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Bluebook Citation Generator

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What are Bluebook citations?

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, prescribes the most commonly used legal citation system for law professionals in the United States. The Bluebook is compiled by the Harvard Law Review Association, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and the Yale Law Journal.

Generations of law students, lawyers, scholars, judges and other legal professionals have relied on the Bluebook’s unique system of citing in their writing.

How to create Bluebook citations

There are many sources supported within The Bluebook including legal cases, Supreme Court cases and statutes. The way in which citations are formatted depends on which type of source you are citing.

A case citation, for example, includes the name of the case; the published sources in which it may be found, if any; a parenthetical that indicates a court and jurisdiction and the year or date of decision; and the subsequent history of case, if any. It may also include additional parenthetical information and prior history of the case.

It’s important to note that the format in which your source should be cited depends on a number of factors (filed but not decided, unpublished interim order etc.) explained in most detail in the latest version of The Bluebook, Edition 19; alternatively, check with your lecturer if you are unsure.

Looking for a simpler option? Generate your citations using Cite This For Me’s Bluebook citation generator within seconds. Fast, accurate and hassle free, it’s citations made easy.

Popular Bluebook Law Review style Citation Examples

How to cite a book in bluebook law review style.

Use the following template to cite a book using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

In-text citation

Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.

How to cite a Journal in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a journal using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite Film or Movie in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a film or movie using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite an Online image or video in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite an online image or video using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite a Website in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a website using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

Additional Bluebook Law Review style Citation Examples

How to cite a blog in bluebook law review style.

Use the following template to cite a blog using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite a Court case in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a court case using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite a Dictionary entry in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a dictionary entry using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite an E-book or PDF in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite an e-book or pdf using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

” “

How to cite an Edited book in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite an edited book using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite an Email in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite an email using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite an Encyclopedia article in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite an encyclopedia article using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite an Interview in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite an interview using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite a Magazine in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a magazine using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite a Newspaper in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a newspaper using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite a Podcast in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a podcast using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite a Song in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a song using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite The Bible in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite The Bible using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

How to cite a TV Show in Bluebook Law Review style

Use the following template to cite a TV Show using the Bluebook Law Review citation style.

Bluebook Legal Citation System Guide

Getting started, six steps to creating a citation, bluebook navigation, bluebook troubleshooting, beyond the bluebook, citing & bluebooking faqs, getting help, what is the bluebook.

The Bluebook is a guide to a system of legal citation frequently used by law schools and law journals. This guide will introduce you to how to use the Bluebook. 

Print copies of the Bluebook are available in the Library in Reference and on Reserve at circulation. Copies can also be purchased in print or online at https://www.legalbluebook.com/ .

References to page numbers in this guide are from the 21st edition.

Before You Start

• There are other citation formats.
• Pick the correct one for your project.
• There are gaps in the Bluebook, particularly for non-traditional and non-U.S. sources.
• Use the closest analogous rule.
• Make sure that you are citing the same source or types of sources in the same way. 
• Keep in mind that the main goal for all citation systems is to make it easy for your reader to find the source you are citing. 

Six Steps to Your Citation

To create a Bluebook citation follow this six step process:

1. Identify the Type of Source

What  type of source do you want to cite?

• The Bluebook rules are organized by source type
• Common types include cases, statutes, books and book chapters,  journal articles, web pages, etc.

2. Find the Bluebook Rule

Go to the  Bluebook rule  for that source type. 

• Check the Quick Guides on the inside cover to identify major source types
• Use the index to find rules for other types of sources not included in the Quick Guides
• If you found a traditionally printed source online, review both the rules for the print source and the rules for online sources
• The print and online rules are often used together

3. Read the Rule & Examples

• Read the rule carefully
• Study any examples provided closely
• Examples are provided inside the front cover, at the beginning of each rule, and within the text of the rules
• Note which components are required to create a citation for a specific type of source

4. Gather the Citation Components

• Gather the required components of the citation from your source

5. Draft a Citation

• Draft a citation that looks like the most relevant example
• Do your best, but don't worry if your first draft isn't perfect

6. Edit the Citation

• Edit your draft citation using the Bluebook's style rules and tables
• Note typeface and punctuation conventions for different types of sources
• Note the rules for abbreviations and use the tables to abbreviate your citation

The Six-Step Process in Action

To see an example of how this process works with an article from the NY Times website, check out the powerpoint below.

• PowerPoint Slides: Six-Step Citation Creation Process

Organization & Blue and White Pages

The Bluebook is organized into sections:

• Style Rules
• Primary Law
• Secondary Law
• Internet & Electronic Sources
• Foreign & International Materials
• Tables: Jurisdictions & Abbreviations

Use the Bluepages   when drafting citations that will appear in documents like legal memoranda and court filings. 

Use the Whitepages  when drafting citations that will appear in legal academic publications.

Quick Guides

The Quick Reference inside front and back covers of the print include rule cross references and sample citations for common citation types:

• Inside Front: Quick Reference: Citations in Law Review Footnotes
• Inside Back: Quick Reference: Citations in Court Documents & Legal Memoranda

There is also a Quick Style Guide online for common citation types used in law reviews:

• Online: Quick Style Guide for Citations in Law Review Footnotes

Finding Aids

Consult the following to find the appropriate rule or table for your citation

• Back cover compact table of contents
• Full table of contents (pp. IX-XVI)
• Index (pp. 329-365)

Solving Citation Problems

The Bluebook isn't always clear.  Try the following if you're having difficulty with a citation:

• Make sure you have the correct rule for your type of resource
• If your type of resource isn't specifically included, find the one that is most similar
• If you are citing material for a country that isn't in the Bluebook, find a country with a similar legal system to base your citation on
• Search recent articles in law reviews on Hein, Westlaw and Lexis. Has anyone else cited this material?
• Check the resources linked in Beyond the Bluebook 
• Be consistent with the citation format you pick
• Make sure to include enough information for a reader to follow in your footsteps.

Library Help

We are not Bluebook experts, but we're happy to help guide you through the Bluebooking process.

• Provide access to Library copies of the Bluebook
• Assist you as you navigate Bluebook rules
• Help you locate supplemental citation guides and self-help materials

We cannot check footnotes for you, proofread your paper or provide authoritative Bluebook interpretations. 

Bluebook Orders, Comments & Corrections

• The Harvard Law School Library is not affiliated directly with  The Bluebook or the Harvard Law Review Association
• The Bluebook is compiled by the editors of the Columbia Law Review , the Harvard Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review , and the Yale Law Journal  and is published and distributed by the Harvard Law Review Association

Please contact the editors of The Bluebook directly ( https://www.legalbluebook.com/ ) with orders, questions, comments or corrections. 

Additional Bluebook Help

• Bluebook Guide (Georgetown Law Library)
• Foreign Law by Jurisdiction: Citation (NYU Law) List of citation guides and abbreviation dictionaries for foreign and international law sources.
• Cornell LII: Introduction to Basic Legal Citation

Over It? Here Are Some Other Options...

• ALWD Guide to Legal Citation The ALWD (Association of Legal Writing Directors) Guide to Legal Citation explains legal citation formats for all types of legal documents in a clear, pedagogically sound manner. The Guide’s plain language, numerous examples, and clear, integrated structure to explaining the legal system of citation for legal materials is easy for students, professors, practitioners, and judges to understand and use.
• The Indigo Book The Indigo Book is a free, Creative Commons-dedicated implementation of The Bluebook’s Uniform System of Citation. The Indigo Book was compiled by a team of students at the New York University School of Law, working under the direction of Professor Christopher Jon Sprigman.
• OSCOLA: Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities is designed to facilitate accurate citation of authorities, legislation, and other legal materials. It is widely used in law schools and by journal and book publishers in the UK and beyond.

All Citation/Bluebook FAQs

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• Last Updated: Dec 14, 2023 3:52 PM
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Bluebook Citation for Legal Materials

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The Bluebook style guide is used in the American legal profession for citation of all relevant sources. Additionally, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends its use for all citation of legal material. What follows is a summary of the basics. It should be noted that the Bluebook system goes into significant complexity on most of these points, but the following is the level of detail it recommends for the basic needs of, e.g., a student.

It should also be noted that, depending on the document, underlines may be substituted for italics and vice versa – as long as one is consistent.

Short Form Citations

Once you have cited a given authority in full once, you may use a short-form citation subsequently. The specific content of a short form citation is flexible, but varies by the type of authority being cited. Acceptable short forms for a given citation will be covered in each entry.

Short forms may also use id.  to indicate that this citation is from the same authority as the previous.  

