Bluebook Guide - Citing Other Resources

CONSTITUTIONS
The Rule

Bluebook Rule 11 covers how federal and state constitutions should be cited in legal documents.
To cite to the federal constitution or a state's constitution, list the following three elements in
order:
1. The state (or country) abbreviation;
2. The abbreviation for "Constitution"; and
3. The section or subdivision you are citing.

Consider, for example, the following federal constitutional provision

U.S. Const. art. 1, 8

The elements are as follows:

Element
State or country abbreviation
Constitution abbreviation
Section or subdivision

Result
U.S.
Const.
art. 1, 8

BOOKS

Note: Books includes virtually all printed matter except periodicals (below) case reporters, statutes, and
encyclopedias.

The Rule

Bluebook Rule 15 covers how books, treatises and pamphlets should be cited in legal documents.
How to Cite Books

To cite to books, treatises or pamphlets, list the following six elements in order:
1. The volume number (if the title has more than one volume);
2. The authors' name full as it appears on the title page;
3. The title of the book (this must be underlined or italicized);
4. The page number, section number or paragraph number;
5. The edition number if the book is past its first edition; and
6. The year of publication as noted on the back of the title page.

Consider, for example, the following federal constitutional provision

2 Melville B. Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright 8.12[E] (1976)

The elements are as follows:

Element
Volume number
Author's name
Title
Section number
Edition number (in parenthesis)
Date of publication (in parentheses)

Result
2
Melville B. Nimmer
Nimmer on Copyright
8.12[E]
not applicable in this example
(1976)

Note: Not all books will contain all the elements listed above. In those instances, list only the applicable
elements in the proper order.

Note: According to Practitioner's Note 1 (P.1 on page 11) , publication names can be underlined OR set in
italics. Underlining is the more common convention. This Guide will use underlining for all appropriate
case, publication and title citation examples. Please check with your Legal Research & Writing or U.S.
Legal Discourse instructor to determine whether underlining or italics is the proper citation format.

PERIODICALS

Note: Periodicals includes law reviews, newspapers, magazines and journals. Due to the distinct nature of
how law journals and law reviews should be cited, this Guide will illustrate them separately from the
illustrations for newspapers and magazines.
The Rule

Bluebook Rule 16 covers how law reviews, newspapers, magazines and journals should be cited
in legal documents.
How to Cite Periodicals: Newspapers and Magazines

To cite to newspapers or magazines, list the following six elements in order:

1. The author's name full as it appears in the article;
2. The title of the article or headline (this must be underlined or italicized);
3. The full or abbreviated name of the newspaper or magazine;
4. The date of the article (for magazines, use the issue's cover date);
5. The word "at"; and
6. The first page of the article.

Consider, for example, the following newspaper article

David S. Cloud and Greg Jaffe, For Bush, The Path to War with Iraq Gets More Complex, Wall St. J.,
Sept. 3, 2002, at A1.

The elements are as follows:

Element
Author's name
Title
Publication abbreviation
Date of the article
"At" & Page number

Result
David S. Cloud and Greg Jaffe
For Bush, The Path to War ...
Wall St. J. (for the Wall Street Journal)
Sept. 3, 2002
at A1

How to Cite Periodicals: Law Reviews and Law Journals

To cite to law reviews or law journals, list the following six elements in order:
1. The authors' name full as it appears in the article;
2. The title of the article or headline (this must be underlined or italicized );
3. Volume number of the law review;
4. The abbreviated name of the law review;
5. The page number of the article's first page; and
6. The law review's year of publication.

Consider, for example, the following federal constitutional provision

Dan L. Burk and Julie E. Cohen, Fair Use Infrastructure for Rights Management Systems, 15 Harv. J.L.
& Tech. 41 (2001)

The elements are as follows:

Element
Authors' names
Title
Volume of law review
Abbreviation for law review

Result
Dan L. Burk and Julie E. Cohen
Fair Use Infrastructure ...
15
Harv. J.L. & Tech. (for the Harvard Journal of Law

First page
Date of publication (in parentheses)

& Technology)
73
(2001)

INTERNET RESOURCES

It is rare that you will have to cite to an Internet resource during your first year of law school.
Given the Internet's increasing prominence and credibility as a reliable source for legal
information, however, I provide a simplified example on how to cite a case found exclusively on
the Web portion of the Internet.
The Rule

Bluebook Rule 18.2 covers how Internet resources should be cited in legal documents.
How to Cite to an Internet Case Source

To cite to a case that is available exclusively on the Web portion of the Internet, list the following
five elements in order:
1. Name of the case (always underlined or italicized);
2. The court's docket number;
3. The court and the date of the decision (in parentheses);
4. The words "available at" (in italics); and
5. The URL where the decision can be found.

Consider, for example, the following federal constitutional provision

New York Times v. Tasini, No. 00-201 (U.S. June 25, 2001), available at
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/01slipopinion.html

The elements are as follows:

Element

Result

Name of the case

Docket number
Court and date of the decision
"Available at"
URL where decision can be found

New York Times v. Tasini,

No. 00-201
(U.S. June 25, 2001),
available at
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/01slipopinion.html

Note: For the sake of simplicity, the URL for this decision leads to the index page of the Supreme Court's
2001 slip opinions.
CITING TO THE RECORD

Unlike Internet resources, you will have many opportunities to cite to a deposition, interrogatory
or a trial transcript in order to develop facts for the briefs you submit for the Legal Research &
Writing or U.S. Legal Discourse classes. As a general rule of thumb, you must cite to the
record for every factual assertion you make in your brief.
The Rule

Bluebook Practitioner's Note 7 (P.7) covers how to cite to the record in legal documents; the
abbreviations that are used in citing to the record are listed in Table 8 (T.8), which begins on
page 307.
How to Cite to the Factual Record

Citing to the record is based primarily on knowing the abbreviations in Table 8 (T.8), which
begins on page 307. For example, suppose you are asserting as a fact that I saw a blue car
speeding through the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and New Jersey Avenue in northwest
Washington, D.C. The source of this fact is deposition testimony I gave two weeks ago.
Your citation for this fact would approximate the following example:
According to Mr. Dames, he was waiting to cross New Jersey Avenue outside the Edward Bennett
Williams Law Library at approximately 6:15 p.m. on Sept. 3, 2002, when he saw a blue car traveling at
approximately 70 miles per hour through the intersection of New Jersey Avenue and Massachusetts
Avenue. (Dames Dep. at 12.)

The key elements of this citation are

1. The name of the person who testified to the fact (or was the source of the written material from
which the facts were taken);
2. The abbreviation for the source material (provided in Table T.8); and
3. The page number where the fact can be found in the source material.

The elements are as follows:

Element
Name of source
Abbreviation for source material
Page number

Result
Dames
Dep.
at 12

Note: Citations to the record are always placed within parentheses.