://www.who.int/publications.

In-text citation
Hypertension affects an estimated 1.3 billion adults worldwide (World Health Organization 2024).

Most Harvard systems handle major international bodies (WHO, UN, World Bank) just like government agencies. For students, this is one of the cleanest examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing because the structure is so consistent: organization, year, title, publisher, place, URL.

Example 5: State or local government report

Reference list entry
California Air Resources Board 2022, California greenhouse gas emissions for 2000 to 2020, California Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, CA, viewed 3 November 2024, https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/ghg-inventory-data.

In-text citation
California’s total greenhouse gas emissions have declined since 2007 (California Air Resources Board 2022).

This example of citing a government report in Harvard referencing shows how to handle a state-level body. The key pattern is the same: institutional author, year, italicized title, parent body as publisher, place, and access details.

Example 6: Report with no personal author, only a government agency

Reference list entry
U.S. Census Bureau 2023, Income in the United States: 2022, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, viewed 29 October 2024, https://www.census.gov/library/publications.html.

In-text citation
Median household income declined slightly in real terms (U.S. Census Bureau 2023).

When there’s no personal author, use the agency as the author in both the reference list and the in-text citation. Many of the best examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing follow this exact pattern.

Example 7: Government web page that functions as a report (no PDF)

Reference list entry
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2024, COVID-19: data and surveillance, CDC, Atlanta, GA, viewed 20 November 2024, https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker.

In-text citation
COVID-19 hospitalization trends vary significantly by age group (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2024).

If the content is updated continuously, some Harvard guides recommend adding an updated date if available. If not, use the year shown on the page or the year you accessed it, as long as you’re consistent.

Example 8: Government report with multiple government bodies listed

Reference list entry
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency & U.S. Department of Energy 2023, Energy Star program impacts and savings 2022, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC, viewed 8 November 2024, https://www.energystar.gov/about/.

In-text citation
Joint initiatives can significantly reduce residential energy consumption (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency & U.S. Department of Energy 2023).

If there are two government authors, list both joined by an ampersand in the reference list and the in-text citation. If there are three or more, most Harvard styles use the first author plus et al. in-text.

General pattern behind examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing

Once you’ve looked at a few real examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing, the pattern becomes predictable. Most Harvard systems for government reports follow this structure:

Reference list format (online report)
Government agency Year, Title of report in italics, Publisher, Place of publication, viewed Day Month Year, .

So, using the NCES example again:

National Center for Education Statistics 2024, The condition of education 2024 (NCES 2024-144), U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC, viewed 5 November 2024, https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/.

In-text format
(Government agency Year)

or, in narrative form:

Government agency (Year) argues that…

Different universities tweak the details—some drop the publisher for well-known agencies, some skip the place of publication for online reports—but the core pieces stay the same:

• Institutional author (not anonymous)
• Year of publication
• Title in italics
• Publisher (often the parent department or government printing office)
• City
• URL and access date for online material

If you compare the best examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing from your university style guide with the ones above, you’ll probably notice only small differences in punctuation and whether the access date is mandatory.

Handling tricky cases in Harvard citations for government reports

Real life is rarely as neat as a citation template. Here’s how to handle the awkward edge cases that students and researchers run into most often.

No date (n.d.) on a government report

Some government PDFs, especially older ones, don’t show a clear year. If you genuinely cannot find a year anywhere on the report or the hosting page, many Harvard systems allow:

U.S. Department of Labor n.d., Occupational outlook handbook: archivists, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC, viewed 2 November 2024, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.

In-text: (U.S. Department of Labor n.d.)

Before you fall back on n.d., check the PDF metadata, the page footer, and the hosting page. Often, a year is hiding there.

Report with individual authors AND a government body

Some government reports list named authors on the cover or title page, followed by the agency name.