Court Cases

Citation of a court case requires the following components:

• The name of the case
• The source where you found the case
• The court where the case was decided
• The year the decision took place

The citation may be followed by other parenthetical information, such as a brief explanation of the case’s relevance or a quotation from that case. This may be followed by subsequent history of the case, e.g., later affirmations of the decision, if you so choose.

In citing the name of the case, one generally summarizes. If there are multiple plaintiffs or multiple defendants, one only lists the first party in each category. Moreover, the names of individuals within the case name are shortened to surname only – no first or middle names, no initials, no “aka” or “et al.”

In general, one should abbreviate to the degree possible without losing necessary information. The Bluebook recommends, for example, shortening any procedural phrases to abbreviations such as “In re” or “Ex parte”, as well as using any commonly-understood abbreviations to shorten the names of the parties, e.g. “Univ.” rather than “University”. Names of the source and the court are also generally abbreviated; in the example citation below, Federal Rules Decisions is shortened to “F.R.D.”, and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania is abbreviated to “W.D. Pa.” Sources and courts tend to have official abbreviations for this purpose, which are generally conspicuously provided for anyone needing to cite them.

The page number in a case citation is the page on which that case begins in the source. If you wish to reference a specific page as well as the general case, separate that page reference with a comma. For instance, if your reference is a case that begins on page 100 of your source, but you want to point specifically to a statement six pages in, the page number in your citation would be “100, 106”.

In the short-form citation of a case, you are free to shorten the case name to only the   first party, or even an abbreviated form of that party’s title. If, however, the first party is a governmental entity, geographical unit, or other such creation, this may not be a helpful citation. (Since there are so many cases where the first party is, for example, the U.S. government, citing a case name as “United States” doesn’t narrow it down enough to be useful). In these cases, cite instead by the name of the second party.

If you are citing a specific point in the case, you may use only that page number and eliminate the page that the case begins on. If you are still citing the case as a whole, retain the page number on which the case begins.

Shortened Case Name , Source at page number.

Ex rel. Mayo , 54 F.R.D. at 282.  

Constitutions

When citing the constitution of a governmental entity, use the abbreviated title of the constitution, then specify to which subdivision of said document you are referring. Some helpful abbreviations for those subdivisions are as follows:

Set the title of the constitution in small caps if possible. The subdivisions should then be listed, separated by commas, in order of decreasing size.

Constitition Title  subdivision, subdivision.

Tenn. Const.  art. IX, §3.

If you are citing a section of that constitution which has since been amended or repealed, note the date of that fact in parentheses at the end of the citation, e.g.

U.S. Const.  amend. XVIII (repealed 1933).

If the entire constitution is no longer in effect, add the date at which the constitution was originally adopted to the citation as follows:

Md. Const.  of 1864, art. XXIV.

If the section of a defunct constitution you are citing was adopted in a different year than the constitution as a whole, then include that year as well, e.g.

Ala. Const. of 1819, amend. III (1850).

There is no short form for constitutional citations.

Statutes, Laws, and Codes

To cite a federal statute, you need to include:

• The title of the act
• The source in which it is found
• The year in which it was enacted (session laws) OR the year in which the source was published (codes).
• The chapters or section(s) being referred to.

State statutes follow a similar structure, but whenever possible, one should simply cite the appropriate section of the code.

Act Title, Source § number (year).

The Guano Islands Act, 48 U.S.C. ch. 8 §§1411-12 (2012).

Ga. Code Ann. § 39-2-17 (2016).

As with constitutional citations above, if the statute has been repealed or amended, indicate this fact and the year it occurred in parentheses at the end of the citation. You may also include additional information in the same fashion.

Utah Crim. Code § 76-7-104 (1973) (repealed 2019).

Short form citations for statutes need to include the section number as well as the minimum information necessary to identify which of your previously-cited authorities the citation refers to. An appropriate short form for the Guano Islands Act above, for instance, could be:

48 U.S.C. §§1411-12

Bills and Resolutions

To cite a bill or resolution, include:

• Title of bill if needed
• Document number
• Term and session of the legislative body
• Relevant sections
• Year published

For bills passed in state legislative bodies rather than federal, you should also include the state.

Act Title, Document Number, Term # Legislative Body, Session § number (State year).

Student Protection Act, H.R. 2625, 113 th  Cong. § 3 (2013).

Floor Amendment 1 to S.B. 459. 42 nd  Leg., 1 st  Sess. § 2 (N.M. 1995).

In short-form citations, it is sufficient to cite by document number, though to avoid confusion, one should specify the state unless discussing a federal law.

Ga. H.B. 677

When citing a hearing, include:

• The full title as published
• The relevant bills, if any
• The committee
• The term & session of the legislative body
• The year of publication
• The name and titles of the individual providing a statement
• Relevant page numbers

Title: Hearing on Bill Before the Committee , Term & Session page numbers (year) (statement of Firstname Lastname, Titles).

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations for 2003: Hearing before the H. Subcomm. on Education Appropriations , 107 th  Cong. (2002) (statement of Elmo Monster, Sesame Street Muppet).

Protecting America’s Harvest:  Hearing on H.R. 2414 Before the H. Subcomm. on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law , 111 th  Cong. (2010) (statement of Stephen Colbert, Host, The Colbert Report, Comedy Central Studios)

Note: No method of writing short-form citations for hearings is listed in the Bluebook.

• Plagiarism and grammar
• Citation guides

Cite a Thesis in BLUEBOOK-LAW-REVIEW

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper

Consider your source's credibility. ask these questions:, contributor/author.

• Has the author written several articles on the topic, and do they have the credentials to be an expert in their field?
• Can you contact them? Do they have social media profiles?
• Have other credible individuals referenced this source or author?
• Book: What have reviews said about it?
• What do you know about the publisher/sponsor? Are they well-respected?
• Do they take responsibility for the content? Are they selective about what they publish?
• Take a look at their other content. Do these other articles generally appear credible?
• Does the author or the organization have a bias? Does bias make sense in relation to your argument?
• Is the purpose of the content to inform, entertain, or to spread an agenda? Is there commercial intent?
• Are there ads?
• When was the source published or updated? Is there a date shown?
• Does the publication date make sense in relation to the information presented to your argument?
• Does the source even have a date?
• Was it reproduced? If so, from where?
• If it was reproduced, was it done so with permission? Copyright/disclaimer included?
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Guide to Cite using Bluebook Citation Method (with examples)

What is blue book .

The Bluebook, is the definitive style guide for legal Citation in the United States. For generations, law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other legal professionals have relied on The Bluebook’s unique system of citation.

History of Bluebook

The development of The Bluebook from its inception in 1926 as a twenty-six-page pamphlet for use at Harvard Law School to its current status as a 389-page manual used at the vast majority of law schools in the country has been amply documented. The Bluebook was accepted as well as critiqued but now it has come a long way with the Nineteenth (19 th ) Edition.

The title, A Uniform System of Citation , has always been somewhat odd.  The system is hardly uniform, and the book governs style as well as citations. Moreover, nobody calls it by its title; everybody calls it The Bluebook.   In fact, the book’s almost nameless editors have amended the title to reflect this fact:  it is now titled The Bluebook : A Uniform System of Citation.

General Principles of Citation

Accurate and consistent referencing is essential in all academic work. Whenever you refer to either the work or ideas of someone, or are influenced by another’s work, you must acknowledge this. Similarly if you make a direct quotation from someone’s work this should be referred to accurately.

The central function of a legal citation is to allow the reader to efficiently locate the cited source. Thus, the citations forms in The Bluebook are designed to provide the information necessary to lead the reader directly to the specific items cited.

Why to Cite?

Passages taken from the work of others must be suitably acknowledged with the use of speech marks and a clear reference to the source. Accurate quoting and referencing give credit both to you and to those whose work you have used.

 References and quotes reflect your research and indicate the depth of reading you have undertaken. They also allow others to follow up on the work that you have done.

If you do not accurately reference your work you may commit plagiarism. This is a disciplinary offence under the University’s Assessment Regulations, is regarded as cheating (whether intentional or not), and normally will result in the coursework being marked as zero. More serious consequences are also likely to follow. You should be aware that the Law Society and Bar Council requires all applicants for membership to declare whether they have ever ‘committed an act of plagiarism or cheating in any form of assessment’ and will require two referees to provide written statements to the Society concerning the issue. You should also be aware that employers are extremely reluctant to hire people who have been found guilty of acts of dishonesty.

It is important, therefore, to make a careful note of your sources of information as you are doing your research and collecting materials to incorporate in your answer so that you can identify and acknowledge them when writing up and list those sources in your bibliography.

How to cite authorities according to 19 th Bluebook Citation Format?

