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Few books cause law students as much dread, pain, anger, and frustration as The Bluebook .

The Bluebook , formally titled  The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation , is the style manual for citing to legal documents within the United States. It is now in its 20th edition, more than an inch thick, and consists of over 500 pages of guidance on legal citation. Needless to say, it is large, a bit unwieldy, and challenging at first. However, it is an essential book that every lawyer should know how to use.

Most of The Bluebook , however, is irrelevant for many people who create legal documents. You can ignore more than two-thirds of the book if all you need to do is to cite cases and statutes -- which covers most of the first year of law school, and a lot of litigation. In fact, if you're dealing only with cases, litigation documents and laws, you might be able to find the answer to your question using the cheat sheet on the inside back cover.

The Bluebook

• Previous Bluebook editions

Intended Audience

This guide introduces The Bluebook and basic concepts of legal citation to new law students. It is specifically written for first-year J.D. students enrolled in Legal Practice: Writing and Analysis and L.L.M. students enrolled in U.S. Legal Research Analysis & Writing at the Georgetown University Law Center. This guide explains the organization and layout of The  Bluebook  and how to cite the most commonly cited legal materials, including cases and statutes. 

This guide does  not  include explanations of how to cite most administrative law materials, legislative history documents, or international and foreign law resources.

Georgetown University Law Center faculty, staff, and students who have citation questions or questions about this guide may contact the  Reference Desk .

Guide Organization

The rest of this guide is organized as follows:

• About the Bluebook : Basic information about The  Bluebook , including where to find copies in the Georgetown University Law Library and suggested resources for students beginning to use The Bluebook .
• Citing Cases : How to cite federal and state cases.
• Citing Statutes : How to cite federal and state statutes.
• Citing Other Resources : Basic citation formats for constitutions, federal regulations, books, law reviews, online sources, and court filings.
• Video Tutorials : Tutorials providing more information on citing cases, statutes, and law review articles.

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Update history.

Links 6/20 (SLN) Updated 11/20 (DGD) Updated 6/23 (DGD)

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• Last Updated: Jun 8, 2023 1:22 PM
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• Research guides

Researching a Legal Topic

Citing to legal documents.

The most frequently used style manual for citing to Legal Documents is the The Bluebook : a uniform system of citation.  APA, MLA and Chicago Manual of Style all refer to the Bluebook for citing to certain documents such as cases. 

Below are links to online guides and information on accessing The Bluebook.  

• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation from Legal Information Institute This website, produced at Cornell Law School, provides a "how to cite" section which is very useful.

• The Bluebook : a uniform system of citation (PRINT O'Neill Reference KF245 .B58) The Bluebook is used by most legal practitioners for proper citations to legal materials. The front cover and first page have examples of citations to cases and law review articles.

Legal Citation Basics

A legal citation is a reference to a legal document such as a case, statute, law review article, etc.

Most legal citations consist of the name of the document (case, statute, law review article), an abbreviation for the legal series, and the date. 

The abbreviation for the legal series usually appears as a number followed by the abbreviated name of the series and ends in another number.

For example: Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393 (2007) is a citation to a Supreme Court case which can be found in volume 551 of the United States Reports (U.S.) beginning on page 393.

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• Last Updated: May 22, 2024 6:12 PM
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• Tags: law laws legal laws supreme_court federal state

Legal Citation Guides and Abbreviations

Legal citation guides (us-based), legal citation guides (other countries), general (nonlegal) citation guides, legal abbreviation lists, general (nonlegal) abbreviation lists, getting help.

Part of doing legal research is citing your authorities properly and tracking down items with unfamiliar citations. This research guide lists citation manuals and dictionaries of legal abbreviations to help you with these tasks.

When filing legal documents with a court, court rules of citation apply. Consult court rules for required citation format, usually found in the jurisdiction's Rules of Procedure. When submitting written work to non-law journals, consult the journal to determine preferred citation format.

The Bluebook is the main citation manual for law in the U.S.  This guide lists Bluebook alternatives, but you should assume that Bluebook format is preferred by academic law journals and law school writing programs.

The Bluebook

• The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 21st ed. Compiled by the Law Review editors of Columbia, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale, this guide is the most widely used citation manual for law. It prescribes citation formats for most U.S. law sources. It is not comprehensive for foreign law. For guidance citing sources not addressed, see the Guide to Foreign and Legal Citation.
• The Bluebook Online, by personal, fee-based subscription The library does not have institutional access to the Bluebook online. You may purchase individual subscriptions from this page.

Bluebook Aids

• Users Guide to the Bluebook by Alan Dworsky 2020 revised for 21st ed.
• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation by Peter Martin
• Bluebook Citation for LL.M. Students (HLSL Guide)
• Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations Reversed Provides more comprehensive list of abbreviations for legal publications than the Bluebook and better guidance for online sources like press releases, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

Bluebook Alternatives

• ALWD Guide to Legal Citation, 7th ed. From the Association of Legal Writing Directors, this alternative to the Bluebook follows Bluebook-prescribed format but provides more examples and requires more bibliographic information for some sources.
• (The Maroonbook) The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation Created as a practical alternative to the Bluebook, the Maroonbook sets general guidelines and encourages the use of common sense when devising non-prescribed citation formats.
• The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style by Bryan Garner 4th ed. Covers citation format but also style guidance for punctuation, capitalization and grammar. 3d edition available at same call number.
• Universal Citation Guide (Harvard login) Authored by the American Association of Law Libraries, this legal citation guide suggests a vendor-neutral format to facilitate the citation of online legal sources.
• The Indigo Book: An Open and Compatible Implementation of A Uniform System of Citation Free citation manual similar to the Bluebook system of legal citation.

Foreign and International Citation Guides

• UCIA, Universal Citation in International Arbitration Covers citation formats for international arbitration including International Court Decisions, supporting documentary materials and arbitral proceedings.
• Bluebook Table 2 Foreign Jurisdictions Citation formats for materials of non-U.S. jurisdictions is available free online.
• Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations, 2d. ed. From the NYU Journal of International Law & Politics, this guide provides citation formats for non-U.S. and International legal materials.

State Specific Legal Citation Guides

• California Style Manual (Westlaw login)
• Uniform Maine Citations
• Massachusetts SJC Official Reports Style Manual
• New York Law Reports Style Manual
• New York Rules of Citation
• A Guide to South Carolina Legal Research and Citation
• (Texas) Manual on Usage and Style (Texas)
• Wisconsin Guide to Citation

Tax Citation Guides

• Citation and Style Manual U.S. Dept. of Justice Tax Division
• The Canadian Tax Foundation Style Guide
• TaxCite: A Federal Tax Citation and Reference Manual The American Bar Association Section of Taxation and the Virginia Tax Review authored this manual for citing tax-related documents. Tax materials are not comprehensively addressed by the Bluebook.

U.S. Court and Government Citation Manuals and Style Guides

• The Supreme Court's Style Guide The style manual used by the Reporter of Decisions of the U.S. Reports. It is not prescriptive to brief-writers, but the style suggestions are worth noting.
• 7th Circuit's Requirements and Suggestions for Typography
• Fed. Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 32, Form of Briefs, Appendices, and Other Papers (Lexis login)
• U.S. GPO Style Manual: An Official Guide to the Form and Style of Federal Government (Harvard login)

Citation Guides for Foreign Law

• Guide to Foreign and Legal Citations, 2nd ed. Editors from the New York University School of Law's Journal of International Law and Politics have prepared this citation manual focusing on foreign jurisdictions and international law.
• HOLLIS Search for Legal Citation Manuals Add a jurisdiction on the second line to search for citation manuals for a specific jurisdiction.
• International Citator & Research Guide: the Greenbook Four volumes currently available of planned 6-volume reference work focused on foreign and international legal materials.

Jurisdiction-Specific Citation Guides

• Australian Guide to Legal Citation
• Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (McGill Guide)
• (Germany) Abkürzungsverzeichnis der Rechtssprache
• (Great Britain) Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations
• (Great Britain) OSCOLA: Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities
• (Great Britain) How to Cite Legal Authorities
• (India) Standard Indian Legal Citation Order a copy of the working draft.
• (New Zealand) Style Guide
• (Quebec) Références Législatives, Jurisprudentielles et Doctrinales: Guide Pour le Droit Québécois
• The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. (Harvard login)
• MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd ed.
• APA Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
• Harvard Referencing Harvard referencing is an in-text, author-date style. You will see references to Harvard citation format on HOLLIS records. There is no official guide to the format.
• (Turabian) A Manual for Writers for Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style, 8th ed.
• The Chicago Guide to Writing About Numbers, 2d ed. Useful for researchers presenting statistical information.
• Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More, 2d ed.
• The Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources: a Manual for Writers & Librarians

Citation Management Software

• Citation Tools at Harvard Compares Endnote, Mendeley, and Zotero and provides basic information about each.

Citation Guides for Online Sources

The Bluebook has a rule for citing Internet resources, but the following guides are more detailed and may provide extra guidance.

• The Columbia Guide to Online Style
• APA Quick Style Guide See Quick Answers for citing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
• Citing Electronic Resources by the Internet Public Library

Abbreviations used in legal citation are often inscrutable, e.g., 54 F.R.D. 85 or 32 L. Ed. 2d 95. Before you can track down a publication, you need to figure out its complete title. The following abbreviation lists are usage oriented and include variants of citations as well as standard forms.

In addition to those listed here, Harvard Law School Library has many other jurisdiction-specific legal abbreviation lists. To locate them, use this  HOLLIS search and add your jurisdiction.

• Prince's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (Formerly Bieber's) The most used list of legal abbreviations. Use it to find the full name of the reporter, code, or other legal source for which you only have the abbreviation.
• World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations by Igor Kavass Provides the full name of legal publications from many countries by their abbreviations. For historical research, there is an appendix covering pre-1607.
• Black's Law Dictionary (Westlaw login) Has appendix for law-related abbreviations.
• Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations by Donald Raistrick Focus is legal publications from the Commonwealth countries.
• Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations Free online tool for abbreviations from the U.K. and Commonwealth countries.
• Noble's Revised International Guide to the Law Reports Lists full titles for the array of English law reporter abbreviations.

The following lists are in addition to legal abbreviation lists.  They will help you find the full names or words from government, legal, medical, military, and technical abbreviations.

Abbreviations and Acronyms Lists

• Acronym Finder
• Abbreviations.com
• Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary (Harvard login) Use catalog link to online version.
• International Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary International in coverage, but weak for U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
• GovSpeak: A Guide to Government Acronyms & Abbreviations Acronyms and abbreviations used by the U.S. Government. Does not include military terms.
• DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (large pdf) Includes acronyms.

