/chapter: Bluebook-Hints / APUS Legal Studies Program Writing Guide

APUS Legal Studies Program Writing Guide

Bluebook Hints

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is APUS’s preferred citation format for legal writing. Within The Bluebook are two related but slightly different styles: Bluepages and Whitepages (standard Bluebook citation). The rules in the both parts of the Bluebook are organized generally by the type of source cited. The purpose of Bluebook citation is to enable the reader to quickly and efficiently find the sources used by an author.

Bluepages (nonacademic) style is a condensed and simplified form of full Bluebook citation, created for practicing lawyers and legal assistants, law clerks, and other legal professionals. Bluepages and Whitepages citations generally look very similar, though Bluepages uses simplified typefaces and the actual citations are in the body of the document text as separate citation “sentences.”

Whitepages, or standard Bluebook citation, is used in most law schools and many court systems, as well as for academic legal writing such as law journals and reviews. This style involves using either consecutively numbered footnotes or endnotes. Additionally, the Whitepages are much more detailed than the Bluepages. If the Bluepages do not specify how to cite a particular source of legal authority, the Whitepages fill the gap.

**APUS students can generally choose the style of Bluebook citation that they are most comfortable using. Confirm with your professor whether he or she has a preference. Examples of each style are given below.

This is not an exhaustive citation list. For full citation rules in the complete Bluebook, including both Bluepages and Whitepages styles, access The Bluebook through the APUS Library.

Notes on Multiple Authors:

NOTE: This rule applies to both Whitepages and Bluepages format. Please be sure to check the type of material you are citing, as a different typeface may be used for the author’s name in some citations depending on format chosen.

Two authors: Both authors' full names are listed as they appear on the publication, with an ampersand (&) between the two names.
Three or more authors: You have two options:
1. Use the first author's full name as it appears in the publication followed by "et al." or
2. List all of the authors' names in full, separated by commas, with an ampersand (and no comma) before the last name.

Quotations Format

NOTE: Bluebook provides no information regarding line spacing.

Short quotation (any quotation of 49 or fewer words):

Use quotation marks around the quoted text. The quoted portion remains within the body of the paragraph.
Quotation marks within the material quoted should appear as single marks.
In both Whitepages and Bluepages style, the footnote or citation should immediately follow the closing quotation mark.
Periods and commas are placed within the closing single or double quotation marks. Other punctuation marks go outside of the quotations marks, unless they are part of the original text being quoted.

Block quotation (any quotation of 50 or more words):

Indent the quotation on the left and right without quotation marks.
Any quotation marks within a block quotation should appear as they do in the original text.
Citation placement:
In Whitepages style, place the footnote after the final punctuation in the indented quotation.
In Bluepages style, the citation follows the quotation, but is not indented. It should begin at the left margin immediately following the quotation.

Example Citations

Cases (Rule 10 Whitepages (page 94) & Rule B10 Bluepages (page 10))

MODEL: Names of Both Parties, Reporter Volume Number and Specific Reporter in which Case Reported and First Page of Case (Court (if applicable) and Date of Decision).

Bluepages:

United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996).
Loewen v. Turnipseed, 488 F. Supp. 1138 (N.D. Miss. 1980).

Whitepages:

United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996).
Loewen v. Turnipseed, 488 F. Supp. 1138 (N.D. Miss. 1980).

Constitutions (Rule 11 Whitepages (page 118) & Rule B11, Bluepages (page 17))

MODEL: Abbreviation for the Constitution Cited and the Abbreviation for the Amendment Cited and the Number of the Amendment Cited.

Bluepages:

U.S. Const. amend IV.
VA Const. art. I.

Whitepages:

U.S. Const. amend. IV.
VA Const. art. I.

Statutes and Court Rules (Rule 12 Whitepages (page 111) & Rule B12 Bluepages (page 18))

MODEL: Statute's Title Number (if applicable) and the Abbreviation of the Code Cited and the Section Symbol and Section Cited (Date of the Code Edition Being Cited). (Court rule citations should include the abbreviation of the rule being cited and the number of the rule in question.)

Bluepages:

42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006).
Fla. Stat. § 120.42 (2000).
Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b).

Whitepages:

42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006).
Fla. Stat. § 120.42 (2000).
Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b).

Books and other Nonperiodic Materials (Rule 15 Whitepages (page 149) & Bluepages Rule B15 (page 23))

MODEL: Author(s), Title and Pinpoint Citation of Specific Page Being Cited (Edition and Editors and Translators if applicable and Date of Publication). (Two authors are separated by an ampersand; if the book has more than 3 authors, the first author is listed with “et al.”)

Bluepages:

John H. Minan, The Little Book of Golf Law 17 (2nd ed. 2013).
Truck Accident Litigation 106 (Laura L. Ruhl & Mary Kay Owen, eds., 3rd ed. 2012).
Michael D. Wims et al., How to Try a Murder Case: Pretrial and Trial Guidelines for Prosecution and Defense 56 (2012).

Whitepages:

John H. Minan, The Little Book of Golf Law 17 (2nd ed. 2013).
Truck Accident Litigation 106 (Laura L. Ruhl & Mary Kay Owen, eds., 3rd ed. 2012).
Michael D. Wims et al., How to Try a Murder Case: Pretrial and Trial Guidelines for Prosecution and Defense 56 (2012).

Periodicals (Whitepages Rule 16 (page 147) and Bluepages Rule B16 (page 23)

MODEL: Author's Full Name, Title of the Article, Volume Number of the Journal and Journal's Abbreviation and Page on Which the Article Begins, Pinpoint Citation for Page Being Cited (Date of Publication). (Magazine citations should include the date of publication with the page number at the end of the citation.)

Bluepages:

Mary Whisner, When Judges Scold Lawyers, 96 Law Libr. J. 557, 561 (2004).
Kurt Eichenwald, The Great Smartphone War, Vanity Fair, June 2014, at 98.

Whitepages:

Mary Whisner, When Judges Scold Lawyers, 96 Law Libr. J. 557, 561 (2004).
Kurt Eichenwald, The Great Smartphone War, Vanity Fair, June 2014, at 98.

Internet Sources (Whitepages Rule 18 (page 164) & Bluepages Rule B18 (page 26))

MODEL: Name of the Author (if available), Title of the Specific Page (if applicable), Title of the Main Web Page (Day and Time of Publication), URL. (If no date of publication is available, use "last visited" and the date in parentheses at the end of the citation.)

Bluepages:

Linda Holmes, A Judge Dismisses 'The Bachelor' Discrimination Lawsuit, But Not Its Concerns, Monkey See (Oct. 16, 2012, 7:33 AM), http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2012/10/16/162992776/a-judge-dismisses-the-bachelor-discrimination-lawsuit-but-not-its-concerns.
The Onion, http://www.theonion.com/ (last visited May 9, 2015).

Whitepages:

Linda Holmes, A Judge Dismisses 'The Bachelor' Discrimination Lawsuit, But Not Its Concerns, Monkey See (Oct. 16, 2012, 7:33 AM), http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2012/10/16/162992776/a-judge-dismisses-the-bachelor-discrimination-lawsuit-but-not-its-concerns.
The Onion, http://www.theonion.com/ (last visited May 9, 2015).

Images and Figures

The Bluebook does not have any rules regarding the specific format for citation of images or illustrations. However, the Bluebook’s editors published a 2008 Blue Tip update on citing photographs, and it is appropriate to apply it to other visual images as well.

In citing a photograph or image, one generally adds the creator or photographer (if known) and the title of the image to the beginning of the full citation in which the work is created, inserting a comma and the italicized word in between the two. If the image or photograph is untitled, add the words “Photograph of” or “Illustration of” and include a description.

If the image is located on the Internet, include the full web citation. If the image is located in a physical book or other printed material, include the page number on which the image appeared in the usual pincite position (following the book’s title). If the page on which the particular image appeared is unnumbered, move the page number to the end of the citation, and include the word “following” and the last previously numbered page.

Bluepages:

Photograph with author and title, website

Alfred Eisenstaedt, V-J Day In Times Square, in V-J Day: A War, A Kiss, A Mystery, CNN (Aug. 20, 2015, 2:23 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/14/us/vj-day-kissing-sailor/.

Photograph with author and no title, website

Kort Duce, Photograph of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s Swearing In As Supreme Court Justice, in How Ruth Bader Ginsberg Became “Notorious R.B.G.”, New York Times (Nov. 3, 2015), http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/11/03/how-ruth-bader-ginsburg-became-notorious-r-b-g/.

Photograph with author and no title, book

Mary Ellen Matthews, Photograph of Monica Lewinsky As Herself and Darrell Hannah as Bill Clinton, in Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller, Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (2002), following p. 244.

Photograph with no author or title, book

Photograph of Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen and Winston Churchill, in Keith Jeffery, The Secret History of MI6 (2010), following p. 522.

Illustration with title and no author, website

Civil Court Structure, inStructure of the Courts, NYCourts.Gov (Feb. 15, 2013), https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/structure.shtml.

Whitepages:

Photograph with author and title, website

Alfred Eisenstaedt, V-J Day In Times Square, inV-J Day: A War, A Kiss, A Mystery, CNN (Aug. 20, 2015, 2:23 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/14/us/vj-day-kissing-sailor/.

Photograph with author and no title, website

Kort Duce, Photograph of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s Swearing In As Supreme Court Justice, in How Ruth Bader Ginsberg Became “Notorious R.B.G.”, New York Times (Nov. 3, 2015), http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/11/03/how-ruth-bader-ginsburg-became-notorious-r-b-g/.

Photograph with author and no title, book

Mary Ellen Matthews, Photograph of Monica Lewinsky As Herself and Darrell Hannah as Bill Clinton, in Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller, Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (2002), following p. 244.

Photograph with no author or title, book

Photograph of Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen and Winston Churchill, in Keith Jeffery, The Secret History of MI6 (2010), following p. 522.

Illustration with title and no author, website

Civil Court Structure, in Structure of the Courts, NYCourts.Gov (Feb. 15, 2013), https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/structure.shtml.