Note:  There is a division of Jurisdiction in Bluebook and each Jurisdiction has different format of citation, which is quite evident from examples below. The local jurisdiction of bluebook is U.S. hence India, U.K, Australia etc falls in foreign jurisdiction. Look at the index of bluebook and you will get it.

Model: Party A v. Party B, (year of publication) <volume> <official reporter> (Court).

Example: R. v. Lockwood, (1782) 99 Eng. Rep. 379 (K.B.)

Model: Party A v. Party B, <volume> <Reporter> <Page>, (<Court> <year of Pulication>)

Example: United States v. MacDonald, 531 F.2d 196, (4th cir. 1976)

Indian Case:

Model: Party A v. Party B, (year of publication) <volume> <Reporter> <page> (India)

Example: Charan Lal Sahu v. Union Carbide, (1989) 1 S.C.C. 674 (India)

U.K. Statutes:

Model: Statute Short Title, <year>, <regnal years(s) for statutes enacted prior to 1963>, C. <chapter number (s)>, § <section number(s), sch (s). <schedule (s), if any> (<jurisdiction abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Regnal Year can be indicated by following this format:

<year (s) of reign> <abbreviated name of the monarch> < numeric designation of the monarch in Arabic numerals>. If the monarch was the first of that name, omit the numeric designation.

Example: Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1925, 15 &16 Geo. 5, c. 49, § 226, sch. 6 (Eng.)

U.S. Statutes:

Federal Statutes:

Model: <official name of the Act>, <publication source in which the act may be found>, (<the parenthetical indication either i) the year the source was published or ii) the year the statute was passed>)

Example: Department of Transportation Act, Pub. L. No. 89-670, § 9, 80 Stat. 931, 944-47 (1996).

Note: Nothing is underlined in a statute citation. “Section” is indicated by the ‘§’ Symbol, the plural of which is “§§”.

State Statutes:

Model: <the abbreviated name of the code, as listed in table T1. 3 in bluebook> <the cited section number (s)> (<the year of the cited code edition (not the year the act was passed)>).

Example:  Cal. Fin. Code § 500 (West 2000).

Indian Statutes:

Model: <the name of the act>, <Act no and the year>, <Jurisdiction> (year), <Volume>.

Example: The Banking Regulation Act, No. 10 of 1949, India Code (1993), vol. 15.

Sessions Law/Amendment Acts (Indian Jurisdiction):

Model: <act name>, No. <act number>, Acts of parliament, <year of volume>, (country abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Example: The Copyright (Amendment0 Act, 1992, No. 13, Acts of Parliament, 1992 (India).

Constitution:

U.S. Constitution:

Model: <abbreviation of constitution cited>. <abbreviation of amendment>. <no. of amendment cited>.  § <Section symbol and no. of section cited>.

U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 2. (Amended Constitution)

U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 2.

Indian Constitution:

Example: India Const. art. 1, cl.2.

Constitution amendment:

Example: India Const. art. 269, amended by The Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000.

Regulations

U.K. Regulation:

Model: <Regulation name>, <year of enactment>, <publication abbreviation> <instrument number>, <article>, <paragraph> (<jurisdiction abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Example: Patent Rules, 1958, S.I. 1958/73, art. 3, ¶ 3 (U.K.)

U.S. Regulation:

Model: < title no. of the regulation> <abbreviation of set of regulation cited> <section  symbol (§) and the specific section cited> (<date of code edition cited>).

Example: 7 C.F.R. § 319.76 (1999).

Indian Regulation:

Model: <regulation name>, <year of enactment>, <volume number>, <publication abbreviation> <page (s) of specific material> (<country abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Example: The Beedi Workers Welfare Cess Rules, 1977, 22 Gen. S. R. & O. 719 (India).

Single Author

Model: <Author’s full name (Small Caps)>, <Title of book(Small Caps)> <page cited> (<editor(s) name(s)>, <edition cited> <year>)

Example: Francis A. Carey, Organic Chemistry 310 (Kent A. Peterson et al, 6 th ed. 2006).

Note: When citing a book containing multiple volume just add the volume number at the start.

For other rules, such as citing a book containing two or more than author, please see Rule 15.1 in bluebook. (Consider this as an exercise).

Model: <Name of author>, <Title of the Article (italicised)>, <volume> <Publisher (Small Caps)> <page> (year)

Example : Harlan F. Stone, The Equitable right Prinnciples, 18 Colum. L. Rev. 291 (1918).

For Internet Article: See Rule 18.2. The Date, time & year along with the Internet URL. Remember, Do not use “ available at” before the URL.

Working Papers:

Model: <name of the author>, <Title of the Paper (italicised)> <page number(s)> (<Name of the sponsoring organization, working paper designation and the year>).

Example: Alanj J. Auerbach, National Savings 24-27 (National Bureau of Economics Research, Working Paper No. 729, 1981).

Note:  while citing, always be careful with the comma “,”

Id is the short form of the Latin word “Idem” meaning ‘Same.’ “Id.” is the short form used to refer to the immediately preceding authority.

Example: Id. at 8.

Note: the period i.e. ‘.’ is also italicised.

supra  is used when you are not referring to the immediately preceding authority. Volume, paragraph, section, or page numbers may be added to refer to specific material.

Example : Supra note 16, at 6. (where 16 is the previous footnote where the authority may have been fully cited and 6 is the reference page in that authority.)

Supra is Okay to use for:

Hereinafter:

For authority that would be cumbersome to cite with the usual “ supra” form or for which the regular shortened form may confuse the reader, the author may establish a specific shortened form.  After the first citation of the authority, but before any explanatory parenthetical, place the word “hereinafter” and the shortened form in the brackets.

Example : Charan Lal Sahu v. Union Carbide, (1989) 1 S.C.C. 674 (India) (hereinafter Charan Lal Case).

Note: The first time you cite a source, Full details should be given.

Hope you like this guide. Take our Complete Legal Drafting & Research Online Course to learn and upgrade your Skills . Click here to Know

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Bluebook Citation: Outline

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The Bluebook (Twenty-First Edition) is a uniform system of citation. What does this mean?

Legal argument and writing is based on precedent. As such, every thought, sentence and idea must refer to a legal underpinning - be it case law, statute, regulation, book, law review etc. To enable a reader to precisely locate these legal documents, a uniform citation style is required. Over time the Bluebook has become the standard legal citation style (there are others).

Courts, law reviews and other printed legal materials generally employ the bluebook, or a slightly altered version.

For example, see Massachusetts Style Guide for the SJC .

Where are changes to the rules listed?

The preface of each edition of the Blueboook includes a list of changes and additions since the previous edition.  

Table of Contents

• Regulations & Adminstrative Opinions
• Law Reviews/Articles & Other Non-Book Publications

Areas not covered include Unpublished and Forthcoming Sources (Rule 17). 

Keep in mind, if you are on co-op in a foreign jurisdiction, they may have their own citation format (i.e. don't use Bluebook's rules on citing foreign materials in American publications). For example, the United Kingdom uses the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities .

The Bluebook (Twenty-First Edition) and books on the Bluebook

Along with the bluebook (first entry below), there are some books and guides on how to use the bluebook. Their helpfulness varies, with more citation examples the best element. There is no real substitute for reading the bluebook.

Subject Guide

I will be updating and changing this page as I add more content, examples, and in reaction to questions.There are some areas I do not cover.This is a guide and the Bluebook itself is the final source.

Any mistakes or suggestions, please free to e-mail me - [email protected].

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• Last Updated: Dec 12, 2022 3:11 PM
• URL: https://lawlibraryguides.neu.edu/bluebook

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Bluebook Legal Citation

• Intro signals: E.g., See, See also, Cf., etc.
• Order of authorities
• Pages, Paragraphs, and Pincites

Volumes, parts, supplements

Pages, footnotes, endnotes, and graphical materials, sections and paragraphs.

• Short form: Id., Infra, Supra, Hereinafter
• Typeface conventions
• Constitutions
• Legislative Materials
• Administrative Materials
• Books, Reports, Treatises
• Law Reviews, Magazines, and Newspapers
• Digital Materials
• The Greenbook
• Other Citation Manuals
• Additional Resources

Bluebook Rule (21st): 3.1

Law Review Typeface:  N/A

Numbered volumes are cited in Arabic numerals (1,2,3), not Roman numerals (I,II,III), even if that is how they appear in the original.

If the author being cited is the author of all volumes of a multi-volume work like a treatise, the volume number goes before the author's name:

1 Patry on Copyright  § 1.18 (2012).

In all other cases, the volume number should proceed the name of the work:

Edward Lee,  Copyright, Death, and Taxes,  47  Wake Forest L. Rev. 1 (2011).