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Bluebook Citation for Legal Materials

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The Bluebook style guide is used in the American legal profession for citation of all relevant sources. Additionally, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends its use for all citation of legal material. What follows is a summary of the basics. It should be noted that the Bluebook system goes into significant complexity on most of these points, but the following is the level of detail it recommends for the basic needs of, e.g., a student.

It should also be noted that, depending on the document, underlines may be substituted for italics and vice versa – as long as one is consistent.

Short Form Citations

Once you have cited a given authority in full once, you may use a short-form citation subsequently. The specific content of a short form citation is flexible, but varies by the type of authority being cited. Acceptable short forms for a given citation will be covered in each entry.

Short forms may also use id.  to indicate that this citation is from the same authority as the previous.  

Court Cases

Citation of a court case requires the following components:

• The name of the case
• The source where you found the case
• The court where the case was decided
• The year the decision took place

The citation may be followed by other parenthetical information, such as a brief explanation of the case’s relevance or a quotation from that case. This may be followed by subsequent history of the case, e.g., later affirmations of the decision, if you so choose.

In citing the name of the case, one generally summarizes. If there are multiple plaintiffs or multiple defendants, one only lists the first party in each category. Moreover, the names of individuals within the case name are shortened to surname only – no first or middle names, no initials, no “aka” or “et al.”

In general, one should abbreviate to the degree possible without losing necessary information. The Bluebook recommends, for example, shortening any procedural phrases to abbreviations such as “In re” or “Ex parte”, as well as using any commonly-understood abbreviations to shorten the names of the parties, e.g. “Univ.” rather than “University”. Names of the source and the court are also generally abbreviated; in the example citation below, Federal Rules Decisions is shortened to “F.R.D.”, and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania is abbreviated to “W.D. Pa.” Sources and courts tend to have official abbreviations for this purpose, which are generally conspicuously provided for anyone needing to cite them.

The page number in a case citation is the page on which that case begins in the source. If you wish to reference a specific page as well as the general case, separate that page reference with a comma. For instance, if your reference is a case that begins on page 100 of your source, but you want to point specifically to a statement six pages in, the page number in your citation would be “100, 106”.

In the short-form citation of a case, you are free to shorten the case name to only the   first party, or even an abbreviated form of that party’s title. If, however, the first party is a governmental entity, geographical unit, or other such creation, this may not be a helpful citation. (Since there are so many cases where the first party is, for example, the U.S. government, citing a case name as “United States” doesn’t narrow it down enough to be useful). In these cases, cite instead by the name of the second party.

If you are citing a specific point in the case, you may use only that page number and eliminate the page that the case begins on. If you are still citing the case as a whole, retain the page number on which the case begins.

Shortened Case Name , Source at page number.

Ex rel. Mayo , 54 F.R.D. at 282.  

Constitutions

When citing the constitution of a governmental entity, use the abbreviated title of the constitution, then specify to which subdivision of said document you are referring. Some helpful abbreviations for those subdivisions are as follows:

Set the title of the constitution in small caps if possible. The subdivisions should then be listed, separated by commas, in order of decreasing size.

Constitition Title  subdivision, subdivision.

Tenn. Const.  art. IX, §3.

If you are citing a section of that constitution which has since been amended or repealed, note the date of that fact in parentheses at the end of the citation, e.g.

U.S. Const.  amend. XVIII (repealed 1933).

If the entire constitution is no longer in effect, add the date at which the constitution was originally adopted to the citation as follows:

Md. Const.  of 1864, art. XXIV.

If the section of a defunct constitution you are citing was adopted in a different year than the constitution as a whole, then include that year as well, e.g.

Ala. Const. of 1819, amend. III (1850).

There is no short form for constitutional citations.

Statutes, Laws, and Codes

To cite a federal statute, you need to include:

• The title of the act
• The source in which it is found
• The year in which it was enacted (session laws) OR the year in which the source was published (codes).
• The chapters or section(s) being referred to.

State statutes follow a similar structure, but whenever possible, one should simply cite the appropriate section of the code.

Act Title, Source § number (year).

The Guano Islands Act, 48 U.S.C. ch. 8 §§1411-12 (2012).

Ga. Code Ann. § 39-2-17 (2016).

As with constitutional citations above, if the statute has been repealed or amended, indicate this fact and the year it occurred in parentheses at the end of the citation. You may also include additional information in the same fashion.

Utah Crim. Code § 76-7-104 (1973) (repealed 2019).

Short form citations for statutes need to include the section number as well as the minimum information necessary to identify which of your previously-cited authorities the citation refers to. An appropriate short form for the Guano Islands Act above, for instance, could be:

48 U.S.C. §§1411-12

Bills and Resolutions

To cite a bill or resolution, include:

• Title of bill if needed
• Document number
• Term and session of the legislative body
• Relevant sections
• Year published

For bills passed in state legislative bodies rather than federal, you should also include the state.

Act Title, Document Number, Term # Legislative Body, Session § number (State year).

Student Protection Act, H.R. 2625, 113 th  Cong. § 3 (2013).

Floor Amendment 1 to S.B. 459. 42 nd  Leg., 1 st  Sess. § 2 (N.M. 1995).

In short-form citations, it is sufficient to cite by document number, though to avoid confusion, one should specify the state unless discussing a federal law.

Ga. H.B. 677

When citing a hearing, include:

• The full title as published
• The relevant bills, if any
• The committee
• The term & session of the legislative body
• The year of publication
• The name and titles of the individual providing a statement
• Relevant page numbers

Title: Hearing on Bill Before the Committee , Term & Session page numbers (year) (statement of Firstname Lastname, Titles).

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations for 2003: Hearing before the H. Subcomm. on Education Appropriations , 107 th  Cong. (2002) (statement of Elmo Monster, Sesame Street Muppet).

Protecting America’s Harvest:  Hearing on H.R. 2414 Before the H. Subcomm. on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law , 111 th  Cong. (2010) (statement of Stephen Colbert, Host, The Colbert Report, Comedy Central Studios)

Note: No method of writing short-form citations for hearings is listed in the Bluebook.

Introduction to Basic Legal Citation

Peter W. Martin, Cornell Law School

Copyright Year: 2013

Publisher: CALI's eLangdell® Press

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Robert Kerr, Professor, University of Oklahoma on 1/12/15

This book is comprehensive in relation to its objective, which is not comprehensiveness in terms of a citation reference work but rather in providing a tutorial on citing on the most widely referenced types of U.S. legal material. That objective... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book is comprehensive in relation to its objective, which is not comprehensiveness in terms of a citation reference work but rather in providing a tutorial on citing on the most widely referenced types of U.S. legal material. That objective is fully achieved and the text provides a valuable resource to anyone engaged in legal writing, especially in that it considers both local norms as well as changes in citation practice that have been required with so many legal sources shifting from print to digital. It should be noted that its focus is the forms of citation used in professional practice, rather than in law journals, so it will be more helpful to writers seeking assistance with the former than the latter.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

No errors of fact or any pattern of bias in presentation were evident to this reviewer.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content of this book is currently up-to-date, although the subject matter is one that does require frequent updates. However, given that updated editions have been issued frequently, including as recently as 2010, 2011, and 2012, so one can reasonably anticipate that will continue. Additionally, it features a companion “wiki” that allows users to ask questions, offer comments and elaboration, etc.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is presented in prose that most readers should find lucid and accessible, especially the type of readers who are most likely to use this book -- law students and legal practitioners. However, in this reviewer’s assessment, even lay readers who might be seeking assistance in writing legal petitions, etc. It would be impossible to write a how-to book on legal citation without utilizing a considerable degree of jargon/technical terminology, but this one quite effectively provides sufficient context. That probably derives at least in part from its origins as a response to a group of law students in the early 1990s who were seeking assistance in learning citation.

Consistency rating: 5

This book does maintain consistency in terminology and framework, even though it is dealing with a topic in which inconsistency of that sort is a hazard.

Modularity rating: 4

This is a text that can without question be divided into smaller reading sections, which could be assigned in any way preferred by an instructor. Enhancing that modularity is the extensive hyperlinking throughout the book, including the table of contents, so that readers can quite easily move back and forth through the book, quickly focusing and refocusing on almost any series of related points that might prove most useful to the individual user.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This reviewer found the text to be organized in a manner that provided for a quite coherent structure and natural flow. The introductory unit helps the reader understand the basic reasons that such highly specialized forms of citation are utilized, and then moves into one “how to cite” unit that is followed by a related unit that can provide review on the preceding unit or alternative approaches to citation problems as necessary. As noted before, in a book like this, in which readers will more often be seeking specific assistance rather than a narrative reading experience, the hyperlinking throughout also enhances the organizational flow.

Interface rating: 5

This reviewer encountered no significant or even minor interface issues. The text does not feature images or charts as they are usually thought of, but it does provide frequent examples offset in boxes that are free of distortion and quite helpful.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors were evident to this reviewer.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

This book does not use examples that are either inclusive or exclusive of any races, ethnicities, or backgrounds. But that is because it focuses strictly on providing guidance for making the references necessary in legal writing to statutes, regulations, secondary literature, journal articles, etc. -- the technical language of legal citation. All its examples are examples of how to format such references.

Even though this book is a reference work on a not particularly entertaining topic, this reviewer enjoyed reading it and expects to find occasions to utilize it both for citation assistance and contextual guidance.

Table of Contents

• 1-000. Basic Legal Citation: What and Why?
• 2-000. How to Cite
• 3-000. Examples - Citations Of
• 4-000. Abbreviations and Omissions Used in Citations
• 5-000. Underlining and Italics
• 6-000. Placing Citations in Context
• 7-000. Reference Tables

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This is not a comprehensive citation reference work. Its limited aim is to serve as a tutorial onhow to cite the most widely referenced types of U.S. legal material, taking account of localnorms and the changes in citation practice forced by the shift from print to electronic sources.It begins with an introductory unit. That is followed immediately by one on "how to cite" thecategories of authority that comprise a majority of the citations in briefs and legalmemoranda. Using the full table of contents one can proceed through this material insequence. The third unit, organized around illustrative examples, is intended to be used eitherfor review and reinforcement of the prior "how to" sections or as an alternative approach tothem. One can start with it since the illustrative examples for each document type are linkedback to the relevant "how to" principles.

The sections on abbreviations and omissions, on typeface (italics and underlining), and onhow citations fit into the larger project of legal writing that follow all support the precedingunits. They are accessible independently and also, where appriopriate, via links from theearlier sections. Finally, there are a series of cross reference tables tying this introduction tothe two major legal citation reference works and to state-specific citation rules and practices.

