Sources
- https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/legal
This is the official APA Style website, providing authoritative guidelines on how to cite legal documents, including amendments to the U.S. Constitution. - https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/legal_references.html
Purdue OWL is a trusted resource for citation guidelines. This page specifically covers legal references in APA style, including constitutional amendments. - https://style.mla.org/citing-the-us-constitution/
The official MLA Style Center provides clear instructions on how to cite the U.S. Constitution and its amendments in MLA format. - https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution
Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute offers the full text of the U.S. Constitution, including amendments, which can be useful for verifying the content being cited. - https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-constitution
This APA Style Blog post provides specific examples and explanations for citing the U.S. Constitution and its amendments in APA format.
Key Points
- APA style is used for citing references in academic journals and reports.
- APA citation for U.S. Constitution includes: U.S. Const., Art. (Roman numerals), Amend. (Roman numerals), § (Arabic numerals), cl. (Arabic numerals), and pmbl.
- For repealed or amended constitutions in APA, include the year of the amendment at the end of the citation.
- MLA format is simpler and requires: document name in italics, Art. or Amend. (Roman numerals), Sec. (Arabic numerals), and a period at the end.
- In-text MLA citations should abbreviate the document name (e.g., U.S. Const.) and include art./amend. (Roman numerals) and sec. (Arabic numerals).
- Online MLA citations must include: title of the page, website name, publisher, publication date, and URL.
- In-text online MLA citations require only the title of the page, article/amendment number, and section number.
Summary
This blog post explains how to cite amendments in APA and MLA formats. For APA, it outlines the correct abbreviations and structure (e.g., *U.S. Const., Art., Amend.*) and notes that repealed or amended articles require the year of change. For MLA, it details a simpler format using italics and Roman numerals, along with guidelines for online citations, including website details for full citations and abbreviated in-text references.
How To Cite an Amendment Using APA
One way you can cite an amendment is by using APA style formatting. APA stands for the American Psychological Association and is used when citing references for academic journals and reports.
Below are the items and abbreviations you should use for APA citations when referring to constitutions. These standards must be met for them to read correctly:
- First, add the name of the U.S. Constitution as U.S. Const. While a comma isn’t required to follow here, it will be needed in later sections of the citation.
- Next, include the article in the following format: Art. Always cite the article using Roman numerals as opposed to numbers.
- Follow with the amendment: Amend. You should always ensure this is written using Roman numerals.
- Your section is next, and here you’ll use the sign §. This numeral is Arabic and relates to a section of the amendment. To include the sign, simply use Alt-21.
- After this, you’ll add the clause with cl. You’ll also be required to use Arabic numerals here too.
- Lastly comes your preamble. The preamble will be written as pmbl. and will be used when you’re making a citation for cases that involve a preamble. An example is when a President and Vice President end their terms.
When using APA style, you’ll not have to include a reference to a site for sourcing, such as ConsitutionUS.com.
How To Cite Articles That Have Been Repealed or Amended Using APA
The year must be included when you’re referring to a constitution that has been repealed or amended. Your year will be added to the end of the citation and will relate to the particular year in which the event took place.
For example, take Article 1, Section 3, and Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution as amended by Section 1 of the Seventeenth Amendment. In APA style, it reads as follows: U.S. Const. Art. I, §3, cl. 1, amended 1919.
The citation includes the section of the United States Constitution, which is used to begin with, while also including that the change was made in the year 1919 under the Seventeenth Amendment.
How To Cite an Amendment Using MLA Format
MLA stands for Modern Language Association. When citing amendments, a particular format must be followed. However, it’s a fairly simple process to write using the MLA format. This is what you should include:
- Start with the name of the document you’re citing using italics.
- Next, you’ll want to write either article or amendment in abbreviation, depending on which relates to the document. These will be written as Art. or Amend.
- After, you should cite the article or amendment number. Write this in Roman Numerals.
- Follow it up with a comma.
- Add in Sec. This will indicate the section that you’re citation refers to. This should be written with Arabic numerals.
- Finish with a period at the end. An example here would be U.S. Constitution. Art. III, Sec. 3 (with only the document name written in italics).
When writing your in text citation, you should include a section of the United States Constitution. Turn the document’s name into an abbreviation, such as U.S. Const.
Get Smarter on US News, History, and the Constitution
Then shorten either article or amendment to art. or amend, adding the number in Roman numerals and following with a comma. Finish with sec. and the number of the section for the citation.
Online Citations of Amendments Using MLA
When citing online references for amendments, there are some key MLA style formatting principles that you must follow. You need to add relevant information about the source.
In the in text citation, you should include either the article or amendment it relates along with the section numbers. In the print version, you would be using a page number, so this is one key difference here.
The format should follow to include all of the information in this order:
- Title of the page
- Name of the website
- The publisher
- Date of publication (including the day, month, and year)
- Website URL
When writing the in text citation, less information is required. Here, it should include the title of the page, article number, and section number. For example, it would look something like this: Constitution of the United States, art. 3, sec. 5.