If no volume is given but volumes are obviously arranged by year, use the year of publication as the volume number and omit the year from the parenthetical following the pincite, if any.

In other cases, it may be necessary to include volume information in square brackets to avoid confusion, such as when the original volume designation includes words.

Parts with unique pagination

If a work is subdivided into uniquely or separately paginated parts, include the relevant subdivision designations in the citation:

26 Cong. Rec. app. at 156 (1894) (statement of Rep. Hicks).

Supplements

When a work includes separately paginated supplement volumes, such as pocket parts, identify the supplement and date parenthetically:

42 U.S.C.  § 1397 (1982 & Supp. 1983).

Bluebook Rule (21st): 3.2

Law Revie Typeface:  N/A

Pages and pincites

Page numbers are typically cited following the name of a work and before a date parenthetical:

Julius G. Getman, Restoring the Power of Unions: It Takes a Movement 52 (2010).

For citations to an authority which is part of a larger, consecutively paginated source, such as case reporters or periodicals, include the page number on which the authority being cited begins:

Edgewater Foundation v. Thompson, 350 F.3d 694 (7th Cir. 2003) .

When citing to a specific page in a citation that includes a page number use a comma to separate the pincite from the first page of the authority:

Yuval Karniel & Stephen Bates, Copyright in Second Life , 20 Alb. J.L. Sci. & Tech. 433 , 442 (2010).

Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629,  632 (1950).

If necessary to avoid confusion, use "at" before the pincite:

H.R. Rep. No. 105-452, at 11 (1998).

A span of multiple pages may be cited by giving the inclusive page numbers separated by either an en dash (–) or a hyphen (-). The final two digits are always important, but repetitious digits may be dropped:

H.R. Rep. No. 105-452, at 8-10 (1998).

Yuval Karniel & Stephen Bates, Copyright in Second Life , 20 Alb. J.L. Sci. & Tech. 433 , 442-45 (2010).

"To" may be substituted for an en dash or hyphen to avoid confusion:

13-2.1 to 13-3

Citations to multiple, non-consecutive pages are separated by commas:

Edgewater Foundation v. Thompson, 350 F.3d 694, 695 , 697 (7th Cir. 2003) .

Stars in star pagination should be retained in all instances other than a consecutive page span:

United States v. Mazarella, 2010 WL 2947233, at *3 , *9-12 (3d Cir. July 29, 2010).

United States v. Mazarella, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 15655, at *24 , *25-26 (3d Cir. July 29, 2010).

Footnotes & Endnotes

For a citation directly to a footnote, give the page number on which the note begins, the abbreviation "n." and the footnote number.  

Melissa L. Tatum, et al.,  Does Gender Influence Attitudes Toward Copyright in the Filk Community? , 18 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L.  219,  230 n .4 2  (2009).

A citation to multiple footnotes uses the abbreviation "nn." instead of "n.":

230 nn .42-44

Graphical Materials

When citing to things like tables, charts, or other graphical materials, you should give the page number on which the item appears and the designation that the source gives it (if any). There should not be a space between the abbreviation of the source type and the number.

If you cite multiple graphical materials on the same page, use commas and ampersands (&) to separate them.

Bluebook Rule (21st): 3.3

If an authority is organized by section (§), you should cite to the section:

17 U.S.C. § 411 (2006).

If an authority like a looseleaf is organized by paragraph (¶), you should cite to the relevant paragraph. If an authority is organized by paragraphs that are not introduced by the ¶ symbol, use the abbreviation "para." instead. However, do not cite by paragraph if the authority is ordinarily cited by page.

Do not use "at" before the § or ¶  symbols.

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• Plagiarism and grammar
• Citation guides

Cite a Thesis in BLUEBOOK-LAW-REVIEW

- powered by chegg.

Check your paper before your teacher does!

Avoid plagiarism — quickly check for missing citations and check for writing mistakes., is your source credible don’t forget to consider these factors., purpose : reason the source exists.

• Is the point of the information to inform, persuade, teach, or sell?
• Do the authors/publishers make their intentions clear?
• Does the information appear to be fact or opinion?
• Does the point of view seem impartial? Do they identify counter-arguments?

Authority - Author: Source of the information

• Who is the author? What are their credentials or qualifications?
• What makes the author qualified to write on this topic?
• Is there clearly defined contact information for the author?

Authority - Publisher: Source of the information

• Who is the publisher? Is it a non-profit, government agency, or organization? How might this affect their point of view?
• What makes the publisher qualified to generate works on this subject?
• What can the URL tell you about the publisher? For instance, .gov may signify that it is a government agency.

Relevance : Importance of the information to your topic

Currency : timeliness of the information.

• When was the information published? When was it last updated? Does it reflect the most current information available?
• How does your topic fit in with this source’s publication date? Do you need current information to make your point or do older sources work better?

Comprehensiveness

• Does the source present one or multiple viewpoints on your topic?
• Does the source present a large amount of information on the topic? Or is it short and focused?
• Are there any points you feel may have been left out, on purpose or accidentally, that affect its comprehensiveness?
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Bluebook Citation 101 -- Academic Format

• Secondary Sources
• Constitutions, Statutes & Legislative Materials
• Administrative Materials
• Internet Citation
• Commercial Databases
• Citation Help
• Law Student Guide to Identifying & Preventing Plagiarism
• Law Library Useful Links
• Get Help & About the Author

The Bluebook requires citation to printed material (provided it is available), unless there is an authenticated, official, or exact digital copy of the printed sources.  See R. 18.2 .1

• Authenticated :  those sources using encryption based authentication such as digital signatures and public key infrastructure (preferred by The Bluebook - look for certificates, seals,or logos )
• Official :  materials that a jurisdiction has designated as "official"
• Exact Copy :  unaltered copy of the printed source in a format that preserves pagination and other format attributes (most likely PDF)

Example:  The Ohio Supreme Court has designated the Supreme Court website as the Ohio Official Reports for opinions of the courts of appeals and the Court of Claims. See Ohio Rep. Op. R. 3.2 , http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/rules/reporting/Report.pdf [https://perma.cc/772J-5ALP]. These opinions are in PDF format and bear a watermark.

Rule 18.2.2 Direct Citation to Internet Sources

If there is no print format or if the print format is obscure and is, for all practical purposes unavailable, cite to the most stable Internet source available.

• Author (if available)
• Use title bar or page-identifying heading
• Include main page title and abbreviate it per T. 10 & 13 (use large & small cap font)
• Use dates that refer clearly to the material cited (for blogs, include time-date stamp)
• Otherwise use last updated or last modified
• Or last visited
• URL (but not if it is too long or complicated -- use the root URL if that is the case and append a parenthetical)

Eric Goldman, When Should Search Engines Ignore Court Orders To Remove Search Results? , Tech. & Marketing L. Blog (Sept. 4, 2013), http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2013/09/when_should_sea.htm [https://perma.cc/U2AN-2TXE].

Bill Ong Hing, Understanding SB1070 from the Lens of Institutionalized Racism and Civil Rights , Legal Services N. Cal.: Race Equity Project , http://www.equity.lsnc.net/understanding-sb1070-from-the-lens-of-institutionalized-racism-and-civil-rights (last visited Sept. 9, 2015).

Bluebook R. 18.2.2: Perma cc

The 21st Edition of The Bluebook Rule 18.2.1(d) states:

“Archiving of Internet sources is encouraged, but only when a reliable archival tool is available.  For citations to Internet sources, append the archive URL to the full citation in brackets” – the rule includes the following example:

Letter from Rose M. Oswald Poels, President/CEO, Wis. Bankers Ass’n, to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Sec’y, SEC (Sept. 17, 2013), http://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-03-13/s70313-178.pdf [ http://perma.cc/B7Z7D9DJ ].

Perma.cc is also the example used to demonstrate the archived sources rule in the Rule 18.1 Basic Citation Forms for Internet Sources table on page 179:

Rocio Gonzalez, Puerto Rico’s Status Debate Continues as Island Marks 61 Years as a Commonwealth , Huffington Post (July 25, 2013, 9:00 AM), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/puerto-rico-status-debate_n_3651755.html [http://perma.cc/C6UP-96HN].

Rule 18.2.3 Parallel Citation to Internet Sources

A parallel citation to an Internet source may be provided if it substantially improves access to the source.  Follow the regular rules for citing the source and then add the parallel Internet citation.

• Original print citation

Commission on Women in the Profession, American Bar Association,From Visible Invisibility to Visibly Successful: Success Strategies for Law Firms and Women of Color in Law Firms (2008), http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/wome/woc/VisiblySuccessful.authcheckdam.pdf.

D. Andrew Austin & Mindy R. Levit, Cong. Research Serv. , The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases (Aug. 27, 2013), http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/213995.pdf [https://perma.cc/RM46-46PS].