The work is also designed to be used by those confronting a specific citation issue. For suchpurposes the table of contents provides one path to the relevant material. Another, to whichthe bar at the top of each major section provides ready access, is a topical index. This index isalphabetically arrayed and more detailed than the table of contents. Finally, the searchfunction in your e-book reader software should allow an even narrower inquiry, such as oneseeking the abbreviation for a specific word (e.g.,institute) or illustrative citations for aparticular state, Ohio, say.

If the device on which you are reading this e-book allows it, the pdf format will enable you toprint or to copy and paste portions, large or small, into other documents. However, since thev work is filled with linked cross references and both the table of contents and index rely onthem, most will find a print copy far less useful than the electronic original.

About the Contributors

Peter W. Martin , the Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law, Emeritus, and former dean of Cornell Law School, writes, speaks, and consults on topics that concern the impact of technology on the functioning of law and legal institutions.

After his graduation from Harvard Law School, Professor Martin spent three years in the Air Force General Counsel's Office, and then began his teaching career at the University of Minnesota Law School in 1967. He joined the Cornell Law School Faculty in 1972, and served as Dean from 1980 to 1988.

Professor Martin co-founded Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII) with Thomas R. Bruce in 1992, the first Internet law resource and still the most heavily used non-profit legal Web site. In addition to serving as the LII's co-director for over a decade, Professor Martin has created an electronic treatise and database on Social Security law, a Web reference, ebook, and accompanying online tutorials on legal citation, and written numerous articles on uses of digital technology in law and legal education. Between 1996 and 2007 he offered law courses employing electronic materials prepared by him to students at over a dozen law schools via the internet. His most recent articles are available on SSRN. He blogs at: citeblog.access-to-law.com 

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Bluebooking and Legal Citation

Legal citation in law school, legal citation in practice, legal citation in california, major citation styles, flexible citation styles, specialized citation styles.

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Q: What citation style should you use in law school?

A: Whatever your professor tells you to.

Some professors prefer Bluebook style, others prefer the California Style Manual, and many have specific rules for citing particular sources.

If your professor's instructions conflict with a style manual's rules, follow your professor's instructions.

Q: What citation style will you use in practice?

A: Whatever the court tells you to.

Just like professors, different courts prefer different citation styles and many have specific rules for citing particular sources.

The Bluebook's Table BT2  summarizes the style requirements of courts throughout the U.S.

When courts do not have specific style requirements, Bluebook style is the safest, standard option.

When in doubt, you can also consult legal writing guides, look at the style used in cases published by the court, or ask a more experienced attorney.

California state courts prefer for attorneys to use the California Style Manual but allow them to use the Bluebook. However, the courts always require attorneys to cite to the official reporters (Cal., Cal. App., and Cal. App. Supp.) rather than the Bluebook-mandated unofficial reporters (P. and Cal. Rptr.)

• Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1.200 Requires use of the Bluebook or the California Style Manual
• Advisory Committee Comment, Cal. Rules of Court, Rule 8.204 Encourages attorneys to use the California Style Manual
• Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1113(c) Requires citation to the official reporters (Cal., Cal. App., and Cal. App. Supp.), rather than the unofficial reporters (P. and Cal. Rptr.)

The Ninth Circuit and Central District Courts do not require a particular citation style, but Bluebook style is considered standard.

The courts do have rules for the citation of specific materials: 

• 9th Circ. R. 36-3 Citing unpublished materials
• C.D. Cal. R. 11-3.9 Citing Acts of Congress, regulations, and cases
• Bank. C.D. Cal. R. 9013-2(c) Citing Acts of Congress, regulations, and cases
• Bankr. C.D. Cal. R. ch. 4 n. 1 Citing to bankruptcy rules
• C.D. Cal. Crim R. 61-1 Citing to criminal rules

For lawyers practicing in California, the most important citation styles to know are the Bluebook, the California Style Manual, and, to a lesser extent, the ALWD Style Manual.

The Bluebook's rigid, ultra-specific citation style has generated significant criticism over the years and prompted the development of styles that emphasize flexible, general guidelines.

Although these flexible styles have never come into general use, they help place the Bluebook in context by demonstrating radically different approaches to legal citation.

Just as California has the California Style Manual, some other states also have their own style manuals, such as Texas's Greenbook and the Michigan Appellate Opinion Manual . Likewise, many foreign jurisdictions have their own style manuals, such as Australia's Australian Guide to Legal Citation or Canada's McGill Guide . Finally, there are a few specialized style manuals for particular types of material, such as the National Labor Relations Board 's style manual for its own materials.

Listed below is a small selection of specialized style manuals available through the library. For complete information on specialized U.S. style manuals, see Table BT2 of the Bluebook . For complete information on foreign style manuals see the individual country entries in the Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations.

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Q. What is the format for the bibliography for Law coursework and dissertations? (OSCOLA)

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Answered By: Claire Mazer Last Updated: 16 Oct, 2023     Views: 23358

**Please check for current guidance from Brunel Law School**

In academic work more generally, a bibliography is typically used to show everything you have cited and anything else you have read, even if not cited. Recent advice from the Law School suggests that academic colleagues only wished for cited works to appear in the bibliography and not anything else. So, if you have read a source (book, article etc) , but not cited it in your footnotes, then don't include it in your bibliography.

Bibliography format for law coursework: The key points to note are that sources need to be in categories, with primary sources (cases, legislation) listed first, followed by secondary sources (books, journals, websites) all in alphabetical and then chronological order. Note that case names appear in plain text and not italics.

Note that authors names are inverted. Surname appears first followed by the initial of the first name and then a comma, i.e. Choo A, or Natile S, This does not apply to company, departmental or organisational names (including law firms and barristers chambers), i.e. European Commission, Ministry of Justice, British Red Cross, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which remain as they are in both footnotes and the bibliography.

Electronic versions of cases and journal articles: Many cases and journal articles can be found in legal databases such as Westlaw, Lexis+ etc. However, it is not necessary to cite databases as the source. Almost all law reports and journals are available in printed form. The citation itself is sufficient since it includes the law report or journal in which the case was reported or journal article was published. There are a few journals where only an electronic version is available, usually the clue is in the title: The Internet Journal of Criminology. For these titles it is necessary to add the URL in triangular brackets and the date it was accessed.

Here is a sample bibliography:

Bibliography

Pepper v Hart [1993] AC 593 (HL)

Mastercard Inc v Merricks [2021] Bus LR 25

R v Brockway (Andrew Robert) (2008) 2 Cr App R (S) 4

R v Edwards (John) (1991) 93 Cr App R 48

Legislation

Crime and Disorder Act 1998

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

Dembour M-B, Who believes in human rights?: reflections on the European Convention (Cambridge University Press 2006)

Herring J, Criminal Law: Text and Materials (9th edn, OUP 2020)

Norrie A, Crime, Reason and History (3rd edn, Cambridge University Press 2014)

Ashworth A, ‘Social Control and “Anti-Social Behaviour”: the Subversion of Human Rights’ (2004) 120 LQR 263

Behan C and O'Donnell I, 'Prisoners, Politics and the Polls: Enfranchisement and the Burden of Responsibility' (2008) 48(3) Brit J Criminol 31

Stephens-Chu G, ‘Is it Always All About the Money? The Appropriateness of Non-Pecuniary Remedies in Investment Treaty Arbitration’ (2014) 30(4) Arbitration International 661

Gazard B, ‘What’s happened to crime during the pandemic? How ONS has responded to the measurement challenge’ ( Office for National Statistics , 25 August 2020) <https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2020/08/25/whats-happened-to-crime-during-the-pandemic-how-ons-has-responded-to-the-measurement-challenge/> accessed 16 December 2020

Gowin J, ‘Can We Predict Crime Using Brain Scans?’ ( You, Illuminated. Psychology Today, 2013)  <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-illuminated/201304/can-we-predict-crime-using-brain-scans> accessed 20 October 2020

Metropolitan Police, ‘What is hate crime?’ ( Metropolitan Police, 2021) < https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/hco/hate-crime/what-is-hate-crime/ > accessed 26 February 2021

Bibliography format for law dissertations: Broadly the same as above except that separate tables of cases / legislation / EU or International legal materials (as applicable) should appear between the end of the dissertation and the beginning of the bibliography. The purpose of the bibliography at dissertation level is to provide a list of secondary sources, i.e. books, journals, online documents, websites, blogs.

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Law: Referencing

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Study Skills

• Legal Research Certification
• Referencing
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Law - Referencing

Referencing is the academic practice of acknowledging the sources you have used in your work. Sources may be other people's words and ideas, or legal authorities such as legislation and case law.

Referencing demonstrates your ethical use of information, the range of your research and reading, provides authority to your arguments, enables others to find materials cited, and avoids accusations of plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the use of another person's work without proper acknowledgment. Most plagiarism is unintentional and the result of poor academic practice. It's is important to reference when directly quoting or paraphrasing another person's work. 

Referencing styles are sets of rules governing referencing practice. They prescribe the type, order and format of information in a reference. There are 3 main types of referencing style: in-text, footnote and endnote. Always check what referencing style is required by your department or assessment, as there may be local interpretations.

Cite Them Right

An introduction to the general principles of referencing, including why, when and how to reference.

Research & Academic Support Librarian

OSCOLA Workshops

Learn OSCOLA at our Introduction to OSCOLA workshops. Learn about footnote referencing, how to cite primary and secondary sources of legal information, how to do subsequent citations using short forms and ibids, and how to structure your bibliography. 

Appointments

Your Research & Academic Support Librarian is available for 1-2-1 appointments, both on-campus and online, and can advise on all library, research and referencing matters.

Referencing Software

Referencing software allows you to manage references, insert citations and create a bibliography, in your referencing style.

EndNote is referencing software from Clarivate. EndNote Desktop supports the OSCOLA referencing style. EndNote is available from Warwick IT Services, and is supported by Warwick Library. Please see the EndNote LibGuide for further information. 

OSCOLA Referencing Style

The  Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA)  is the referencing style used by the Warwick Law School and by law schools and legal publishers across the UK. It was developed by the University of Oxford and is free to download from the official OSCOLA website :

Referencing in Law Exams

Introduction.

• Law School Guidance

Question:   "Do I need to do OSCOLA referencing in exams?"  Answer:   No

OSCOLA referencing is required for essays and dissertations but not for examinations. In examinations, you need to acknowledge your source, but this should be done in-text (in brackets) and does not require footnotes or a bibliography.

