The Law Library recommends the LexisNexis Interactive Citation Workstation (ICW) as the best resource for practicing Bluebook citations. The resource is available through your LexisNexis login. The ICW allows you to practice citing sources and gives immediate corrections and guidance on properly citing. The ICW is updated yearly and so is applicable for the current Bluebook edition.
The Florida Style Manual is designed to aid practitioners and scholars to identify the proper citation form for legal documents and scholarly articles. The Manual supplements the uniform citation system for Florida legal documents contained in Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.800 and the standard citation authority for American legal journals, the 20th Edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. The Florida Style Manual provides meaningful citation forms for Florida-specific materials.
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation by Peter Martin (2020)
This free resource housed at the Legal Information Institute (LII) explains the reasoning behind legal citation forms and offers answers to common questions on citing print and electronic sources. Video tutorials and blogs help emphasize the instruction.
Information on this guide was borrowed with permission from Paul McLaughlin at Florida A&M University Libraries.
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is the dominant citation authority governing how American legal documents are cited. Becoming familiar with its rules is essential for your legal career.
It is vital that sources you rely on in your legal writing, such as cases, statutes, and regulations are cited with sufficient precision so they may be easily found by a reader of the document. Precise citation also indicates the jurisdiction and weight of a primary authority. A statement that is not cited indicates original thought, and should only take place when what you have written came entirely from your own head. Improper citation can result in a plagiarism accusation.
The Bluebook is divided into four basic parts: the Bluepages, the Whitepages, the Tables, and the Index.
The Bluepages are found at the beginning of the book and are blue in color. The Rules begin with the letter "B" and are used by practitioners as a guide to citing court documents and legal memoranda.
The Whitepages are the in-depth rules of citation and style. The pages are white in color with a dark blue bar across the top of the page. The Rules begin with the letter "R" and are used by legal scholars writing law review articles. There are 21 rules in the Whitepages, and they can be subdivided into two major groups. Rules 1-9 cover the general citation standards, while Rules 10-21 are the rules for specific sources, such as cases, statutes, books, and articles.
The Tables are used in conjunction with the rules. The pages are white with a dark blue bar down the outside edge of each page. They are used by both practitioners and scholars and contain information on which authority to cite and how to abbreviate words. Finally, the Index is a comprehensive listing of all of the Bluebook's content.
The Bluebook has several useful features to help you locate the appropriate rule to cite your source.
Inside front cover: A quick reference guide to the Whitepages that provides examples of citations to commonly used rules.
Table of Contents: Provides a list of the contents of The Bluebook, including a list of rules and subrules and their page numbers.
Index: An index of topics and where to find information on those topics in The Bluebook. (Example: Not sure which rule to use to cite the Model Rules of Professional Conduct? Look up "model" or "professional" in the Index and it will refer you to page 133, where there is a sub-rule on how to cite to that source.)
Inside back cover: A quick reference guide to the Bluepages that provides examples of citations to commonly used rules.
| Reference Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Topic |
Description |
Rule |
Pages in BB |
|
Style |
Typeface, citation placement, signals, and other style matters |
B1-B3 |
3-7 |
|
Local Citation Rules |
Explanation of how to convert Bluebook citations to local citation styles found in local courts |
BT2 |
33-64 |
|
Cases |
Citing federal and state cases |
Rule 10 |
100-124 |
| Short Forms for Cases | Citing the same authority multiple times | Rule 10.9 | 116 |
|
Constitutions |
Citing federal and state constitutions |
Rule 11 |
124-125 |
|
Statutes |
Citing federal and state statutes |
Rule 12 |
120-134 |
|
Legislative Materials |
Citing federal and state legislative materials |
Rule 13 |
140-146 |
|
Administrative Materials |
Citing administrative and executive materials |
Rule 14 |
147-153 |
|
Books |
Citing books, reports, white papers, treatises, dictionaries, and encyclopedias |
Rule 15 |
154-164 |
|
Periodicals |
Citing law reviews, magazines, and periodicals |
Rules 16 & Rule 17 |
164-181 |
|
Electronic Sources |
Citing internet sources, such as Westlaw and LexisNexis |
Rule 18 |
181-204 |
|
U.S. Tables |
Official names of reporters and statutory compilations for U.S. federal and state courts |
T.1 |
257-328 |
|
Abbreviations |
Abbreviations for case and court names, phrases, geographic places, government organizations and periodicals |
T.3-T.16 |
329-354 |
|
Index |
Comprehensive index to entire Bluebook |
Back of Bluebook |
355-390 |
Adapted from Georgetown Law Library
Mirroring the change to rule 1.2, B1.2 now contains the “contrast” signal. B5.3 now permits the use of the parenthetical “(citation modified)” to be used when a quotation has been stripped of internal quotation marks, brackets, ellipses, internal citations, and footnote reference numbers and capitalization has been modified without brackets. Additionally, B22 and B23 have been added to reflect the additions of rules 22 and 23. Bluepages table BT2 has been updated to reflect current local citation rules and include more jurisdictions.
Rule 1.2 introduces a new signal, “contrast,” for situations in which the contrast between authorities rather than a comparison between them will offer support for the proposition. The language in rule 10.8.3 has been modified to provide greater clarity and address situations like multi-district litigation. Codification information may now be omitted depending on context pursuant to rule 12.4(f). Rule 14.4 has been added to illustrate how to cite state administrative materials. Guidance on citing pen names is provided in rule 15.1(d), and rule 15.8 has been expanded to include more special citation forms. Rule 18 has been substantially rewritten both to provide greater clarity surrounding existing rules and to add new rules to cover a greater number of sources, including AI-generated content. Rule 20.2.4 has been revised to include new guidance on citing to sources in languages that do not employ the Roman alphabet. Finally, rules 22 and 23 have been added. Rule 22 provides comprehensive guidance on citing materials from Tribal Nations. Rule 23 provides comprehensive guidance on citing archival sources.
The tables have also been updated. Table T1.3 has been updated to reflect developments in state legal systems. Table T1.5 has been added to the Bluebook Online and is available exclusively online, free of charge, listing all federally recognized Tribal Nations. Table T2 has been revised, and three new jurisdictions have been added. New guidance on citations for medical journals is now provided in table T6. Finally, the Twenty-Second Edition has substantially modified table T10 in order to streamline it and provide more useful abbreviations.