• Id. , per R. 4.1
• Supra per R. 4.2
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• Subject guides
• Citing and referencing

Theses and Dissertations

Citing and referencing: theses and dissertations.

• In-text citations
• Reference list
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• Journals/Periodicals
• Newspapers/Magazines
• Government and other reports
• Legal sources
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• University course materials
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• Patents and Standards
• Tables and Figures
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• Medicine and Health sources
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• Government sources
• News sources
• Web and social media
• Games and apps
• Ancient and sacred sources
• Primary sources
• Audiovisual media and music scores
• Images and captions
• University lectures, theses and dissertations
• Interviews and personal communication
• Archival material
• In-Text Citations: Further Information
• Reference List: Standard Abbreviations
• Data Sheets (inc. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS))
• Figures & Tables (inc. Images)
• Lecture Materials (inc. PowerPoint Presentations)
• Reports & Technical Reports
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• Websites, newspaper and social media
• Conference papers, theses and university material
• Video and audio
• Images, graphs, tables, data sets
• Personal communications
• In-text Citations
• Journals / Periodicals
• Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
• Interviews and lectures
• Music Scores / Recordings
• Film / Video Recording
• Television / Radio Broadcast
• Online Communication / Social Media
• Live Performances
• Government and Organisation Publications
• Medicine & health sources
• Government/organisational/technical reports
• Images, graphs, tables, figures & data sets
• Websites newspaper & magazine articles, socia media
• Conferences, theses & university materials
• Personal communication & confidential unpublished material
• Video, audio & other media
• Generative AI
• Indigenous knowledges

IEEE Reference List Examples:

• Figures & Tables (inc. Images)

IEEE Resources:

• IEEE Editorial Style Manual Provides links to Style Manual for Authors, Mathematics Guide, Reference Guide, IEEE journal/magazine titles list
• IEEE How to Cite References Document containing examples of in-text citations and references for a variety of electronic and print sources
• CAS Source Index (CASSI) Search Tool Quickly identify or confirm journal titles and abbreviations for publications indexed by CAS, including serial and non-serial scientific and technical publications.

Theses/Dissertations (Print)

Theses/Dissertations (Online)

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Bluebook Citation Style (20th ed.)

The Bluebook style is generally used for legal documents in the United States and is rare even for us, who work on many papers. It features detailed descriptions of how various documents such as judicial opinions, arbitrations, and other materials should be cited. It also features forms for most other resources, which makes it a fully functional citation style. This guide will help you understand the unique nature of Bluebook and apply it in your legal writing to impress educators.

This guide is developed in line with The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (the Columbia Law Review Association, the Harvard Law Review Association, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal ed., 20th ed. 2015).

• What is Bluebook Citation Style?

Why You Need to Cite Your Sources

• Notes on Citations
• Legal Citation
• Citation for Books, Reports, and Other Non-periodical Materials
• Article Citation
• Citation Websites and Electronic Media
• Citation for Other Sources

Tables and Figures in Bluebook Style

 what is bluebook citation style.

The Bluebook style is exclusively used for legal papers, and so it can be somewhat complicated due to its focus on easy citations of various court documents. The form is a blend between in-text and footnote-based formats, as its citations are located in the text but appear more similar to footnote-based ones. You have to provide the author’s full name, the name of the book, the year of publication, and the page number for the relevant quotation or citation. As such, Bluebook shares some similarities with most other citation styles while closely emulating few to none.

You may be familiar with the need to cite information, but many places also require you to follow a strict guide and a specific style while doing so. Here are some reasons why both of these aspects are critical for your writing and overall career:

• The point of a paper is to show your understanding of the topic and then reach additional conclusions from there. You show this awareness by citing works in the field that support or oppose your findings.
• The sources you use have to warrant the trust of a reader, meaning scholars should generally acknowledge them. Peer review is an essential practice that differentiates high-quality sources from inferior ones.
• When you reference a source, you have to identify what it is and where it may be found in a form that is easy for the reader to understand. Hence, you should adhere to the template lest you commit some mistake that makes the citation unusable.
• Ultimately, if you are caught plagiarizing, whether intentionally or not, you will be severely punished. You may even be expelled or fired from your organization, receiving a bad mark on your record that will severely tarnish it.

General Principles of Bluebook Formatting

• Use any acceptable professional font, such as Times New Roman, Courier New, etc.
• Italics are used in the body of the text for source names and stylistic purposes
•  Citations are designed to help the reader locate a source
• Bluebook citation style is designed for both students and researchers to be used in academic writing (The Whitepages) and practitioners (clerks, lawyers, and other legal professionals) to be used in non-academic legal documents (The Bluepages)
• Citation format of the Whitepages and the Bluepages differs in typeface and elements of citation
• Authors and titles of books, including institutional authors, titles of periodicals are written in Large and Small Caps
• Case names in text are written in Italics while in citations, they are written in normal font
• Case names in text and in citations also differ by the extent to which the case name is abbreviated
• If Whitepages guidelines fail to cover how to format the source, refer to Bluepages rules.
• If no information on citing a particular type of document is available, cite it in accordance with the format of the closest alternative

Notes on Bluebook Citations

•  In law reviews, all citations must be included as footnotes
• The footnote number should appear after the final punctuation of the quotation
• In some procedural documents, citations can be made in a citation sentence or a citation clause
•  Introductory signals, such as e.g., accord, see, see also, Cf., and others are used to indicate the relationship between the citation and the text or other citations.
• If no signal word is used, this means that the information was directly stated or cited by the chosen authority
• Id. and short names are used to refer to sources that were mentioned recently:
•  Same source and page in two or more footnotes: Id.
• Same source in two or more footnotes, different page numbers: Id., page number.
• Same source used within the past 5 citations: Short citation (different for each document type).

Bluebook Footnote Citation

Bluebook legal citation.

S. Pac. Co. v. Jensen, 244 U.S. 205, 225-26 (1917)

When citing legal cases, you need to include the following information (in order):

• First party vs. Second party
• Reporter volume number
• Reporter abbreviation
• First page of the case
• Specific page referred to
• Deciding court
• Date of decision

If a decision has not been reached yet, include as much information as you can in place of the date of decision. For example, if a case was filed but not decided, include the filing date. If the case involves an interim order, whether published or unpublished, include an appropriate mark (order granting preliminary injunction) at the end of the citation in parentheses.

Constitutions

U.S. Const. amend. §1. U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 2.

When citing constitutions, include the following information (in order):

• Abbreviation of the constitution cited
• Abbreviation for “amendment” (amend.), “article” (art.) or “clause” (cl.)
• Number of the amendment cited
• Section symbol and number
• If the cited provision has been repealed or amended, add amendment date in parentheses or in text

Note: a short form other than id. is not allowed when citing constitutions

National Emergency Management Act, 6 §§ 701-811 (2006)

Short form:

6 U.S.C. § 701

If you need to cite a statute, such as an act, use the following data (in order):

• Official name of the act
• Code title number
• Abbreviation of the code
• Section containing the statute (with section symbols)
• Date of code edition used

Bills and Resolutions

H.R. Res. 3452, 104th Cong. (1996) S. Res. 95, 115th Cong. (2017)

Short forms:

H.R. 3452 S.R. 95

For bills and resolutions, use the following:

• The name of the bill (if applicable)
• The abbreviation of the house
• Bill number
• Congress number
• Section number
• Year of publication

Challenges and Opportunities Facing America’s Schools and Workplaces: Hearing before the H. Comm. on Education and the Workforce, 113th Cong. (2013)

When citing committee hearings, you must include the following information:

• Full subject matter title
• Bill number (if applicable)
• Subcommittee name (if applicable)
• Committee name
• Session number (for State committee hearings)
• Page number (if citing a specific page)

Bluebook Citation for Books, Reports, and Other Non-periodical Materials

As a rule, when citing books, reports, and similar sources, you will need to provide:

• Author’s full name
• Editor(s) and translator(s) names (if applicable)
• Edition number

The following page contains some examples of different sources cited in the Bluebook format.

Note: author name(s) and source titles are given in small and large caps.

Book with one or two authors

Rɪᴄʜᴀʀᴅ J. Lᴀᴢᴀʀᴜs, Tʜᴇ Mᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴏғ Eɴᴠɪʀᴏɴᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ Lᴀᴡ 57 (2004).

Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice And Procedure § 1006 (2d ed. 1987).

Book with more than two authors

Kᴀʀᴇɴ Wʜɪᴛᴇ ᴇᴛ ᴀʟ., Tʜᴇ Fᴏʀɢᴏᴛᴛᴇɴ Rᴏᴏᴍ 100 (2016).

Or you may list all authors:

Kᴀʀᴇɴ Wʜɪᴛᴇ, Bᴇᴀᴛʀɪᴢ Wɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs & Lᴀᴜʀᴇɴ Wɪʟʟɪɢ, Tʜᴇ Fᴏʀɢᴏᴛᴛᴇɴ Rᴏᴏᴍ 100 (2016).

Book with editor or translator

Cᴀsᴇs ɪɴ Oɴʟɪɴᴇ Iɴᴛᴇʀᴠɪᴇᴡ Rᴇsᴇᴀʀᴄʜ 30 (Janet Salmons ed., 2011).

Note: do not write editor or translator names in small caps, use a regular font

Book with no author

Lᴀᴡᴍᴇɴ ᴀɴᴅ Oᴜᴛʟᴀᴡs 49-50 (Great Mountain West Supply 1997).

Note: include a publisher in parentheses

Multiple editions of the book

Sᴛᴜᴀʀᴛ Bᴇʟʟ ᴇᴛ ᴀʟ., Eɴᴠɪʀᴏɴᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ Lᴀᴡ 187 (8th ed. 2013).

Chapter in an edited book

Sᴛᴜᴀʀᴛ Bᴇʟʟ ᴇᴛ ᴀʟ., International Law and Environmental Protection, in Eɴᴠɪʀᴏɴᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ Lᴀᴡ 136 (8th ed. 2013).30.

Bluebook Article Citation

Scholarly journal article

Bernard M. Bass & Paul Steidlmeier, Ethics, Character, and Authentic Transformational Leadership Behavior , 10Lᴇᴀᴅ. Qᴜᴀʀ. 181, 210-212 (1999). Short form: Bass & Steidlmeier, supra note 1 (first note cited), at page number.

For articles published in scholarly journals, include the following:

•  Author’s name
• Article title
• Journal volume number
• Abbreviated journal title
• First page of the article
• Specific page(s) cited

Magazine Articles and Newspapers

Declan Walsh & Eric Schmitt, Arms Sales to Saudis Leave American Fingerprints on Yemen’s Carnage, N.Y. Tɪᴍᴇs, Dec. 25, 2016, at 2. Short form: Walsh & Schmitt , supra note 1 (first note cited), at page number.

For magazine and newspaper articles, provide the information as listed below:

• Author’s name
• Magazine or newspaper title (shortened)
• Date of publication

Bluebook Citation Websites and Electronic Media

The Bluebook citation handbook strongly advises against including electronic sources in the bibliography if they can be cited as a printed source. The following examples are for reference only, and you should still check if a printed version of a source is available before citing it as an electronic source.

Aᴄᴄᴏʀ Hᴏᴛᴇʟs, Cᴏᴍᴍɪᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ, https://www.accorhotels.group/en/commitment (last visited Dec. 26, 2018).

PDF documents (corporate author)

Tʜᴇ Cᴏᴄᴀ-Cᴏʟᴀ Cᴏᴍᴘᴀɴʏ, 2017 Sᴜsᴛᴀɪɴᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ (2018), https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/private/fileassets/pdf/2018/2017-Sustainability-Report-The-Coca-Cola-Company.pdf

PDF document (individual author)

Xiao-Ping Chen, et al., Affective Trust in Chinese Leaders: Linking Paternalistic Leadership to Employee Performance , 40 J. Mᴀɴ. 796, 797 (2014), http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.908.4532&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

Dave Owen, The New WOTUS Proposed Rule and the Myths of Clean Water Act Federalism , Eɴᴠɪʀᴏɴᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ Lᴀᴡ Pʀᴏғ. Bʟᴏɢ (Dec. 13, 2018, 1:21 PM), https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/environmental_law/2018/12/the-new-wotus-proposed-rule-and-the-myths-of-clean-water-act-federalism.html.

Bluebook Citation for Other Sources

There are many other types of sources that you might be required to cite in the Bluebook format. Some examples will be included below. Sources that do not match any of the categories in the guide should be cited like the next best alternative included in the guide.

Note: Short forms for these sources should be created using the abbreviations “supra” or “id.”

Student-written law review materials

Abraham Bell & Gideon Parchomovsky, Article, The Case for Imperfect Enforcement of Property Rights , 160 U. Pᴀ. L. Rᴇᴠ. 1927, 1929-1930 (2012).

Proceedings, regular publications by institutes, and ABA section reports

Sarah Zappe et al., Flipping the Classroom to Explore Active Learning in a Large Undergraduate Course , 116 ASEE Aɴɴ. Cᴏɴғ. Exᴘ. Pʀᴏᴄ.284 (2009).

Unpublished and forthcoming sources

Stephen B. Burbank & Tobias Barrington Wolf, Class Actions, Statutes of Limitations and Repose, and Federal Common Law , 167 U. Pᴀ. L. Rᴇᴠ. (forthcoming Dec. 2018)

E-mail correspondence

E-mail from Anna Smith, Dir. of Operations, Organization, to Jayden Smith, Assoc. Prof., Organization (Dec. 25, 2018, 09:55 EST) (on file with author).

Telephone interview with Margaret Wilson, Editor, Organization (Nov. 19, 2016). Interview with Margaret Wilson, Editor, Organization, in City, State (Mar. 24, 1998).

Working papers

Jay P. Greene & Greg Forster, Public High School Graduation and College Readiness Rates in the United States 1 (Ctr. for Civic Innovation, Working Paper No. 3, 2003).

Note: “Ctr. for Civic Innovation” is the name of the sponsoring organization.

Intergovernmental Organizations

Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor et al., Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ ᴏғ Iɴᴇǫᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ: Rᴇᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ, Mᴀᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ, Nᴇᴡʙᴏʀɴ ᴀɴᴅ Cʜɪʟᴅ Hᴇᴀʟᴛʜ, Wᴏʀʟᴅ Hᴇᴀʟᴛʜ Oɢᴀɴɪᴢᴀɪᴛɪᴏɴ [WHO] (2015), http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/164590/9789241564908_eng.pdf.

lnt’l Civil Aviation Org. [ICAO], 2012 Annual Report of the Council , ICAO Doc. 10001 (2012), https://www.icao.int/publications/Documents/10001_en.pdf.

The Bluebook citation style is somewhat unique in its laissez-faire approach to the formatting of your paper. It exists to ensure that your citations are accurate and precise and limits itself to that task. As such, you are free to format tables and figures however you see fit. Nevertheless, it is probably best to follow some other styling format, so this guide will provide an example using the Chicago style of formatting (see figure 1).

Figure 1: Glass World.

Source: Environmental Science, Careers in Environmental Science, Nepa Ceqa Manager, https://www.environmentalscience.org/careers (last visited Jul. 19, 2019).

Notably, Bluebook does not require the use of a bibliography, so a single mention of the reference in the text is sufficient. However, it has remarkably strict rules about referencing that you can find in the book that gives its name to the style. As many images and figures will be taken from online sources, you should remember a few basic guidelines. First, the format discourages the use of any strictly online resources. Second, if you are citing an electronic version of a print document, you can mention it as though you were using that print document. However, if that document would be challenging to obtain, you should make it clear that you are using an electronic version in the reference. Lastly, you should think carefully before inserting tables or figures into a legal document, as they usually only contain formatted text.

Reference List

1.    Glass world [image on the Internet] 2018. [cited August 18, 2019]. Available from: https://www.environmentalscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NEPA-CEQA-640×425.jpeg

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Online Reference Generator to Ease Your Academic Burden

A universal bluebook legal citation generator.

If you are a student of one of the U.S. law schools, there is one thing that is most likely driving you crazy. It’s the dreaded Bluebook referencing guide. Bearing a seemingly innocent name, which it owes to its blue-colored cover and inch-thick, the Bluebook is a comprehensive guide on how to reference academic and legal documents in your legal papers.

The Bluebook is probably the only style guide that has other, smaller style guides explaining how to use it. To find the information you need in it is a challenge but one that you can overcome with the help of our Bluebook citation maker.

Let’s start from the very beginning.

The origins and fundamentals of the Bluebook referencing style

Usually, the Bluebook referencing style is traced to a pamphlet by Erwin Griswold, the editor of Harvard Law Review , on how to properly cite law articles. Recent studies, however, argue that the style was born in Yale with the publication of Karl N. Llewellyn on how to write law materials for the Yale Law Journal.

Whatever the origin, however, today the Bluebook is used by the majority of U.S. law schools and provides information on citations, typefaces, subdivisions, quotations, abbreviations, special symbols, capitalizations, titles, and so on. In fact, the Bluebook is so widespread and ubiquitous that a new word has been created – “bluebooking,” which means citing sources in full accordance with the style guide’s norms.