• If citing any authorities, include the name/title in the main body of your text (not in footnotes/references)
• If citing secondary sources, include the author, an abbreviated source title and the year (in brackets in main body of your text)
• If using a direct quotation, you must use "quotation marks" and acknowledge the source in your text

Examples of how to reference in law examinations:

• Cases   Name of Case  (Year) e.g.  Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton  (2021)
• Legislation   Title of Legislation Year e.g. Human Rights Act 1998
• Books  (Author,  Short Title of Book  Year) e.g. (Bradney,  How to Study Law  2021)
• Articles  (Author, 'Short Title of Article' Year) e.g. (Carr, 'Women in Commercial Law' 2020)

The Law School's current  guidance on examinations states:

• The word limit applies to the aggregate number of words used to answer all questions, and reflects the specified time set for the exam within the 24-hour period. It excludes footnotes/references, but footnotes/references will not be marked, and you will not be given credit for them. The limit is an upper bound on your wordcount and not a target. In answering all required questions, you may write less if you wish. As with any normal exam, you should put citations of authorities and names of authors in the main body of your answer text if you wish to gain credit for them. You are allowed to access module materials, notes, resources, references and the Internet.
• You are not required to use footnotes or include a bibliography. You should include a treaty/ statutory provision or case name for any legal proposition you reference. You do not need to provide the full case citation If you are using a direct quote from a source, you must use quotation marks (see Academic Integrity). It is sufficient to merely state the author of the quote, an abbreviated source and a date. All references should be made in brackets in the body of the essay.

OSCOLA - An Introduction

Bibliography, subsequent citations, secondary referencing.

OSCOLA is a guide to referencing key United Kingdom legal materials including primary sources (legislation and case law), and secondary sources (books and articles). OSCOLA is not a guide to academic or legal writing, nor is it a guide to writing law essays or dissertations.   

OSCOLA provide some guidance to referencing European Union and International primary sources, but no guidance to referencing primary sources from foreign jurisdictions. If referencing foreign legal materials, writers should follow referencing guidance from the home jurisdiction. 

OSCOLA provides referencing rules and examples for the main types of legal information; but it is not comprehensive, and it does not provide referencing rules of all types of information, especially non-legal information. If you are referencing materials not mentioned in OSCOLA, follow the general principles and be consistent. 

OSCOLA is a footnote referencing style . With footnote referencing, numbered footnote markers (superscript numbers) are inserted into your text, normally at the end of your sentence, immediately after the full-stop.¹ You can position footnote markers within your sentence if it improves clarity, e.g. after a semi-colon;² or comma,³ or after a  Case Name.  The reference is written in a corresponding numbered footnote at the bottom of the page. The footnote is closed with a full-stop. 

Insert footnotes

Most word processing software includes footnote referencing functionality. In Microsoft Word, click on the 'References' menu, and then 'Insert Footnote'. Refer to your word processing software’s help pages for further information.

How to Insert Footnotes and Endnotes in Microsoft Word.

Multiple references

• A single footnote may include more than one reference. All references should be separated with a semi-colon (;).
• List primary sources (legislation and case law) before secondary sources (books and articles), and legislation before case law.
• If you have more than one reference of the same type, list them chronologically, with the oldest one first. 

When not to footnote

If you state the full title and year (and section where appropriate) of legislation in the main body of your text, you do not need to repeat the information in a footnote. Omit the footnote entirely but include the full reference in the Table of Authorities.

If you state the full name of the case in the main body of your text, you only need to include the case citations in the footnote. Omit the case name from the footnote, but include the citations only. Include the full reference in the Table of Authorities.

A bibliography is a list of sources or references cited in the work. OSCOLA requires a bibliography only for longer works i.e. monographs and dissertations/theses, not shorter works i.e. journal articles or essays. At law school, it is common practice to include a bibliography at the end of an essay. Please check your assessment guidance for further information.

With OSCOLA, the bibliography is split into two section:  Table of Authorities  (for primary sources) and  Bibliography  (for secondary sources). Generally, references are copied and pasted from the footnotes to the bibliography, although some minor formatting may also be required.

Table of Authorities

A Table of Authorities   is a  list of primary sources  (legislation and case law) cited in the work. Normally there is a Table of Cases and a Table of Legislation . There may be additional tables depending on the length of work, and volume and types of sources cited.

In the  Table of Cases , cases are listed in A-Z order by party name. Copy and paste the reference (case name and citations) from the footnote to the table. Remove any italics from the case name, any pinpoints for quoted pages/paragraphs, and the full-stop at the end of the reference.

In the  Table of Legislation , list all Acts/Statutes in A-Z order by title, and then all Statutory Instruments in A-Z order by title. Copy and paste the references from the footnote to the table. Remove any italics from the legislation name, any pinpoints for quoted section numbers, and the full-stop at the end of the reference.

If you have cited legislation or case law from other jurisdictions, you should separate references by jurisdiction, and list international materials first, followed by regional materials i.e. European Union, and then by each national jurisdiction i.e. United Kingdom. If you have a large number of references, you may wish to have a separate table for each jurisdiction.

The bibliography is a  list of secondary sources  (books, journals and other commentary) cited in the work. There is only one bibliography, and references are listed in A-Z order by author's surname. You do not need to organise the bibliography into sections by material type unless otherwise instructed in your assessment guidance.

In the bibliography, copy and paste the references from the footnote to the bibliography. Invert the authors' name: from first name last name format, to last name initial format. Remove any pinpoints for quoted pages/paragraphs, and the full-stop at the end of the reference. Keep the italic font in the book or journal titles.

Personal authors (a person) should be presented as First Name Surname in the footnote e.g. Jackie Hanes, and Surname, Initials in the bibliography e.g. Hanes, J  OSCOLA uses little punctuation and there are no periods after or between initials.

Corporate authors (an organisation) should be presented as the full name of the organisation, in both footnotes and the bibliography e.g. University of Warwick.

Titles and postnominals

Give the author's name as it appears in the publication, including for judges, but omit titles e.g. Lord/Lady or Sir/Dame and postnominals e.g. QC/KC.

Multiple authors

If citing between 1 and 3 authors, you should list all authors names, in the order listed on the source, in both the footnotes and the bibliography.

• One author: Smith (2022)
• Two authors: Smith and Jones (2022)
• Three authors: Smith, Jones and Patel (2022)

If citing 4 or more authors names, you should list only the first author's name, followed by words 'and others'. Do not use et al .

• Four authors +: Patel and others (2022)

Some sources have an editor instead of, or as well as, an author. If citing an editor, include the abbreviation ed (for a single editor) or eds (for multiple editors) in round brackets, after the editor(s) name(s) e.g. Jackie Hanes (ed) or Hanes, J (ed).

• Short quotations, up to 3 lines of text, should be incorporated into your text, within 'single quotation marks'. 
• Longer quotations, over 3 lines of text, should be presented in an indented paragraph, without quotation marks.

Page numbers

All direct quotations and paraphrasing should be referenced by a footnote, including the page, paragraph or section number(s) of the original source at the end of the footnote. OSCOLA uses limited page number signals: if citing a book, book chapter or report, the page number(s) stand alone at the end of the footnote (do not use p. or pp. or at). If citing a journal article or law report, where the reference ends with the first page number, you should separate the numbers with a comma i.e. first page, quoted page.

The first time a source is cited, it should be referenced in full, normally in a footnote. If the source is cited again, the subsequent references can be abbreviated, using either ibid or a short form and cross-reference. You are advised to leave ibids and short forms until your work is finished, as the numbering of footnotes may change during editing, and may lead to incorrect cross-references.

Ibid is an abbreviation of the Latin ibidem, meaning 'in the same place'. In referencing it is used to refer to the immediately preceding footnote. If you cite a source, and then cite the same source in the very next footnote, you can use 'ibid' in place of the full reference. If you are citing the same source, but at a different page number, simply add a comma after ibid and then the new page number.

Short forms and cross-references are used to reference to other previous footnotes, where they are not immediately preceding. If you cite a source, and then cite the same source later in your work, you can use a short form and cross reference to the original footnote.

For books and articles, the short form is normally the author's surname. For case law, the short form is normally the first party name, in italics. The short form is followed by the letter 'n' and a number in (round brackets) e.g. Smith (n 5). N is an abbreviation for footnote number, and the number is the number of the footnote containing the original full reference. If you are citing the same source, but at a different page number, simply add the new page number to the end of the reference.

Full reference of Secondary Source (as cited in Full reference of Primary Source, Page)

• Benjamin Bowing,  Violent Racism: Victimization, Policing, and Social Context . (OUP 1998) (as cited in Steve Case and others (eds), The Oxford Textbook on Criminology (2nd edn, OUP 2012) 212).

If you are reading a source, and it mentions another source, you may wish to cite the other source in your work.

The best academic practice is to find and read the original source and then cite it directly. If you are unable to find the original source, you can cite it indirectly, 'as cited in', another source. This practice of  indirect citation  is known as  secondary referencing .

The primary source is the one you have read; the secondary source is the one you have read about. You should cite the full reference of both sources in your footnote, but only the primary source in your bibliography. Be careful, as this practice will create very long footnotes, which take words from your word count.

OSCOLA - Primary Sources

• UK Legislation
• EU Legislation
• ECtHR Cases
• International Legislation

International Cases

Act or statute.

Short Title | Year

• Human Rights Act 1998.

Footnote with section number:

• Human Rights Act 1998, s 12.

Footnote if subsequently referring to Act with abbreviation:

• Human Rights Act 1998, s 12 (HRA 1998).

Table of Authorities:

• Human Rights Act 1998

Statutory Instrument

Title | Year, | SI | Year/Number

• Working Time Regulations 1999, SI 1999/3372.

Footnote with regulation number:

• Working Time Regulations 1999, SI 1999/3372, reg 3.
• Working Time Regulations 1999, SI 1999/3372

Case with a neutral citation

Case Name | Neutral Citation, | Law Report Citation

Case Name | [Year] Court-Abbreviation Case-Number, | [(Year)] Volume Law-Report-Abbreviation First-Page

After 2001, cases were assigned a neutral citation, in addition to their law report citation, which identifies the case by year, court and case number.

• Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP [2021] UKSC 20, [2022] AC 783.

Footnote with page [paragraph] number (and judge):

• Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP [2021] UKSC 20, [2022] AC 783, 790.
• Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP [2021] UKSC 20, [2022] AC 783 [4].
• Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP [2021] UKSC 20, [2022] AC 783 [177] (Burrows JSC).

Footnote if full case name stated in main body of text:

• [2021] UKSC 20, [2022] AC 783.
• Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP [2021] UKSC 20, [2022] AC 783

Case without a neutral citation

Case Name  | Law Report Citation (Court-Abbreviation)

Case Name  | [(Year)] Volume Law-Report-Abbreviation First-Page (Court-Abbreviation)

Before 2001, cases were identified by the law report citation and an abbreviation for the court.

• Kelly v Corston [1998] QB 686 (CA).

Footnote with page number (and judge):

• Kelly v Corston [1998] QB 686 (CA) 708.
• Kelly v Corston [1998] QB 686 (CA) 714 (Butler-Sloss LJ).
• [1998] QB 686 (CA).
• Kelly v Corston [1998] QB 686 (CA)

EU Treaties

Legislation Title | [Year] OJ | Issue/First-Page

• Agreement between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders [2000] OJ L239/13.

