Standard Citation of a Bill:
Author/Government Entity as Author. Name of Bill or Resolution. Title of Container, date of last action (day month year), URL.
Buckley, Brad et al. House Bill 2951. Texas Legislature Online, 23 May 2023, https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R Bill=HB2951.
Hughes, Bryan, and Bob Hall. Senate Bill 493. Texas Legislature Online, 22 May 2023, https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB2951.
Parenthetical/In-Text Quote for Standard Citation of a Bill: (Author Date of Action)
(Buckley et al. 23 May 2023)
(Hughes and Hall 22 May 2023)
Citing the Text/Committee Reports of a Bill:
Author/Government Entity as Author. Name of Bill - Bill Text Name/Committee Report Name. Title of Container, date of last action (day month year), URL.
Buckley, Brad et al. House Bill 2951 - Enrolled. Texas Legislature Online, 23 May 2023, https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/pdf/HB02951F.pdf#navpanes=0.
Hughes and Hall. Senate Bill 493 - Senate Committee Report. Texas Legislature Online, 22 March 2023, https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/pdf/SB00493S.pdf#navpanes=0.
Parenthetical/In-Text Quote for Text/Committee Reports of a Bill:
(Author - Bill Text Name/Committee Report Name)
(Buckley et al. 23 May 2023)
(Hughes and Hall 22 May 2023)
Citing An Amendment to a Bill:
Number of Amendment - Author name. Name of Bill. Title of Container, date of last action (day, month, year), URL.
1-Buckley. House Bill 2951. Texas Legislature Online, 5 May 2023, https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/amendments/html/HB02951H21.HTM.
1-Wilson. Senate Bill 1376. Texas Legislature Online, 24 May 2023, https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Amendments.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB1376.
Parenthetical/In-Text Quote: (Amendment Number - Author Date of Action)
(1-Buckley 5 May 2023)
(1-Wilson 24 May 2023)
Citing a Specific Tab for the Bill on the Texas Legislature Online site:
Author/Government Entity as Author. Name of Bill or Resolution - Name of Tab. Title of Container, date of last action if available (day, month, year), URL.
Buckley. HB 2951 - Sponsors. Texas Legislature Online, https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Sponsors.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB2951.
Hughes. SB 493 - Bill Stages. Texas Legislature Online, 18 June 2023, https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Sponsors.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB2951.
Parenthetical/In-Text Quote: (Author Name of Bill - Tab)
(Buckley HB 2951-Sponsors)
(Hughes SB 493 - Bill Stages)
Citing a Video from the Texas Legislature Online
Author/Government Entity as Author. Name Video. Title of Container, date of last action (day month year), URL.
Agriculture and Livestock. “Committee on Agriculture and Livestock.” Texas House of Representatives, 5 Apr. 2025, https://house.texas.gov/videos/9522.
Parenthetical/In-Text Quote: (Author Date of Last Action)
(Agriculture and Livestock 5 Apr. 2023)
Citing a Web Page Outside of the Texas Legislature Online
If you use a page outside of the Texas Legislature Online, like the Legislative Reference Library, cite the page like a standard web page citation. Please note: all of the elements may not be present.
Author of Webpage. “Title of Webpage.” Title of Container, Date (day month year), URL.
“Bob Hall.” Legislative Reference Library, 10 Jan. 2023, https://lrl.texas.gov/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=5763&searchparams=chamber=S~city=~countyID=0~RcountyID=~district=~first=~gender=~last=hall~leaderNote=~leg=88~party=~roleDesc=~Committee=.
Parenthetical/In-Text Quote: (Author [if applicable] Date of Last Action)
(“Bob Hall” 10 Jan. 2023)
*Remember: you need to abbreviate the names of months shorter than 4 letters.*
Narrative Citations
In addition to parenthetical/in-text citations, you can also write a narrative citation. Narrative citations are essentially paraphrases of the text and can be also be used verbally.
Example:
According to the enrolled version of House Bill 2951, service dogs will be provided to military veterans who have experienced a range of trauma related to their military service.
Need help with your paper? Consider these tutorials! Each one takes less than ten minutes to complete.
Dr. Sinegal has stated that AI may be used to brainstorm for your assignments. You must cite that you used AI in the body of your work (as an in-text or verbal citation) and in your Works Cited Page. Examples look like this:
Paraphrase of Prompt With In-Text/Verbal Citation:
LBJ's "Daisy" campaign used fear and emotion to portray LBJ as a safe candidate as opposed to Goldwater's perceived extremism ("Summarize the daisy campaign").
Works Cited:
"Prompt." Name of AI tool, Date of AI version, Maker of AI, Date of use, URL.
“Summarize the daisy campaign strategy from LBJ's presidential campaign” prompt. ChatGPT, ChatGPT 5, OpenAI, 3 Sept. 2025, https://chatgpt.com/?model=auto.
Click here to learn more about citing AI in the MLA style.
Remember: every period, italics, and placement of an element counts in MLA citation.
A basic citation looks like this:
Last name, First name of author. Title of main container. Name of publisher, Year published.
Confused about when to use italics? Check out this article!
Use the following video and sites to learn about proper citation in MLA. In addition, learn about cross-checking your citations.
Covers the basic citation rules and provides citation examples of the commonly used source types.
A guide from Purdue University on using MLAA guidelines in research papers and and citing all sources. A good resource for more complex MLA sources.
You can also create citations using generators. Remember: it's your responsibility to double check the citations for accuracy!
A citation generator for MLA, APA, Turabian and Chicago styles. Popular with students.
Citation generator created by the Hekman Library of Calvin College, it assists with creating citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago. Popular with me, the librarian.
A Firefox only extension that helps with the collection, management, and citation of sources.