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Source Collection 1-2-3: Cheatsheet

A triage approach to collecting source materials cited in journal article manuscripts

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This cheatsheet points to parts of the Bluebook that may help you decipher a citation

Figuring out what it refers to might help you find the cited source. Rule, Table, and page references are to the 21st edition of the Bluebook

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books, book chapters, essays and other works in collection

  • Rule 15 covers all non-periodical secondary materials (e.g., pamphlets, reports, dictionaries)
periodical articles (including journals and law reviews, other scholarly journals, newspapers, newsletters, and magazines):
  • Rule 16 covers periodical materials; use Tables 6, 10, and 13 if you need to search for the unabbreviated name of a periodical.

cases including those only in a service, from foreign courts, or from international tribunal:

  • Rule 10 covers American cases, including citing to a service; use Tables 1.1 (federal), 1.4 (states) and 16 (services) if you need to search for the unabbreviated title of a case reporter or service.
  • Rule 20 covers foreign cases; use Table 2 (online only, no login needed) if you need to search for the unabbreviated title of foreign case reporter (selected countries).
  • Rule 21 covers international cases; use Table 3 if you need to search for the unabbreviated title of a case reporter for an international tribunal.

constitutions and other charter/founding documents

  • Rule 11 for American (federal and state) constitutional documents
  • