Skip to Main Content

APA – Citing Sources

Official & legal materials

The APA style manual is written from an American (US) perspective and references to official and legal sources are based on an established American practice. This practice is detailed in "The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation", an authoritative source for legal citations, from which the APA style manual draws its examples.

The references should also work in an APA style setting though, i.e., you should be able to create a reference and cite it consistently in the same way as other publications, even though official and legal documents differ somewhat from other kinds of sources.

Swedish statutes in translation

Citing Swedish statutes in translation

Statutes with an official English title found on the Government Offices of Sweden's website 

In-text citation:

Italicize the title and capitalize major words. 

  • As stated in 2 ch. 29 § of the Swedish Education Act (SFS 2010:800) ...

Reference example:

Write the title in Swedish and the translation within square brackets. Capitalize major words in the translated title.

SFS 2010:800. Skollag [Swedish Education Act]. https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/skollag-2010800_sfs-2010-800 

Your own translation of a statute's title

Translate the title of a statute only if you cannot find an official translation on the Government Offices of Sweden's website

In-text citation:

You can neither italicize nor capitalize the title in your text since it is not an official title. Consider your translation as a description rather than a title.

  • According to the Swedish statute of adult education (SFS 2011:1108) ...
  • The final report of the committee of the inquiry into adult education (SOU 2018:71) ...

Reference example:

Write the title in Swedish and the translation within square brackets. Only capitalize the first letter of your translation.

SFS 2011:1108. Förordning om vuxenutbildning [Swedish statute of adult education]. https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/forordning-20111108-om-vuxenutbildning_sfs-2011-1108