Alternative citation systems exist and are also used in some jurisdictions, but the Bluebook remains the most frequently used one.

The guide consist of four main sections:

• Bluepages (information about basic legal citation) which is designed to be an easy-to-use, condensed version of the entire manual
• The full rules of citation and style (21 rule in the current edition)
• The tables section with information on authorities that have to be cited and abbreviations to be used
• Index designed to help you find the rules you need

The guide is published by law editors of Columbia, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale. It was revised in 1990, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 and is currently in its 20th edition.

A guide on how to cite Bluebook format

The general rule of citation is that legal documents are cited in the body of the paper, while academic documents are cited in footnotes or endnotes.

The style also distinguishes between short-form and full-form citations. Once a full-form citation has been used at least once, the same legal source can be cited using a short-form citation. Note, however, that the use of short-form citations is only appropriate and allowed where the reader will have no difficulty going back to the full-form citation.

Legal citations also have so-called signals – introductory parts that indicate whether the cited source confirms or contradicts the opinion of the writer (“e.g.” “see,” “see also” and so on).

The formats of citing will depend on the material you want to cite – cases, constitutions, statutes, regulations and administrative materials, electronic and Internet sources, books, etc. All of these have dedicated parts in the Bluebook that you can use for consults.

Using Bluebook in-text citation generator

Using our Bluebook legal citation generator can make legal citing much easier for you. With its help, you can cite academic sources like you would do it in any other style without having to consult the monstrously detailed style guide. Note, however, that this instrument is not intended for legal documents. It means it can’t be used to create Bluebook case citation or any other type of legal document citation.

To create the Bluebook citation online, you will have to take the usual steps:

• Choose the appropriate style and source type
• Provide relevant information
• Click on “Generate”

And voila – your citation is generated and ready to be used.

Bluebook 20th edition examples

As it has already been mentioned, the Bluebook style guide is now in its 20th edition and has dedicated sections for different types of documents. Here, we will provide some Bluebook 20th edition examples of formatting for legal and academic documents to help you better understand the fundamentals of legal citing.

CITING CASES

The format of doing citations for cases depends on the type of the case, the court, and the jurisdiction. It includes the following mandatory elements:

• Volume number
• Reporter (abbreviation)
• 1 st page of the case
• Year when the decision was made

For academic documents, case names need no additional formatting, while in court documents, they are italicized or underlined.

The full information on citing cases is provided in Rule 10 of the Bluebook Guide. Also, when citing cases, you will have to consult several tables (1, 6, 7 and 10) to get information on abbreviations (reporter, terms, court and geographical names), preferred sources and lists of courts in each state.

The Bluebook also prescribes which reporter (court decision-publishing publication) shall be cited if the decision on a certain case was published in several reporters.

CITING STATUTES

The general format for citing statutes is as follows:

• Code (abbreviation)
• Date of the relevant edition

For detailed information on citing statutes, you will have to consult Rule 12 of the Bluebook (which also provides information on citing rules of evidence and procedure, laws and municipal ordinances) and Table 1 that provides details about abbreviations and statutory codes that should be used for citing (official or unofficial ones).

CITING CONSTITUTIONS

The information on citing state and federal constitutions is provided in Rule 11 of the Bluebook. The general format is as follows:

• Appropriate abbreviation (referred to in Table 10)
• Abbreviation for constitution (which is “Const.”)
• Section of the Constitution (article, paragraph, clause)

CITING REGULATIONS

Executive and administrative materials, including federal regulations, are cited according to the provisions of Rule 14 of the Bluebook. The general format is as follows:

• Title number in the Code of Federal Regulations
• F.R. (which is the designated abbreviation for the Code of Federal Regulations)
• Number of the section cited

CITING BOOKS AND REPORTS

The general format for citing a book is as follows:

• Number of the volume cited
• Full name of the author (as published on the title page)
• Title of the book (should be underlined and put into italics)
• Page, section or paragraph
• Edition (if there were more than one)
• Publication year

Note that, as is the case with other styles, the format will differ depending on whether the book has an author or just an editor and other variables. The full information on citing books as legal sources is provided in Rule 15 of the Bluebook.

CITING PERIODICALS (LAW REVIEWS AND OTHERS)

The information on citing periodicals is found in Rule 16 of the Bluebook Guide. The general format for citing a journal article is as follows:

• The full name of the author (as stated in the article)
• Article’s title (underlined and put into italics)
• Abbreviation of the journal title (as in some other styles, the Bluebook provides a list of pre-defined abbreviations for legal publications that can be cited)
• The first page of the article
• Publication date

As it has already been mentioned , signals serve to indicate whether the source cited supports or contradicts the writer’s idea.

Support signals include: “ E.g.,” “Accord,” “See,” “See also,” “Cf.”.

Comparison signal is, quite expectedly, “compare…with…”.

Contradiction signals are “Contra,” “But see,” “But cf.”.

Background material is indicated with “See generally.” The signals are usually put into italics or underlined.

There is a list of elements that should be italicized in citations, such as the names of cases, titles of books, titles of journal articles, introductory signals (see above), explanations and cross-references.

Some elements, on the other hand, are never italicized. Such elements are statutes, constitutions, restatements, reporters, services, journal names, regulations, rules and other administrative materials.

The rule of thumb is not to use italics for any items that are not on the “to be italicized” list.

As you can see, using the Bluebook style is not an easy endeavor and should not be approached lightly. Due to the complexity and the variety of rules, it is hardly possible to have a one-stop tool for an automatic Bluebook citation, and so it is important to know where to go for each kind of citation.

With the help of our free Bluebook law review citation generator, you will have no problems citing academic documents such as books, articles, and online sources that will save you a great deal of time.

In fact, we encourage you to try it right now. There are so many things that you have to spend time on in law school. Making citations is not one of them. Use this Bluebook in-text citation generator or a legal citation tool to find time for more important, career-defining things.

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Your Guide on Bluebook Citation: All That You Need to Know

Understanding What Is a Bluebook Citation

For a long time, the Bluebook has been the ultimate source of guidance regarding legal Citation in the United States, with law students, attorneys, academics, judges, and other legal professionals relying on its distinctive citation system.

The development of the Bluebook, from its first publication in 1925, as an eight-page booklet for Harvard Law, to its present status as a three-volume manual used by most law schools of the country, has been well documented in detail. The Bluebook has been accepted and critiqued, but it's now much better with the Bluebook uniform system of citation edition 20th.

The primary goal of a legal citation is to enable the reader to quickly find the cited source. For this reason, the citations in The Bluebook are structured to provide the essential data to take the reader straight to the specified items cited.

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Where Is the BlueBook Used: Application

This set of citation rules applies to students of law, judges, attorneys, police, and politicians and is based on the law. The Bluebook can be used to refer to passages in legal writing, including sources of officials, judges, lawyers, authorities, and news reports on governmental affairs. As such, learning to write under Bluebook legal citation is necessary for university dissertations and documents created by professionals.

When borrowing from the words of another, it is essential to acknowledge the source with quotation marks and a reference. Doing so grants both you and the creator of the work the appropriate credit.

Citing sources and providing quotes indicate the research that has been completed and the reading level that has been conducted. Furthermore, they enable others to trace your work and build on it.

And if your illustration essay assignment on ' Who is Daisy in the Great Gatsby ' is due soon, let us help you explore the complex character of Daisy today!

What Elements Make Up the Legal BlueBook?

Before going to law school, you need to know that the Legal Bluebook is an all-encompassing resource for legal authorities striving for precise and uniform citations in their legal documents. It is composed of the following:

Understanding Bibliography

A Bluebook bibliography must feature an alphabetically organized list of all sources referred to in a legal document, ordered by the author's surname or, in the absence of an author, by the initial word of the title. Every entry should comprise the following:

• Author: It is essential to include the author's name exactly as specified in the source. If there are multiple authors, they should be listed in the same order as they appear in the source.
• Title: The source title should follow sentence case formatting, with the initial word and any proper nouns capitalized and italicized.
• Publication Information: This comprises the author's name, the place of publication, and the date of publishing. For journals and magazines, the volume and issue numbers should be appended.
• Page numbers: If relevant, specify the page numbers from which the details were sourced.

Here's what a Bluebook bibliography entry for a book looks like:

• Fisher, Spencer. Legal Writing for Dummies. Chicago: Dolphin Press, 2023.

And here's an example of a legal review article:

• Smith, Jane. "The Impact of Social Media on Jury Selection." Harvard Law Review 133, no. 4 (2021): 567-598.

Understanding Footnotes

Bluebook footnotes contain more detailed information regarding the sources mentioned in a legal document.  Bluebook footnote citations are used to:

• Cite a source
• Include the author(s), title, publisher, year of publication
• Pinpoint citation (page numbers or section numbers). 

