During this crisis, the publisher of The Bluebook: a Uniform System of Citations, has generously provided UW law students access to an online copy of the Bluebook.  To request access to the Bluebook, please email the law library at askuwlaw@law.wisc.edu

As law students at the UW, there any several resources that you can use to practice your citation skills online.  Listed below are a few helpful resources and tips:

Research Guides 

Citation Guide: Interpreting, Managing & Creating Bluebook Legal Cites : Citation & Writing Styles

Cornell's Legal Information Institute: Basic Legal Citation

Bluebook Guide

Cite Checking Guide for Law Reviews & Publication: Bluebook Tips

Tips to Help Law Review Editors Tackle the Bluebook

For Bluebook practice:  Use LexisNexis Interactive Citation Workstation. 

  1. Go to http://lawschool.lexis.com, enter your id/password
  2. Select LexisAdvance, select the cube menu at the top left of the screen
  3. Select the Interactive Citation Workstation

TIPS FOR LEARNING THE BLUEBOOK

Use the Bluepages for nonacademic legal documents, court documents, use for legal research & writing

Placement of Citations

Legal documents use

Scholarly writing uses

Rules 1-9 establish general standards of style
and citation

--Review these rules especially because they are
helpful for spotting and correcting errors in the text

Difference between Foreign Law & International Law

Rules 10-21 present rules for citation for specific kinds of authority --pay attention to the difference here

Foreign Law --Internal/domestic laws of a nation other than the United States

International Law--Law that governs the legal relations between or among nations

Bluebook Part III

Tables that show which authorities to cite and how to abbreviate them

Tables 1-5 show which authorities to cite and how to cite them

Tables 6-16 show how to abbreviate specific authorities

TIP: Use the index to quickly find the applicable rule

Know when and how to use
Id., Supra, and Short Form--Rules 4, 4.1, & 4.2

Tips for Determining Pagination Types--

Consecutive pagination usually for scholarly publications and Nonconsecutive pagination for popular practiced-based publications

For a list of nonconsecutively paginated legal journals,
see http://tinyurl.com/qyryofg

If you have any questions, please contact the law library: Research Help: by email, or by chat. Just ask!

Submitted by Jenny Zook, Reference Librarian on April 16, 2020

This article appears in the categories: Law Library

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