Footnote with article number:

• Agreement between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders [2000] OJ L239/13, art 19.
• Agreement between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders [2000] OJ L239/13, art 19 (Schengen Agreement 2000).
• Agreement between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders [2000] OJ L239/13

EU Regulations, Directives etc

Legislation Type | Number | Legislation Title | [Year] | OJ | Issue/First-Page

• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) [2016] OJ L119/1.
• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) [2016] OJ L119/1, art 5.

Footnote if subsequently referring to legislation with abbreviation:

• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) [2016] OJ L119/1, art 5 (GDPR 2016).
• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) [2016] OJ L119/1

Case Number | Case Name  | ECLI Citation, | Law Report Citation

Case Number | Case Name  | Jurisdiction:Court:Year:Case-Number, | [(Year)] Volume Law-Report-Abbreviation First-Page

After 2011, EU cases were assigned a uniform citation ( European Case Law Identifier or ECLI ), in addition to their law report citation, which identifies the case by jurisdiction/country, court, year, and case number. ECLI citations are not covered in the OSCOLA 4th edition, but are included in the OSCOLA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and are expected to feature in the next edition of OSCOLA.

• Case C-311/18) Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd and Maximillian Schrems  EU:C:2020:559, [2021] 1 CMLR 14.

Footnote with page [paragraph] number:

• Case C-311/18) Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd and Maximillian Schrems  EU:C:2020:559, [2021] 1 CMLR 14, 502.
• Case C-311/18) Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd and Maximillian Schrems  EU:C:2020:559, [2021] 1 CMLR 14, para 55.
• EU:C:2020:559, [2021] 1 CMLR 14.

Case Name | (Number) | ECLI Citation, | Law Report Citation

• Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd and Maximillian Schrems (C-311/18) EU:C:2020:559, [2021] 1 CMLR 14

In the Table of Authorities, the order of case name and case number are reversed, to aid alphabetical ordering of the list of cases.

Case Name  | Law Report Citation

Case Name  | [(Year)] Volume Law-Report-Abbreviation First-Page

• Lopez Ribalda v Spain (2020) 71 EHRR 7.
• Lopez Ribalda v Spain (2020) 71 EHRR 7, 319.
• Lopez Ribalda v Spain (2020) 71 EHRR 7 [109].
• (2020) 71 EHRR 7.
• Lopez Ribalda v Spain (2020) 71 EHRR 7

Unreported cases

Case Name | App no Number/Year | (ECtHR, Judgment Date)

• Lopez Ribalda v Spain App no 1874/13 (ECtHR, 19 October 2019).
• Lopez Ribalda v Spain App no 1874/13 (ECtHR, 19 October 2019)

If a case is unreported in an official series of law reports, you can cite the judgment using the application number, court and judgment date.

International Treaties

The referencing rules for international law materials are covered in a separate OSCOLA: Citing International Law   guide.

Where possible, cite from the official international treaty series in preference to others i.e. UNTS (United National Treaty Series) CTS (Consolidated Treaty Series) or LNTS (League of Nations Treaty Series). Otherwise cite from national official treaty series e.g. UKTS (United Kingdom Treaty Series) or other international treaty series. 

Multilateral treaties

Treaty Title | (adopted Date | entered into force Date) | Volume | Treaty Series | First-Page (Abbreviation)

• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (adopted 19 December 1979, entered into force 3 September 1981) 1249 UNTS 13 (CEDAW).
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (adopted 19 December 1979, entered into force 3 September 1981) 1249 UNTS 13 (CEDAW) art 15.
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (adopted 19 December 1979, entered into force 3 September 1981) 1249 UNTS 13 (CEDAW)

For multi-lateral treaties, state the adopted (signature) date, and the entered into force date. This information is commonly available from the UNTC Online website, and the FLARE Index to Treaties .

Bilateral treaties

Treaty Title | (Parties-To-Treaty) (adopted Date, entered into force Date) | Volume | Treaty Series | First-Page (Abbreviation)

• Security Treaty Between Australia and New Zealand and the United States (adopted 1 September 1951, entered into force 29 April 1952) 1952 ATS 2 (ANZUS).
• Free Trade Agreement Between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Australia (16-17 December 2021) CP 689.

If the parties to bilateral treaties are not given in the treaty title, then state them in (round brackets) after the title. Adopted and in-force dates should be given where available. Bilateral treaties may be published in national treaty series, in the above examples in the Australian Treaty Series (ATS) and as a Command Paper (CP) for the UK treaty.

The referencing rules for international law materials are covered in a separate  OSCOLA: Citing International Law  guide.

Cite International Court of Justice cases from the official International Court of Justice Reports (ICJ Rep) series. For other international courts, cite from an authoritative law reports series such as the International Law Reports (ILR).

International Court of Justice

Case Name  | ICJ Law Report Citation

Case Name  | [Year] ICJ Rep First-Page

• Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan, New Zealand intervening) [2014) ICJ Rep 226.

Footnote with page number:

• Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan, New Zealand intervening) [2014) ICJ Rep 226, 236.

Footnote if full case name stated in main body of text:

• [2014) ICJ Rep 226.
• Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan, New Zealand intervening) [2014) ICJ Rep 226

Other International Courts

Case Name  | [(Year)] | Volume | Law-Report-Abbreviation | First-Page

• Law Society of South Africa and Others v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others (2020) 185 ILR 313.

OSCOLA - Secondary Sources

Encyclopaedias.

• Conferences

Author,  Title of Book  (Edition edn, Publisher Year)  

• Lisa Webley,  Legal Writing  (4th edn, Routledge 2016). 
• Anthony Bradney and others,  How to Study Law  (9th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2021). 

The edition statement is only required for second or later editions. For first editions, or books without an edition statement, do not include '1st edn' in the reference.

The place of publication is not required. It is also permissible to abbreviate the publisher e.g. Oxford University Press = OUP.

For ebooks, follow the general rules for referencing print books. It is not necessary to include the ebook platform or web address. 

Book chapters

Author, ‘Title of Chapter’, in Editor ed,  Title of Book  (Edition edn, Publisher Year)  

• Fiona Cownie and Anthony Bradney, ‘Socio-Legal Studies: A Challenge to the Doctrinal Approach’, in Dawn Watkins and Mandy Burton (eds),  Research Methods in Law  (2nd edn, Routledge 2017). 

Title of Encyclopaedia  (Edition edn, Year) vol Volume, para Paragraph

• Halsbury's Laws of England  (5th edn, 2014) vol 20, para 32.

Author, 'Title of Article',  Title of Encyclopaedia  (Date) <web address> accessed Accessed-Date

• Tom Brett Young, 'British Citizenship',  Westlaw Edge UK Overview  (7 March 2018) <https://uk.westlaw.com/> accessed 1 September 2022.

Encyclopaedias are commonly referenced by title, volume and paragraph number. If the author and article title are known, you can include them at the start of the reference, and it will more closely follow the referencing rules for book chapters. 

If the encyclopaedia is published online only, and the article does not have volume and paragraph numbers, then include the web address and accessed date at the end of the reference.

Journal articles

Author, ‘Article Title’ Citation

The  journal article citation  is expressed as:  ([Year]) Volume Journal-Abbreviation First-Page 

• Sue Carr, ‘Women in Commercial Law’ [2020] JBL 91. 
• Christopher McCrudden, ‘Legal Research and the Social Sciences’ (2006) 122 LQR 632. 

Legal abbreviations are normally stated in the journal, but if unknown, please refer to the  Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations .

If the journal does not have a legal abbreviation, use the full title of the journal instead.

The year is normally in (round brackets), but where journals do not have volume numbers, the year should be in [square brackets].

Online journal articles

For most ejournals, follow the general rules for referencing print journal articles. Some journals are published online only, and articles do not have page numbers. For online only journals, include the web address and accessed date at the end of the reference.

Author, ‘Title of Article’ Citation <web-address> accessed Accessed-Date 

• India Thusi, 'Blue Lives and the Permanence of Racism' (2020) 105 Cornell L Rev <https://www.cornelllawreview.org/2020/03/03/blue-lives-the-permanence-of-racism/> accessed 1 September 2022.

Newspaper articles

Author, ‘Title of Article’,  Title of Newspaper  (Place, Publication-Date) First-Page 

• Matt Datham, 'Human Rights Overhaul Set to Limit Power of European Judges',  The Times  (London, 22 June 2022) 1.

Online newspaper articles

Author, ‘Title of Article’,  Title of Newspaper  (Place, Publication-Date) <web-address> accessed Accessed-Date 

• Haroon Siddique, 'What Would a British Bill of Rights Look Like?',  The Guardian  (London, 21 June 2022) <https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/jun/21/what-would-a-british-bill-of-rights-look-like> accessed 1 September 2022.

Author,  Title of Website  (Publication-Date) <web-address> accessed Accessed-Date 

• Equality and Human Rights Commission,  University Periodic Review of Great Britain  (27 April 2022) <https://equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/universal-periodic-review-great-britain> accessed 1 September 2022.

The referencing rules for websites can be adapted for other types of media including government publications, official reports and statistics, and audio-visual materials like films, documentaries, and YouTube videos.

There are specific referencing rules for parliamentary papers including Bills, Command Papers and Hansard Debates. Please refer to the full OSCOLA referencing guide for further information.

Blogs posts

Author, ‘Title of Blog Post’ ( Title of Blog , Publication-Date) <web-address> accessed Accessed-Date 

• David Allen Green, 'A First Glance at the Bill of Rights Bill' ( The Law and Policy Blog , 22 June 2022) <https://davidallengreen.com/2022/06/a-first-glance-at-the-bill-of-rights-bill/> accessed 1 September 2022.

The referencing rules for blog posts can be adapted for other types of serialised media including episodes of television and radio programmes, and  podcasts .

Author, 'Title of Thesis' (Award, Awarding Body Year)

• Martha Gayoye, 'The Role of the Judiciary in Constitution Making: The Two-Thirds Gender Principle in Kenya' (DPhil thesis, University of Warwick 2020).

Conference papers

Author, 'Title of Paper' (Title of Conference, Place, Date)

• Stephanie Hare, 'Digital Ethics' (British and Irish Association of Law Librarians, Wyboston Lakes, 7 July 2022).

Lecture materials

The referencing rules for conference papers can be adapted for other types of public lecture. They can also be adapted for lectures delivered as part of taught modules, although you should generally avoid citing your lecturers or teaching materials.

