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Bluebook Citation Guide: Secondary Materials

LEGISLATIVE MATERIALS: Rule 13

Rule 13 covers how to cite to legislative materials. The Bluebook states that when citing United States legislative material (except debates), you should include the title, if relevant, the abbreviated name of the chamber, the number of the Congress, the number assigned to the material, and the year of publication. State materials are typically cited the same way.

  • Bills & Resolutions 13.2 Citations should include the name of the bill, if relevant, the abbreviated name of the house, the number of the bill, the number of the Congress, the section, and the publication year. If there are multiple versions of the same bill, you can indicate such in a parenthetical. Enacted bills are considered "statutes" for Bluebook purposes, and should be cited as such (except when documenting legislative history).
     
    • EXAMPLE: Orphan Works Act of 2008, H.R. 5889, 110th Cong. § 2 (2008).
       
  • Hearings 13.3 To cite committee hearings, you should include the entire title as it appears on the cover, the bill number, the subcommittee name, the committee name, the number of the Congress, the page number of the material cited, and the year of publication. State and federal materials follow the same form. Subcommittee and committee names may be abbreviated according to tables T6, T9, and T10.

    • EXAMPLE: Promoting the Use of Orphan Works: Balancing the Interests of Copyright Owners and Users: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, 110 Cong. 52 (2008) (Statement of Corinne P. Kevorkian). 
       

  • Bills & Resolutions 13.4 Citations to reports should include the name of the house, the number of the Congress with the number of the report, the part or page number, and the year of publication.State materials generally follow the same rules. However, if it is not clear, provide the name of the state parenthetically.

    Legislative reports, like reports from the Congressional Research Service, are cited as reports with institutional authors according to rule 15.1(c).

    EXAMPLE: H.R. Rep No. 105-452, at 5 (1998).

BOOKS & REPORTS: Rule 15

Rule 15 covers how to cite books, reports, and other non-periodic materials, such as encyclopedias.

A basic citation to a book includes the following six elements:

  1. Volume number (for multivolume works)
  2. Author's full name as it appears on the title page
  3. Title of the book (italicized or underlined)
  4. Page, section, or paragraph cited
  5. Edition (for works with multiple editions)
  6. Year of publication
  • EXAMPLE: 9C Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2552 (3d ed. 2008)

Citations to books vary based on the features of a particular publication. For example, the format is slightly different if a book has an editor rather than an author (Rule 15.2). Be sure to carefully review the publication and consult Rule 15 in order to cite it correctly. Additionally, the typeface used for books is different in academic writing. Rather than underlining the title, use small caps (Rule 15).

Tip: Rule 15.8 provides citation formats for several publications commonly used by first-year law students, such as Black's Law Dictionary and legal encyclopedias.

LAW REVIEWS & OTHER PERIODICALS: Rule 16

Rule 16 covers how to cite law reviews and journals, newspapers, and other periodic materials.

A citation to a consecutively paginated* journal article includes the following six elements:

  1. Author's full name as it appears on the article
  2. Title of the article (underlined or italicized)
  3. Volume number
  4. Journal title abbreviation (see Table 13)
  5. First page of the article
  6. Date of publication

*A consecutively paginated journal is one in which the page numbers continue throughout a volume as opposed to starting at the number one for each issue.  Most law reviews and academic journals are consecutively paginated.

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

Tip: Rule 16.7.6 describes how to cite annotations in American Law Reports (A.L.R.)

ONLINE SOURCES: Rule 18

Rule 18 covers when and how to cite online sources as well as other non-print sources (e.g., films). The rules for specific types of documents often also include a section on how to cite the online version.  For example, Rule 12.5 describes how to cite statutes on Westlaw and Lexis.

Citation formats to online sources are too varied to provide meaningful examples here, so be sure to consult Rule 18 carefully.

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