Final rule publication
Original research draft · October 2026
Working pattern
[Rule title], [volume] Fed. Reg. [first page], [pinpoint] ([date]) ([codification if useful]).
Capture from the source
Agency; final-rule status; document number; pages; effective/compliance terms
Check before you use it
Distinguish preamble explanation, amendment instructions, and codified text.
Common error: A final rule's publication date need not be its effective date.
Completed example
Agency, rule, register series, pages, dates, and compliance categories are fictional. TRAIN Fed. Reg. is a teaching publication and supplies no actual final rule.
Electronic Index Formats, 6 TRAIN Fed. Reg. 810, 814 (Mar. 14, 2025) (final rule; preamble discussion).
Read the supplied source facts
Fictional packet TRAIN-A36 contains the Northmere Register Agency's final rule titled Electronic Index Formats. It appears in volume 6 of the TRAIN Federal Register at pages 810–822 on March 14, 2025. Page 814 discusses comments in the preamble; page 820 gives amendment instructions; page 821 contains the replacement regulatory text. The document specifies a May 1 effective date and a later August 1 compliance date for a defined category. The writer wants to cite the agency's explanation for choosing a format, which appears on page 814, not the regulatory command.
Why this works
The first page identifies the publication and the pinpoint locates the explanatory passage actually used. The parenthetical makes the source component clear where that distinction matters. Do not present the preamble's explanation as though it were the exact words inserted into the regulatory code. Record the amendment instruction and replacement text separately so the eventual code provision can be traced. Publication, effectiveness, and the category-specific compliance date answer different questions. A sentence about what a regulated party had to do on a particular date needs those terms and the applicable text, not merely this citation to the explanation.
When the facts change
To quote the replacement wording, move the pinpoint to 821 after comparing the actual text. To explain which code section was amended, cite the instruction at 820 and preserve its destination. If the agency later corrects a typographical error, inspect the correction and determine whether the relied-on explanation, instruction, or regulatory text changed before updating the manuscript.
Apply the receiving court or publication’s requirements. These working forms do not establish citation permission, precedential weight, or support for a legal proposition.