• Alex Sharpe, 'Flirting with Fascism: The Thin White Duke, Art and Ethical Limits' (University of Warwick, 4 February 2021) <https://youtu.be/dndz5K3-caQ> accessed 1 September 2022.
• Serena Natile, 'Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights' (LA346: Gender and the Law, University of Warwick 2021).

Referencing Tutorials

Online tutorials providing an introduction to the general principles of plagiarism and referencing , and to the OSCOLA legal referencing style. If you would like to complete a  How to do OSCOLA Referencing course, the online tutorials from Cardiff and IALS are recommended:

Academic and Legal Research Skills

Discover a range of library and study skills guides including how to study law, how to think critically, and how to write law essays and prepare for examinations.

Discover how to avoid plagiarism, how to use the OSCOLA legal referencing style , and how to manage references with EndNote referencing software.

Legal Research

Discover how to find legislation, case law, and journal articles using law databases, including Doing Legal Research moodle and Lexis+ UK and Westlaw Edge UK database training and certification courses.

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Legal Research: An Overview: Citations

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Citation to Relevant Authorities Is a Must!

In legal writing you are expected to support your arguments with authority, and you must include appropriate citations for all the authority on which you are relying. The Bluebook establishes the most commonly used format for legal citations. The California Style Manual provides an alternative citation format for state court. The California Rules of Court bind attorneys practicing in California state court and include a few instructions regarding citations. 

Loyola Law School Los Angeles Library -- Bluebooking and Legal Citation Guide . This user-friendly and detailed guide provides information on creating Bluebook and California Style Manual citations.

Georgetown Law Library -- Bluebook Guide . This guide serves as a good introduction to The Bluebook and basic concepts of legal citation.

Introduction to Basic Legal Citation . Cornell Law Professor Peter W. Martin offers this online guide for basic legal citation. See also Professor Martin's blog,  Citing Legally .  

Quick Guide . Provided by The Bluebook, the Quick Style Guide answers common citation format questions.

The Bluebook and California Citation Rules

• The Bluebook
• California Rules of Court
• California Style Manual

The Bluebook is the most ubiquitous citation style manual for legal documents within the United States. The federal courts; many, if not most, state courts; and law journals require that citations be in Bluebook format. The 21st edition is the most recent edition of the Bluebook and the edition that you should use.

The Bluebook establishes separate citation formats for citations in legal documents, such as court filings, and citations in law review footnotes.  Accordingly, when crafting citations, it is important to rely on the correct Bluebook rules for the type of document you are writing.

When working with the Bluebook, the following sections may be particularly useful:

Inside front and back covers . The inside front and back covers are "Quick Reference" guides providing numerous citation examples.  The front inside cover provides citation examples when drafting law review footnotes, and the back inside cover provides examples for citations in court documents and legal memoranda.

Outside back cover . The outside back cover identifies the citation rules and the page within the Bluebook where the discussion of each rule starts.

Bluepages . The Bluebook provides the rules for citing authority in both academic publications (i.e. law reviews) and court documents. While the bulk of the Bluebook (the Whitepages) focuses on the former, there are specific rules for citations in court documents which are collected and highlighted near the front of the book in a section called the “Bluepages." You may refer to the Whitepages to supplement a corresponding Bluepages rule. 

Index . The index at the end of the Bluebook can be used to look up specific sources and citation elements.

Basic Citation Forms . Tables with examples of the most commonly used citation forms for each type of document being cited are offered for cases (R10); statutes (R12); legislative materials (R13); administrative and executive materials (R14); periodical materials (R16); unpublished and forthcoming sources (R17); the internet, electronic media, and other nonprint resources (R18); and international materials (R2).

Table 1 (T1) . T1 provides the abbreviations and citation conventions for each jurisdiction within the United States -- federal and state.

Tables 6 - 16 . Tables 6 through 16 provide the required abbreviation conventions. Note that T2: Foreign Jurisdictions , is now available at no cost online.

For more information, see the Law Library's guide to Cite Checking Resources: Bluebooking .

Attorneys practicing in California state court are bound by the California Rules of Court. There are a few CRC that apply to citations.  

Rule 1.200 addresses the style manuals, and gives attorneys the option of using either: 

• the  California Style Manual , or
• the  Bluebook  citation style. 

Rule 3.1113(c) addresses case citations specifically and instructs: “A  case citation  must include the  official report  volume and page number and year of decision. The court must not require any other form of citation.” Here are a few things to note about Rule 3.1113:

• It addresses the format of motion papers filed in civil courts, but the instruction is often assumed to apply in criminal courts as well. 
• For the  Supreme Court (Cal.):  Cal., Cal. 2d, Cal. 3d, or Cal. 4th. 
• For the  Court of Appeal (Cal. Ct. App.) : Cal. App., Cal. App. 2d, Cal. App. 3d, or Cal. App. 4th.
• Pacific Reporter, and West’s California Reporter. 
• See "California" in T1 “United States Jurisdictions": “Cite to P. or P.2d, or P.3d” and “Cite to P. or P.2d (before 1960) or Cal. Rptr., Cal. Rptr. 2d  . . ."
• It preempts the California Style Manual § 1:12 (p. 16), which says “In addition to providing citations to the Official Reports, the better practice is to also provide a parallel citation to one or both paper-based unofficial reporters. Opinions, however, are customarily filed without parallel citations, particularly for California opinions, but those citations are added as enhancements for Official Reports publication.” 

For many years, the California Style Manual was the official citation guide for materials filed in the California state courts. However, California Rule of Court 1.200 , effective Jan. 1, 2008, provides that attorneys can choose to use either the California Style Manual or the Bluebook for citations, provided that the same style is used consistently throughout a document. Notwithstanding this rule, California courts continue to recommend use of the citation style established in the California Style Manual.  

The 4th edition, published in 2000, is the most recent edition of the California Style Manual.  The California Style Manual, in addition to being available in print, is also freely available online from California's Sixth District Appellate Program .  

When working with the California Style Manual, the following sections may be particularly useful:

Table of frequently used abbreviations . Just after the table of contents is a table identifying the commonly used abbreviations.

Index . The index at the end of the California Style Manual can be used to look up specific sources and citation elements.

For more information, see the sections of the Loyola Law School Los Angeles Library's Guide on Bluebooking and Legal Citation that address the California Style Manual .

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Research Guides: Legal Research and Writing Bibliography

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How To Write a Bibliography (Plus Printable Guide With Examples)

Give credit where credit is due.

Writing a research paper involves a lot of work. Students need to consult a variety of sources to gather reliable information and ensure their points are well supported. Research papers include a bibliography, which can be a little tricky for students. Learn how to write a bibliography in multiple styles and find basic examples below.

Plus grab our printable Bibliography Guide for Students with examples from all three major style guides: APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), or The Chicago Manual of Style . Just fill out the form on this page to get the free guide.

IMPORTANT: Each style guide has its own very specific rules, and they often conflict with one another. Additionally, each type of reference material has many possible formats, depending on a variety of factors. The overviews shown here are meant to guide students in writing basic bibliographies, but this information is by no means complete. Students should always refer directly to the preferred style guide to ensure they’re using the most up-to-date formats and styles.

What is a bibliography?

When you’re researching a paper, you’ll likely consult a wide variety of sources. You may quote some of these directly in your work, summarize some of the points they make, or simply use them to further the knowledge you need to write your paper. Since these ideas are not your own, it’s vital to give credit to the authors who originally wrote them. This list of sources, organized alphabetically, is called a bibliography.

A bibliography should include all the materials you consulted in your research, even if you don’t quote directly from them in your paper. These resources could include (but aren’t limited to):

• Books and e-books
• Periodicals like magazines or newspapers
• Online articles or websites
• Primary source documents like letters or official records

Bibliography vs. References

These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they actually have different meanings. As noted above, a bibliography includes all the materials you used while researching your paper, whether or not you quote from them or refer to them directly in your writing.

A list of references only includes the materials you cite throughout your work. You might use direct quotes or summarize the information for the reader. Either way, you must ensure you give credit to the original author or document. This section can be titled “List of Works Cited” or simply “References.”

Your teacher may specify whether you should include a bibliography or a reference list. If they don’t, consider choosing a bibliography to show all the works you used in researching your paper. This can help the reader see that your points are well supported and allow them to do further reading on their own if they’re interested.

Bibliography vs. Citations

Citations refer to direct quotations from a text that are woven into your own writing. There are a variety of ways to write citations, including footnotes and endnotes. These are generally shorter than the entries in a reference list or bibliography. Learn more about writing citations here.

What does a bibliography entry include?

Depending on the reference material, bibliography entries include a variety of information intended to help a reader locate the material if they want to refer to it themselves. These entries are listed in alphabetical order and may include:

• Author/s or creator/s
• Publication date
• Volume and issue numbers
• Publisher and publication city
• Website URL

These entries don’t generally need to include specific page numbers or locations within the work (except for print magazine or journal articles). That type of information is usually only needed in a footnote or endnote citation.

What are the different bibliography styles?

In most cases, writers use one of three major style guides: APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), or The Chicago Manual of Style . There are many others as well, but these three are the most common choices for K–12 students.

Many teachers will state their preference for one style guide over another. If they don’t, you can choose your own preferred style. However, you should also use that guide for your entire paper, following their recommendations for punctuation, grammar, and more. This will ensure you are consistent throughout.

Below, you’ll learn how to write a simple bibliography using each of the three major style guides. We’ve included details for books and e-books, periodicals, and electronic sources like websites and videos. If the reference material type you need to include isn’t shown here, refer directly to the style guide you’re using.

APA Style Bibliography and Examples

Technically, APA style calls for a list of references instead of a bibliography. If your teacher requires you to use the APA style guide , you can limit your reference list to only items you cite throughout your work.

How To Write a Bibliography (References) Using APA Style

Here are some general notes on writing an APA reference list:

• Title your bibliography section “References” and center the title on the top line of the page.
• Do not center your references; they should be left-aligned. For longer items, subsequent lines should use a hanging indent of 1/2 inch.
• Include all types of resources in the same list.
• Alphabetize your list by author or creator, last name first.
• Do not spell out the author/creator’s first or middle name—only use their initials.
• If there are multiple authors/creators, use an ampersand (&) before the final author/creator.
• Place the date in parentheses.
• Capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle, unless the word would otherwise be capitalized (proper names, etc.).
• Italicize the titles of books, periodicals, and videos.
• For websites, include the full site information, including the http:// or https:// at the beginning.

Books and E-Books APA Bibliography Examples

For books, APA reference list entries use this format (only include the publisher’s website for e-books):

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Publication date). Title with only first word capitalized (unless there’s a proper name/noun) . Publisher. Publisher’s website

• Wynn, S. (2020). City of London at war 1939–45 . Pen & Sword Military. https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/City-of-London-at-War-193945-Paperback/p/17299

Periodical APA Bibliography Examples

For journal or magazine articles, use the following format. If you viewed the article online, include the URL at the end of the citation.

