The ALWD Citation Manual and the Bluebook

The two most often used sets of citation rules are the ALWD (pronounced “ALL-wid”)
Citation Manual and The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (“the Bluebook”)
The ALWD Citation Manual is a citation system designed primarily for law
students, lawyers, and judges, whereas, the Bluebook is designed primarily for academic
publishing. Virtually all of the common citation formats are the same, no matter which
book you use. However, the more modern ALWD Citation Manual is easier to learn and
requires no conversion of academic publishing formats to formats used by practitioners.
Learning to use one of the citation systems is unavoidable. As much as you might
like to, you cannot simply copy the citations you find in the authorities your research
reveals. Many citations in opinions, annotations, and secondary sources do not conform
to current citation requirements.
Using the ALWD Citation Manual
1. Sections of the Manual
The ALWD Citation Manual contains the following sections and features:
1. Part 1 – Introductory Material: The Manual begins with a short section
expressly designed to introduce you to the book and show you how to use
it. This section explains the book’s organization and the “Finding Tools”
that can give you quick answers to common citation questions. It also
refers you to a Web site (www.alwd.org) where you can browse and
download information at no charge. The section provides suggestions for
handling margin settings, spacing, default setting, and quick-correct
features.
2. Part 2 – Citation Basics: This section gives you key general information,
such as when to italicize or underline, how to select abbreviations, what
to capitalize, and how to decide spacing.
3. Part 3 – Citing Specific Print Sources: The specific citation rules covering all
printed legal authorities are found in Part 3. The most commonly used are
cases covered in Rule 12, statutes in Rule 14, books in Rule 22, and
periodicals in Rule 23. One of the best features of the ALWD Citation
Manual is the inclusion of Fast Formats at the beginning of each Rule
covering particular sources. The Fast Format gives you, on a single page,
examples of how to cite to that particular authority in all of the major
circumstances in which you might need to cite it.
4. Part 4 – Electronic Sources: This section tells you how to cite to electronic
legal sources such as a World Wide Web site.
5. Part 5 – Incorporating Citations Into Documents: You’ll find more basic
information about how to use citations in this section, covering such
common questions as how many and which citations to include, where to
put them, in what order, how to use signals, and how to use explanatory
parentheticals.
6. Part 6 – Questions: Troublesome questions about handling citations
effectively are answered here. This section covers use of quotations as they
appear in the original source, alteration of quotations, and trimming
quotations down to size.
7. Appendices: The appendices contain a wealth of important information.
Appendix 1 tells you exactly how to cite all of the primary authority (like
statutes and cases) from your particular jurisdiction. Appendix 2 gives you
all the promulgated court citation rules from each jurisdiction. Appendices
3-5 show you how to abbreviate almost all the words you will need to
abbreviate. Appendix 6 gives you a sample memo, so you can see a real
example of how citations should appear in a final document.
2. How to Locate the Rules You Need
1. For a quick way to find out how to cite a particular source, use the Fast
Format Locator on the inside front cover. This handy list will take you
immediately to the Fast Format for the source you’re citing. If, for example,
you want to see how to cite a case, the Locator will refer you to the Fast
Format found at the beginning of Rule 12, the rule covering cases. There,

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 on a single page, you will find examples of how to use all of the major
varieties of case citations.
2. If you can’t find what you need by using a Fast Format, use the index.
3. To find larger sections of the ALWD Manual, such as the whole section
covering electronic sources, use the Table of Contents.
Using the Bluebook
The Bluebook will intimidate you if you let it. The best way to approach the Bluebook
is to cut it down to size mentally by identifying the primary parts you’ll use. Notice the
larger section of the Bluebook as they are set out in the Table of Contents.
1. Sections of the Bluebook
1. Introduction. The Bluebook begins with an Introduction expressly designed for
novices. The Introduction describes the parts of the Bluebook and points out
the reference guides on the inside front and back covers.
2. The Bluepages. This section is necessary because the rest of the Bluebook
focuses on citation form appropriate for law review publishing. The Bluepages
section adapts the rules in the rest of the Bluebook to practitioner writing–the
kind you will be doing in your legal writing class and in practice. This section
provides a table for suggested abbreviations to use in court documents and a
table identifying jurisdiction-specific citation rules.
3. Rules. The rules themselves come next. Rules 1-9 are general rules about
citation and style. They apply broadly to many citation situations. They are
followed by rules dealing with citing particular kinds of sources. You will use
Rules 10, 12, 15, and 16 (cases, statutes, books, and periodicals) most often.
4. Tables. After the rules comes a second set of tables. These are reference
sources for basic information about court and reporter systems and statutory
compilations for each jurisdiction as well as standard abbreviations for
courts, case names, publications, and other commonly used terms.
2. How to Locate the Bluebook Rules You Need
1. Use the Bluebook’s index
2. Use the Table of Contents
3. When reading a particular rule, look at the listed cross references
4. Use the Quick Reference for Court Documents and Legal Memoranda set out
on the last page and the back inside cover. (The one on the front inside cover
and first page is for law review citations)
Several Key Concepts
1. Citation Sentences vs. Citation Clauses. You might sometimes see references to
“citation sentences” and “citation clauses.” These phrases simply refer to the two
places to put a citation–inside or outside a sentence of text. You can put a citation
inside a sentence of text.

Example:
The Supreme Court has observed that employers and unions must have
significant freedom in the creation of seniority systems, California Brewers Assn.
v. Bryant, 444 U.S. 598, 608 (1980), but this freedom is not unlimited, see, e.g.
Nashville Gas Co. v. Satty, 434 U.S. 136, 141 (1977).

Each of these citations is called a “citation clause” because the citation is

part of the sentence of text and not a free-standing unit unto itself.
The cite to California Brewery Association is placed immediately after the
part of the sentence it supports. The writer has not placed it at the end of the
sentence because the writer is citing it as support for only the proposition stated
in the first part of the sentence.
The cite to Nashville Gas Company is placed immediately after the part of
the sentence it supports, but the writer has not placed it outside the period
because it is not cited as support for the entire sentence. It supports only the
proposition stated in the last half of the sentence.

A citation also can be placed outside the sentence of text.

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 Example:
The Supreme Court has observed that employers and unions have significant
freedom in the creation of seniority systems. California Brewers Assn. v. Bryant,
444 U.S. 598, 608 (1980).

This citation is called a “citation sentence” because the citation is not a

part of the sentence of text. The citation is placed outside the period because the
writer is citing the case as support for all the material in the sentence of text.
2. Typeface Requirements. The Bluebook’s rules are designed primarily for law
review writing rather than for practitioner writing. For law review writing, the
Bluebook requires, on different occasions, large and small capitals, regular
typeface, and italics. The examples and explanations in the rules section employ
those distinctions among typefaces. Practitioner writing is simpler, however,
using only regular type such as courier and either italics or underscoring.
3. Citing in Text vs. Citing in a Footnote. Law review articles are notorious for
footnotes, and the rules section of the Bluebook provides special requirements for
citations in law review footnotes. However, footnotes should be the exception
rather than the rule for practitioner writing. When practitioners do use footnote,
they usually use the same citation principles they have been using in the text.

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