These footnotes are generally located at the bottom of the page with the source.

For example, the Citation in the Bluebook Footnote could look like the following:

• Spencer Fisher, Legal Writing for Dummies (Chicago Dolphin Press, 2023.) 15-17.

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Struggling with Bluebook Rules?

Our experts can help you through this process and make sure your legal material is correctly and effectively cited!

Bluebook Citation Examples

Understanding the different approaches when drafting a proper reference document is important. To grasp these differences better, we need to refer to Bluebook citation examples and recognize these distinctions before we write a law paper. As an example, a court case and a tabloid are different. Let's delve into more specific examples below, prepared by our admission essay writer :

If you still require assistance with legal citations, EssayPro is the answer. Our experienced writers can assist in creating a unique, well-constructed work with all references, including a Bluebook string citation example, or provide a review of the Bluebook a uniform system of Citation 19th ed.

With a faculty made up of hundreds of academics specializing in law and related topics, we can be your bluebook citation checker and provide you with the expert help you need. Plus, you'll get your request processed in no time. So why wait? Buy essay paper online today!

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Is Bluebook Similar to APA?

What is the bluebook citation format, how do you cite a bluebook in apa.

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is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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Basic Case Citation

The precise format of a case citation depends on a number of factors, including the jurisdiction, court, and type of case. You should review the rest of this section on citing cases (and the relevant rules in  The Bluebook ) before trying to format a case citation for the first time. However, the basic format of a case citation is as follows:

Note: In court documents (briefs, motions) and legal memoranda, a full case name is usually italicized or underlined.  In academic legal writing (i.e., a law review article), full case names are generally not underlined or italicized. 

Rule & Tables

Rule 10  (and Rule B10 in the Bluepages) governs how to cite cases. It contains extensive instructions on how to format case citations, and Rule 10 also provides guidance on citing briefs, court filings, and transcripts.

In addition to Rule 10, you may need to consult the following tables in order to format the case citation:

• Table 1 : A list of (1) reporters* and reporter abbreviations, (2) courts and court abbreviations, and (3) preferred sources to cite for federal courts and each state's courts  
• Table 6 : Abbreviations for terms used in case names (e.g., America[n] = Am.)  
• Table 7 : Abbreviations for court names that you would use in the event a court abbreviation is not provided in Table 1  
• Table 10 : Abbreviations for geographical terms (e.g., Virginia = Va.)  

*What Is a Reporter?* A reporter is a publication containing the opinions of a particular court or jurisdiction, organized chronologically by date of decision. The opinions of a given court or jurisdiction are often published in more than one reporter.  As you'll see below, for example, opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court are published in three reporters.  If a case is published in a reporter,  The Bluebook  prescribes which reporter is the preferred one to cite (Table 1). 

For more on reporters, see our  Case Law Research Guide  or watch Anatomy of a Case, Case Citation, and the Case Law Reporter System in our Case Law Research Tutorial (on the right).

Case Citations Tutorial

Case Law Research Tutorial

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Q. How do I cite a book or book chapter in bluebook format?

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Answered By: Harvard Law School Library Research Services Last Updated: Dec 11, 2023     Views: 94978

Bluebook Rule 15 gives the citation format for books, reports, and other nonperiodic materials as well as shorter works in collection, including book chapters. 

Generally, the a book citation should include the author's full name , the title of the book , the page cited , e ditor's name (if applicable ), edition (if applicable) , and year of publication . A chapter citation will also include the chapter author and starting page. 

• Book Citation: See J ONATHAN Z ITTRAIN , T HE F UTURE OF THE I NTERNET AND H OW TO S TOP IT 125 (2008).
• Book Chapter Citation: See Matthew C. Stephenson, Law and Corruption , in  E LGAR C ONCISE E NCYCLOPEDIA OF C ORRUPTION L AW  (Mark Pieth & Tina Søreide eds., 2023).

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How to Cite a Concurrence In or Dissent From a Denial of Certiorari

The Bluebook does not provide clear guidance on how to cite every authority that law students or legal practitioners need or wish to use in their papers, memos, and briefs. Sometimes, researchers will toil in vain looking for a particular rule or example to cover a less common type of source, only to find that there is no answer. They have stared into the abyss and the abyss has merely stared back! So what do you do now?

Most reference librarians you encounter will offer the same advice in this situation: look for an example of how that kind of source has been cited in the past and use your judgment to determine if that citation style fits within the gap left between one or more of the established Bluebook rules. A colleague described the situation nicely in a blog post several years ago, calling this ever-evolving blend of rule and precedent Bluebook common law .

A recent newsworthy example presented itself just last week, on February 19, 2019, when Justice Thomas wrote the following:

[New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254 (1964)] and the Court’s decisions extending it were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law. Instead of simply applying the First Amendment as it was understood by the people who ratified it, the Court fashioned its own “‘federal rule[s]’” by balancing the “competing values at stake in defamation suits.”   Gertz , supra , at 334, 348 (quoting New York Times , supra , at 279). We should not continue to reflexively apply this policy-driven approach to the Constitution. Instead, we should carefully examine the original meaning of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. If the Constitution does not require public figures to satisfy an actual-malice standard in state-law defamation suits, then neither should we.

The quotation comes from a concurrence in a denial of a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court. Concurrences and dissents from denials of cert, as they are colloquially known, are statements offering support or disapproval for decisions by the court not to hear a case. These orders make up what court-watchers have called the court’s “ Shadow Docket ,” and about which some empirical study has begun. For the completely uninitiated, see the following post by SCOTUSBlog publisher and co-founder Tom Goldstein: What you can learn from opinions regarding the denial of certiorari . (Goldstein will be the featured speaker at Carolina Law’s 2019 Annual Murphy Lecture , Wednesday, March 20 at 12:00 p.m.)

The case being denied cert was No. 17–1542 , McKee v. Cosby , on appeal from the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in which the question presented concerned whether Kathrine McKee, a woman who accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault had become a limited purpose public figure in a defamation case. Justice Thomas agreed that the court had acted correctly in denying cert for the case, but then wrote the lines quoted above, which have led legal commentators to speculate on the Justice’s First Amendment jurisprudence .

Thankfully, we need not delve into those dicey waters here, but rather must only take on the more prosaic (but perhaps no less interesting) issue of how to cite to the Justice’s statement. There are two problems to tackle, and we will take them in turn. First, how does one properly cite a recent slip opinion from the Supreme Court, and second, how does one indicate that the document cited is a concurrence or dissent from the denial of cert. 

Bluebook Rules 10.8 and 10.9 offer us a starting point on the first question. Rule 10.8.1(b) covers cases available only as slip opinions, but the case in question here has been assigned a volume in United States Reports . Therefore, it will bear the somewhat awkward citation McKee v. Cosby , 586 U.S. ____ (2019), in which the blank, created with four underscore characters, represents an as-yet unassigned page number. (Interestingly, Westlaw represents the blanks with hyphen characters, while Lexis uses underscores.)

As legal citation experts have noted, there are numerous problems with this citation format, but it is the one we have and the one in wide usage in the country’s court systems. Still, it can take anywhere from four to five years for a page number to be assigned. Therefore, a footnoted short citation, governed by Rule 10.9(a)(iii), would presumably also require reference to the slip opinion’s page number. Indeed, this is how courts and law journals cite these types of documents, so a reference to Justice Thomas’ quoted statement, coming from the second page of the slip opinion, would be short cited in a footnote as McKee , 586 U.S. at ____ (slip op. at 2). 

Bluebook Rule 10.6(a) guides us on the second question, as to crafting the proper parenthetical noting the weight of authority. Absent an enumerated abbreviation in Table T8, it’s necessary to look for examples of how these documents have been cited. For a recent citation to a concurrence in denial of cert, see , e.g. , Moore v. Texas , 586 U.S. ____, ____ (2019) (citing as Salazar-Limon v. Houston , 581 U.S. ____,____, 137 S.Ct. 1277, 1278, 197 L.Ed.2d 751 (2017) (Alito, J., concurring in denial of certiorari)). For a recent citation to a dissent from denial of cert, see , e.g. , Zagorski v. Parker , 586 U.S., ____, ____ (Mem.) (2018) (citing as Arthur v. Dunn , 580 U.S. ____, ____, 137 S.Ct. 725, 725, 197 L.Ed.2d 225 (2017) (Sotomayor, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari)).

Let’s put it all together, then. Justice Thomas’ remarks on defamation law can be found at McKee v. Cosby , 586 U.S. ____, ____ (2019) (Thomas, J., concurring in denial of certiorari).

Now that wasn’t too hard, was it?