This guide is designed to give a brief overview to Bluebook rules and provide some general tips on using the Bluebook. This guide is not a substitute for the Bluebook, but rather a source to be used to locate rules in 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. The Bluebook has four major parts:
Bluepages (p. 3-60) provide an abbreviated introduction to the Bluebook. Start your citation search within this section for practitioner legal writing: court documents and legal memoranda.
Whitepages (p. 61-226) supplement the Bluepages, and are helpful in areas that the Bluepages may not address. This section is for academic legal writing: journals and law reviews.
Tables (p. 227-328) offer a set of reference guides for correctly citing specific legal materials, including statutes, cases, court rules, international sources, and more. They provide standardized citation formats and abbreviations, helping you ensure consistency and accuracy when citing a variety of legal documents.
Index (p. 329-365) provides an alphabetical listing of key terms and topics found throughout the Bluebook, allowing for quick reference and easy navigation to specific rules or citation formats. The Index is an invaluable tool for locating relevant sections when you're unsure of where a specific rule or citation format is located within the Bluebook.
Check out the boxes below for more guidance about each section, along with some tips for navigation through the Bluebook.
The Bluepages at the beginning of the Bluebook (p. 3) aggregate legal citation rules for legal memoranda and documents submitted to the court. They are geared toward first-year law students, summer associates, law clerks, and practitioners. Unless your professor tells you otherwise, your assignments for Legal Research and Legal Writing will follow the Bluepages.
The rules in the Bluepages are usually abbreviated using the letter B. For example, B1 is the first rule in the Bluepages, it starts on page 3 of the Bluebook.
Where the Bluepages are silent on an issue, you will apply the rules in the Whitepages. For example, B4.1.1 gives the general rules for citing case names, but it does not give the rule for when a labor union is a party. For that rule, you would look to R10.2.1(i) in the Whitepages. However, even when you apply a rule from the Whitepages, you should still follow the typeface conventions in the Bluepages for memos and court documents.
Comparing Bluepages and Whitepages:
| Typeface | Bluepages | Whitepages |
| Italics |
Italicize:
|
Italicize or underscore:
|
| Caps | Large and Small Caps are never used! | Large and Small Caps used for authors and titles of books, titles of periodicals |
(adapted from B1)
T1 United States Jurisdictions: (p. 227)
Tells you the official source to cite for authorities at the federal level and all states and territories, along with the correct abbreviation.
T2 Foreign Jurisdictions: (free online at www.legalbluebook.com)
Helpful both for the kind of information you find for U.S. jurisdictions in T1 as well as basic information about the legal system of different countries. It also provides websites where you can find other countries' laws. This can be a really easy starting point for foreign legal research.
T6 Case Names: (p. 304)
The king of the tables! Most likely to be tabbed! This table gives you all of the quirky ways the Bluebook wants you to abbreviate case names. Some will be intuitive (Federal is "Fed."), but others won't come so easily (Shareholder is "S'holder"). That's why people put a tab on T6.
T10 Geographical Terms: (p. 312)
You'll use these to craft abbreviations for cases, periodicals, and even institutional authors. The most important thing to note is that you do not use the postal abbreviation for a state. Often it isn't very close. Mississippi is shortened to "Miss." and Ohio isn't shorted at all.
T13 Periodicals: (p. 321)
This table contains both ready-made abbreviations and pieces to make your own.
The Whitepages, which follow the Bluepages, are mostly intended for use in law journals. That qualifier "mostly" is there because the rules in the Bluepages often refer to the Whitepages for the full rule. Therefore, you will not be able to ignore the Whitepages just because you're not on a journal.
The rules in the Whitepages are usually abbreviated using the letter R. ex. R12.4 is the rule for citing session laws.
The order of the Rules in the Whitepages are:
Rule 1 tells you where to put citations, and the nitty gritty rules for citing particular authorities begin with Rule 10 for cases. What's in between are the style rules. These rules apply to everything in the Whitepages.
It pays to know these rules, or at least know where they are, before you jump into the authority-specific rules.
The Index is a valuable tool for quickly locating specific citation rules, formats, and abbreviations. It is located at the back of the book and is organized alphabetically. The Index provides page references for a variety of legal terms and citation practices, allowing you to easily find the correct formatting for sources- even when you do not know the correct term or section your question might fall within.
Quick Reference: Locate citation rules for cases, statutes, and legal materials.
Abbreviations: Find the correct abbreviations for courts, jurisdictions, and legal terms.
Example Citations: Directs you to examples of citation formats in context.
Time-Saving: Helps you quickly navigate the Bluebook without scanning every section.
The Index is a VERY helpful tool when navigating the Bluebook.
Tabbing The Bluebook can be a helpful strategy to quickly locate essential sections and rules. By marking key pages or sections with tabs, you can streamline the citation process and save time when you need to find specific citation formats or rules during writing or research. You can tab broad sections, common rules, or frequently used tables.
Tabbing helps you efficiently navigate The Bluebook, making it easier to ensure consistency and accuracy in your legal writing.