If your Harvard guide prioritizes personal authors, you might format it like this:

Smith, J, Nguyen, L & Patel, R 2023, Climate resilience and urban infrastructure, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC, viewed 1 November 2024, https://www.transportation.gov/.

In-text: (Smith, Nguyen & Patel 2023) or Smith, Nguyen and Patel (2023) argue that…

Other institutions prefer the agency as the author to keep government sources grouped together in the reference list. In that case, follow the pattern in the earlier examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing and use the department name as the author.

Long agency names and abbreviations

When an agency name is long, many Harvard systems let you introduce an abbreviation:

First citation in-text:
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2023)

Later citations:
(CDC 2023)

In the reference list, always give the full name:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2023, …

This keeps your in-text citations readable while still making it obvious which body produced the report.

Different versions or updates of the same report

Government reports are often updated annually or even more frequently. The year in your citation should match the specific version you used.

If you used the 2024 edition of a recurring report, cite it as 2024, even if you also mention earlier years in your discussion. Your reference list should show exactly what a reader would need to track down the same data.

In-text citation strategies using examples of government reports

It’s easy to obsess over the reference list and then throw in vague in-text citations. Don’t. Strong academic writing uses in-text citations strategically.

Using the CDC youth risk behavior example again:

• To foreground the agency:
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC 2023) reports that nearly three in ten high school students experienced poor mental health during the past 30 days.

• To foreground the finding:
  Nearly three in ten high school students experienced poor mental health during the past 30 days (CDC 2023).

Both are valid. The choice is rhetorical, not technical.

If you’re comparing multiple government reports, your in-text citations might look like this:

Recent data suggest that adolescent mental health has deteriorated (CDC 2023), while special education identification rates continue to rise (Department for Education 2023; National Center for Education Statistics 2024).

Notice how this mirrors the structure you saw in earlier examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing: author–year pairs, separated by semicolons when there are multiple sources.

Cross-checking with authoritative Harvard referencing guides

If you want to double-check patterns beyond classroom notes or PowerPoint slides, it’s worth comparing your work with at least one established Harvard guide. Solid starting points include:

• Harvard Library’s citation resources: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/cite
• Monash University’s Harvard style guide: https://www.monash.edu/library/skills/referencing/guides/harvard-referencing-style
• University of Leeds referencing guide: https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1402/referencing/47/harvard_style

None of these are the only correct version of Harvard, but they give you more real examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing and help you see how different institutions tweak the same basic pattern.

FAQ: common questions and examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing

How do I cite a government report with no named author in Harvard style?
Use the government agency as the author. For example:
U.S. Census Bureau 2023, Income in the United States: 2022, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, viewed 29 October 2024, https://www.census.gov/library/publications.html.
In-text: (U.S. Census Bureau 2023).

Do I always need the place of publication for government reports?
Many Harvard variants still expect a place (city), especially for print-like PDFs. Some newer online-only guides allow you to omit the place for digital-first content. Follow your local guide, but if in doubt, include the city listed on the report.

Should I include the report number when citing a government report?
If a clear report number appears on the cover or title page, it’s good practice to include it in parentheses after the title, as in the NCES 2024 example of citing a government report in Harvard referencing. It helps readers locate the exact document.

What’s the difference between citing a government report and a normal website in Harvard?
A government report is usually a formal publication with a title page, publisher, and often a report number. You treat it like a report or book: author (agency), year, title in italics, publisher, place, and access details. A basic web page citation often uses only the organization, year, page title (not italicized in some guides), and URL.

Can I abbreviate long government agency names in my in-text citations?
Yes, as long as you introduce the abbreviation the first time, for example: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2024). After that, you can use (CDC 2024). The reference list still needs the full name.

Where can I find more examples of citing government reports in Harvard referencing?
Beyond this guide, look at your university’s official Harvard manual and online guides from major universities such as Harvard, Monash, or Leeds. They provide additional real examples, including parliamentary papers, legislation, and statistical releases, which you can adapt to your own work.