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Publication date). Title of article. Magazine or Journal Title (Volume number) Issue number, page numbers. URL

• Bell, A. (2009). Landscapes of fear: Wartime London, 1939–1945. Journal of British Studies (48) 1, 153–175. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25482966

Here’s the format for newspapers. For print editions, include the page number/s. For online articles, include the full URL:

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year, Month Date) Title of article. Newspaper title. Page number/s. URL

• Blakemore, E. (2022, November 12) Researchers track down two copies of fossil destroyed by the Nazis.  The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/11/12/ichthyosaur-fossil-images-discovered/

Electronic APA Bibliography Examples

For articles with a specific author on a website, use this format:

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year, Month Date). Title . Site name. URL

• Wukovits, J. (2023, January 30). A World War II survivor recalls the London Blitz . British Heritage . https://britishheritage.com/history/world-war-ii-survivor-london-blitz

When an online article doesn’t include a specific author or date, list it like this:

Title . (Year, Month Date). Site name. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL

• Growing up in the Second World War . (n.d.). Imperial War Museums. Retrieved May 12, 2023, from https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/growing-up-in-the-second-world-war

When you need to list a YouTube video, use the name of the account that uploaded the video, and format it like this:

Name of Account. (Upload year, month day). Title [Video]. YouTube. URL

• War Stories. (2023, January 15). How did London survive the Blitz during WW2? Cities at war: London [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/uwY6JlCvbxc

For more information on writing APA bibliographies, see the APA Style Guide website.

APA Bibliography (Reference List) Example Pages

MLA Style Bibliography Examples

MLA style calls for a Works Cited section, which includes all materials quoted or referred to in your paper. You may also include a Works Consulted section, including other reference sources you reviewed but didn’t directly cite. Together, these constitute a bibliography. If your teacher requests an MLA Style Guide bibliography, ask if you should include Works Consulted as well as Works Cited.

How To Write a Bibliography (Works Cited and Works Consulted) in MLA Style

For both MLA Works Cited and Works Consulted sections, use these general guidelines:

• Start your Works Cited list on a new page. If you include a Works Consulted list, start that on its own new page after the Works Cited section.
• Center the title (Works Cited or Works Consulted) in the middle of the line at the top of the page.
• Align the start of each source to the left margin, and use a hanging indent (1/2 inch) for the following lines of each source.
• Alphabetize your sources using the first word of the citation, usually the author’s last name.
• Include the author’s full name as listed, last name first.
• Capitalize titles using the standard MLA format.
• Leave off the http:// or https:// at the beginning of a URL.

Books and E-Books MLA Bibliography Examples

For books, MLA reference list entries use the following format. Add the URL at the end for e-books.

Last Name, First Name Middle Name. Title . Publisher, Date. URL

• Wynn, Stephen. City of London at War 1939–45 . Pen & Sword Military, 2020. www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/City-of-London-at-War-193945-Paperback/p/17299

Periodical MLA Bibliography Examples

Here’s the MLA-style format for magazines, journals, and newspapers. For online articles, add the URL at the end of the listing:

For magazines and journals:

Last Name, First Name. “Title: Subtitle.” Name of Journal , volume number, issue number, Date of Publication, First Page Number–Last Page Number.

• Bell, Amy. “Landscapes of Fear: Wartime London, 1939–1945.” Journal of British Studies , vol. 48, no. 1, January 2009, pp. 153–175. www.jstor.org/stable/25482966

When citing newspapers, include the page number/s for print editions or the URL for online articles:

Last Name, First Name. “Title of article.” Newspaper title. Page number/s. Year, month day. Page number or URL

• Blakemore, Erin. “Researchers Track Down Two Copies of Fossil Destroyed by the Nazis.” The Washington Post. 2022, Nov. 12. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/11/12/ichthyosaur-fossil-images-discovered/

Electronic MLA Bibliography Examples

Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title.” Month Day, Year published. URL

• Wukovits, John. 2023. “A World War II Survivor Recalls the London Blitz.” January 30,   2023. https://britishheritage.com/history/world-war-ii-survivor-london-blitz

Website. n.d. “Title.” Accessed Day Month Year. URL.

• Imperial War Museum. n.d. “Growing Up in the Second World War.” Accessed May 9, 2023. www.iwm.org.uk/history/growing-up-in-the-second-world-war.

Here’s how to list YouTube and other online videos:

Creator, if available. “Title of Video.” Website. Uploaded by Username, Day Month Year. URL.

• “How did London survive the Blitz during WW2?” Cities at war: London | War stories.” YouTube . Uploaded by War Stories, 15 Jan. 2023. youtu.be/uwY6JlCvbxc.

For more information on writing MLA-style bibliographies, see the MLA Style website.

MLA Bibliography (Works Cited) Example Pages

Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Examples

The Chicago Manual of Style (sometimes called “Turabian”) actually has two options for citing reference material: Notes and Bibliography and Author-Date. Regardless of which you use, you’ll need a complete detailed list of reference items at the end of your paper. The examples below demonstrate how to write that list.

How To Write a Bibliography Using The Chicago Manual of Style

Here are some general notes on writing a Chicago -style bibliography:

• You may title it “Bibliography” or “References.” Center this title at the top of the page and add two blank lines before the first entry.
• Left-align each entry, with a hanging half-inch indent for subsequent lines of each entry.
• Single-space each entry, with a blank line between entries.
• Include the “http://” or “https://” at the beginning of URLs.

Books and E-Books Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Examples

For books, Chicago -style reference list entries use the following format. (For print books, leave off the information about how the book was accessed.)

Last Name, First Name Middle Name. Title . City of Publication: Publisher, Date. How e-book was accessed.

• Wynn, Stephen. City of London at War 1939–45 . Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military, 2020. Kindle edition.

Periodical Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Examples

Here’s the style format for magazines, journals, and newspapers. For online articles, add the URL at the end of the listing.

For journal and magazine articles, use this format:

Last Name, First Name. Year of Publication. “Title: Subtitle.” Name of Journal , Volume Number, issue number, First Page Number–Last Page Number. URL.

• Bell, Amy. 2009. “Landscapes of Fear: Wartime London, 1939–1945.” Journal of British Studies, 48 no. 1, 153–175. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25482966.

When citing newspapers, include the URL for online articles:

Last Name, First Name. Year of Publication. “Title: Subtitle.” Name of Newspaper , Month day, year. URL.

• Blakemore, Erin. 2022. “Researchers Track Down Two Copies of Fossil Destroyed by the Nazis.” The Washington Post , November 12, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/11/12/ichthyosaur-fossil-images-discovered/.

Electronic Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Examples

Last Name, First Name Middle Name. “Title.” Site Name . Year, Month Day. URL.

• Wukovits, John. “A World War II Survivor Recalls the London Blitz.” British Heritage. 2023, Jan. 30. britishheritage.com/history/world-war-ii-survivor-london-blitz.

“Title.” Site Name . URL. Accessed Month Day, Year.

• “Growing Up in the Second World War.” Imperial War Museums . www.iwm.org.uk/history/growing-up-in-the-second-world-war. Accessed May 9, 2023.

Creator or Username. “Title of Video.” Website video, length. Month Day, Year. URL.

• War Stories. “How Did London Survive the Blitz During WW2? | Cities at War: London | War Stories.” YouTube video, 51:25. January 15, 2023. https://youtu.be/uwY6JlCvbxc.

For more information on writing Chicago -style bibliographies, see the Chicago Manual of Style website.

Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Example Pages

Get Your Free Printable Bibliography Style Guide

Just fill out the form on this page to grab our printable Bibliography Guide for Students with examples from all three major style guides: APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), or The Chicago Manual of Style .

Now that you know how to write a bibliography, take a look at the Best Websites for Teaching & Learning Writing .

Plus, get all the latest teaching tips and ideas when you sign up for our free newsletters .

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Law & Policy Studies: Sample Bibliography and Footnote Citations

• Books & Films
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• Web Sources
• Help Resources for Law School Applications

The following examples display the entry first as it would appear in the bibliography, then the footnote.

Books with Two Authors:

Weinberg, Arthur and Lila Weinberg. Clarence Darrow: A Sentimental Rebel . New York: Putnam's Sons, 1980.

 1. Arthur Weinberg and Lila Weinberg, Clarence Darrow: A Sentimental Rebel (New York: Putnam's Sons,

Work in an Anthology (a book with an editor who collected essays by different authors):

Dayan, Peter. “The Romantic Renaissance.” In Poetry in France , edited by Keith Aspley and Peter France,

333-43. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1992.

 2. Peter Dayan, “The Romantic Renaissance,” in Poetry in France , ed. Keith Aspley and Peter France

(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1992), 341.

Books with Edition Other than the First:

Rolle, Andrew F. California: A History . 5th ed. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1998.

3. Andrew F. Rolle, California: A History , 5th ed. (Wheeling, IL: Harland Davidson, 1998), 243.

Book with Editor in Place of Author:

Hall, Kermit L, and James W. Ely, Jr., eds. The Oxford Guide to Supreme Court Decisions . New York: Oxford

University Press, 2009.

 5. Kermit L. Hall and James W. Ely, Jr., eds, The Oxford Guide to Supreme Court Decisions , (New York:

Oxford University Press, 2009), 178.

Electronic Books and Books Consulted Online :

Cite these as you would a traditional book, but add the medium in which the book was accessed or a DOI or URL to the end of the citation. Since some ereaders do not use traditional pages to cite locations in a text you can include a chapter, section, or other information to cite a location. Cite books that are read online as you would a print book with the addition of a URL or DOI.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Seattle, Washington: Amazon & Public Domain Books, 1998. Kindle

Thrall, Grant Ian. Land Use and Urban Form. New York: Methuen, 1987. http://rri.wvu.edu/WebBook

/Thrallbook/Land%20Use%20and%20Urban%20Form.pdf

1. F. A. Mckenzie, Korea's Fight for Freedom (Seattle, Washington: Amazon & Public Domain

Books, 2004),location 35. Kindle edition.

2. Soyeon Park, Underground (Seoul, South Korea: Daltagi, 2011), location 55. PDF e-book.

3. Grant Ian Thrall, Land Use and Urban Form (New York: Methuen, 1987), http://rri.wvu.edu/WebBook

/Thrallbook/Land%20Use%20and%20Urban%20Form.pdf .

Scholarly Article:

Robertson, Noel. "The Dorian Migration and Corinthian Ritual." Classical Philology 75, no. 2 (1980): 1-22.

6. Noel Robertson, "The Dorian Migration and Corinthian Ritual," Classical Philology 75, no.2 (1980), 16.

Popular Article:

King, Victoria. "The Domesday Book." History Magazine , October/November 2001, 275-78.

