Bluebook Citation Style (21st ed.)

The Bluebook style is generally used for legal documents in the United States and is rare even for us, who work on a variety of papers. It features detailed descriptions of how different 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.

What is Bluebook Citation Style?

The Bluebook style is exclusively used for legal papers, so it can be somewhat complicated due to its focus on simple citations of various court documents. The form is a blend of 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.

Why You Need to Cite Your Sources

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:

General Principles of Bluebook Formatting

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

Cases

• First party vs. Second party
• Reporter volume number
• Reporter abbreviation
• First page of the case
• Specific page referred to
• Deciding court (omit when it coincides with the reporter)
• 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

When citing constitutions, include the following information (in the given 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

Statutes

Short form:

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

• Official name of the act
• The published source in which the act is located (if available)
• Section containing the statute (with section symbols)
• Optional: The year the source was published or the year the statute was passed

Bills and Resolutions

Short forms:

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

Hearings

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:

• Volume number (if available)
• Author’s full name
• Title
• Page cited (pincite)
• Editor(s) and translator(s) names (if applicable)
• Edition number
• Year of publication

When there are two authors, separate them by an ampersand. For three and more authors, you may either list all or write the first author and add ‘et al.’

Following are some examples of different sources cited in the Bluebook format.

Book with one or two authors

Book with more than two authors

Or you may list all authors:

Book with editor or translator

Book with no author

Multiple editions of the book

Chapter in an edited book

Write the author’s full name followed by the title of the chapter in italics, then add a comma and the word ‘in’ in italics, and the title of the book. Make sure to note the page on which the chapter begins and any pages where specific material is taken from.

Bluebook Article Citation

Scholarly journal article

For articles published in scholarly journals, include the following:

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

When citing the same work more than once, use a shortened version: author’s last name, the word ‘supra’ in italics, the number of the note in which the full citation was given, and ‘at’ followed by page number.

Magazine Articles and Newspapers

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

• Author’s name
• Article title
• Magazine or newspaper title (shortened)
• Date of publication
• The word ‘at’ + First page

When citing the same work more than once, use a shortened version: author’s last name, the word ‘supra’ in italics, the number of the note in which the full citation was given, and ‘at’ followed by page number.

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.

Web page

PDF document

Blogs

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.

Student-written law review materials

Proceedings, regular publications by institutes, and ABA section reports

Unpublished and forthcoming sources

E-mail correspondence

Interviews

Working papers

Tables and Figures in Bluebook Style

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).

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 is 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.