About This Guide
The Bluebook establishes rules for citing law sources like court cases, constitutions, statutes, etc.
This guide covers a few basic rules, but it can't cover every Bluebook rule.
To learn how to cite other sources, you will need one of these books:
Both are available at the Information Desk in the Library Computer Lab.
For a printable version of this guide, see Understanding Legal Citations.
Other Helpful Sources
For an in-depth tutorial on Bluebook citations, see the following website:
Understanding Statute Citations
Statutes are published in books called codes, which present laws arranged by subject.
Statute citations have a volume, the name of the cited code, a section, and a date:
Example: 42 U.S.C. § 7706(a) (1994).
- 42 = Volume that contains the statue
- U.S.C. = Abbreviation for the United States Code
- 7706(a) = Section of the code being cited
- 1994 = Year the code volume was published
Understanding Case Citations
Court opinions are published in sets of books called reporters.
Case citations always use the case name (parties), volume, reporter, page, and year:
Example: Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 318 (1993).
- Reno v. Flores = Names of the parties
- 507 = Volume that contains the cited case
- U.S. = Abbreviation for the reporter
- 318 = Starting page number for this case
- 1993 = Year of the court decision
For lower courts, we also add the name of the court:
Example: Curry v. State, 228 S.W.3d 292 (Tex. App.—Waco 2007).
- Curry v. State = Names of the parties
- 228 = Volume that contains the cited case
- S.W.3d = Abbreviation for the reporter
- 292 = Starting page number for this case
- Tex. App.-Waco = Name of the court
- 2007 = Year of the court decision
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