7. Victoria King, "The Domesday Book," History Magazine , October/November 2001, 276.

Newspaper Article (anonymous author):

"Senatorial Contest in Illinois – Speech of Mr. Lincoln." New York Times . 16 July 1858, 4.

8. "Senatorial Contest in Illinois – Speech of Mr. Lincoln." New York Times , 16 July 1858, 4.

National Park Service. “Catoctin Mountain Park.” Last modified November 8, 2011. http://www.nps.gov

/cato/index.htm .

Neuman, Scott. “As Occupy Camps Close, What's Next For Movement?” National Public Radio . November

15, 2011. http://www.npr.org/2011/11/15/142359267/as-occupy-camps-close-whats-next-for

-movement .

1. “Catoctin Mountain Park,” National Park Service, last modified November 8, 2011,

http://www.nps.gov/cato/index.htm .

2. Scott Neuman, “As Occupy Camps Close, What's Next For Movement?,” National Public Radio , November

15, 2011, http://www.npr.org/2011/11/15/142359267/as-occupy-camps-close-whats-next-for-movement .

• Last Updated: May 3, 2024 9:59 AM
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• How to cite a law in APA Style

How to Cite a Law in APA Style | Format & Examples

Published on February 11, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on December 27, 2023.

To cite federal laws (also commonly referred to as statutes or acts) in APA Style , include the name of the law, “U.S.C.” (short for United States Code ), the title and section of the code where the law appears, the year, and optionally the URL.

The year included is when the law was published in the source consulted, not when it was passed, amended, or supplemented.

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Symbols and abbreviations in law citations, citing federal statutes with the public law number, citing state laws, frequently asked questions about apa style citations.

The United States Code and most other compilations of laws are divided into parts called “titles,” and within those titles, sections.

No symbol is used for the title in your reference, but the section number is preceded by the symbol §. To insert the section symbol in Word, click on “Insert,” “Symbol,” “More symbols,” “Special characters,” and then find it in the list under “section.”

When a law is spread across multiple consecutive sections, the term “ et seq .” (Latin for “and following”) is added after the initial section number. It is always italicized and followed by a period.

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A law may also have a public law number . This is not used in the citation, except in special cases: when the law is not (yet) included in the United States Code , or when it is spread across non-consecutive parts of the Code .

Laws not included in the Code

A law that has not been codified (published in the United States Code ) should be cited using its public law number and information about wherever it was published.

The law below was published in the United States Statutes at Large , which is abbreviated to “Stat.”

Laws spread across different sections

When an act is codified across different non-consecutive sections of the Code , it is also cited using the public law number and information about its location in the Statutes at Large .

The example below was codified in titles 2, 28, and 42 of the Code , so it is cited using the public law number instead.

The laws and statutes of individual states are cited in a similar format to federal laws where possible. “U.S.C.” is replaced with an abbreviation for the law code of that state, and titles and sections are presented in the same way. However, some state codes use article or chapter numbers instead of or in addition to section numbers, or do not use titles.

Make sure to adapt your reference to the standards of the state. For example, the title for a law from the Virginia Code is included with the section number, separated by a hyphen , as shown in this example.

Generally, you should identify a law in an APA reference entry by its location in the United States Code (U.S.C.).

But if the law is either spread across various sections of the code or not featured in the code at all, include the public law number in addition to information on the source you accessed the law in, e.g.:

No, including a URL is optional in APA Style reference entries for legal sources (e.g. court cases , laws ). It can be useful to do so to aid the reader in retrieving the source, but it’s not required, since the other information included should be enough to locate it.

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APA Style provides guidelines to help writers determine the appropriate level of citation and how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism.

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Frank I. Michelman, Brennan and Democracy: The 1996-97 Brennan Center Symposium Lecture , 86 Calif. L. Rev. 399 (1998).

U.S. Code: Table Of Contents

• TITLE 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
• TITLE 2 - THE CONGRESS
• TITLE 3 - THE PRESIDENT
• TITLE 4 - FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES
• TITLE 5 - GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES
• TITLE 5a - FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT
• TITLE 6 - DOMESTIC SECURITY
• TITLE 7 - AGRICULTURE
• TITLE 8 - ALIENS AND NATIONALITY
• TITLE 9 - ARBITRATION
• TITLE 10 - ARMED FORCES
• TITLE 11 - BANKRUPTCY
• TITLE 11a - BANKRUPTCY RULES
• TITLE 12 - BANKS AND BANKING
• TITLE 13 - CENSUS
• TITLE 14 - COAST GUARD
• TITLE 15 - COMMERCE AND TRADE
• TITLE 16 - CONSERVATION
• TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
• TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
• TITLE 18a - UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OR RECEIPT OF FIREARMS
• TITLE 19 - CUSTOMS DUTIES
• TITLE 20 - EDUCATION
• TITLE 21 - FOOD AND DRUGS
• TITLE 22 - FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE
• TITLE 23 - HIGHWAYS
• TITLE 24 - HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS
• TITLE 25 - INDIANS
• TITLE 26 - INTERNAL REVENUE CODE
• TITLE 27 - INTOXICATING LIQUORS
• TITLE 28 - JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
• TITLE 28a - JUDICIAL PERSONNEL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS
• TITLE 29 - LABOR
• TITLE 30 - MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
• TITLE 31 - MONEY AND FINANCE
• TITLE 32 - NATIONAL GUARD
• TITLE 33 - NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
• TITLE 34 - CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
• TITLE 35 - PATENTS
• TITLE 36 - PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL OBSERVANCES, CEREMONIES, AND ORGANIZATIONS
• TITLE 37 - PAY AND ALLOWANCES OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES
• TITLE 38 - VETERANS’ BENEFITS
• TITLE 39 - POSTAL SERVICE
• TITLE 40 - PUBLIC BUILDINGS, PROPERTY, AND WORKS
• TITLE 41 - PUBLIC CONTRACTS
• TITLE 42 - THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
• TITLE 43 - PUBLIC LANDS
• TITLE 44 - PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS
• TITLE 45 - RAILROADS
• TITLE 46 - SHIPPING
• TITLE 47 - TELECOMMUNICATIONS
• TITLE 48 - TERRITORIES AND INSULAR POSSESSIONS
• TITLE 49 - TRANSPORTATION
• TITLE 50 - WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
• TITLE 50a - WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE [ELIMINATED] Current through 114–86u1
• TITLE 51 - NATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACE PROGRAMS
• TITLE 52 - VOTING AND ELECTIONS
• TITLE 53 - [RESERVED]
• TITLE 54 - NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND RELATED PROGRAMS

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Article India: Government Begins Implementing Controversial Citizenship Amendment Act

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On May 15, 2024, the government of India began to grant citizenship to applicants under a controversial law that grants citizenship to certain religious minorities fleeing neighboring Muslim-majority countries but excludes Muslim and other religious minorities fleeing persecution in the region.

The law in question, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 , received presidential assent on December 12, 2019, and came into force on January 10, 2020. However, the law was not implemented for four years, until the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 were published on March 11, 2024.

According to the BBC , the law was “put on hold amid massive protests in which scores of people died and many more were arrested,” but the amendment rules were announced weeks before general elections.

Main Features of the Act & Rules

The act amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to include a special provision that fast tracks the acquisition of citizenship for persons who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, and who belong to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh. Persons are eligible for citizenship if they are resident in India for five years instead of the usual requirement of 11 years. The special provision does not apply to individuals in certain tribal or protected areas of the country.

In order to be eligible, the persons also have to be exempted under section 3(2)(c) of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or “from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder.” This refers to the government’s decision in September 2015 to exempt the above-specified religious minorities from Pakistan and Bangladesh based on “humanitarian considerations” to regularize the entry and stay these individuals who had entered India fleeing persecution without passports or other valid travel documents. In 2016, a similar notification was issued for the specified religious minorities from Afghanistan. These exemptions meant that these persons would not be subject to internment/detention or deportation for being without valid travel documents.

The amendment rules amend the Citizenship Rules, 2009 in order to regulate the application process; specify categories of persons eligible to apply for citizenship by registration or naturalization; list documents applicants need to prove they are a national of a specific foreign country; provide for electronic submission of the application form; and a tiered committee system to verify and to evaluate applications. India’s central government has said eligible applicants can apply online through a web portal .

There are currently over 200 petitions challenging the law and rules before the Supreme Court of India. In March 2024, the Court refused to put a stay on the rules implementing the law.

Reaction to the Amendment Act

According to the AP , the government defends the law “as a humanitarian gesture to extend citizenship to religious minorities fleeing persecution and . . . doesn’t affect the citizenship of Muslims born in India.” The law has come under criticism for being discriminatory and in violation of the secular principles enshrined in India’s Constitution . The law excludes Muslim and other religious minority groups that face persecution in neighboring countries. Amnesty International noted that “[m]any other groups in South Asia region such as Rohingya Muslims, Sri Lankan Tamils, Bhutanese, Hazaras, Shias and Ahmadiyyas face exclusion without justification by the discriminatory 2019 amendment.”

Though the government denies they are linked, there is also concern that the law, combined with a possibly expected nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), would “ disproportionately impact Muslims .” The NRC would “serve as a database of demographic information on all Indian citizens and would exclude those purported to be illegal immigrants.” Critics state that the Citizenship Amendment Bill would provide non-Muslims who are excluded from the NRC with protection while Muslims who are excluded would be deemed illegal migrants. Indigenous rights and student groups in the state of Assam have also opposed the CAA , arguing it “threatens Assamese identity” because it “offers a path to citizenship for Bangladeshi migrants who would otherwise be excluded from the NRC, as long as they are not Muslim.”

Tariq Ahmad, Law Library of Congress June 3, 2024

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• India: Government Begins Implementing Controversial Citizenship Amendment Act

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• Global Legal Monitor (7,670)
• Law Library of Congress (418,204)
• Citizenship and Nationality
• Human Rights and Civil Liberties
• Immigration
• Religious Minorities

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• Ahmad, Tariq

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Ahmad, Tariq. India: Government Begins Implementing Controversial Citizenship Amendment Act . 2024. Web Page. https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2024-06-02/india-government-begins-implementing-controversial-citizenship-amendment-act/.

APA citation style:

Ahmad, T. (2024) India: Government Begins Implementing Controversial Citizenship Amendment Act . [Web Page] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2024-06-02/india-government-begins-implementing-controversial-citizenship-amendment-act/.

MLA citation style:

Ahmad, Tariq. India: Government Begins Implementing Controversial Citizenship Amendment Act . 2024. Web Page. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2024-06-02/india-government-begins-implementing-controversial-citizenship-amendment-act/>.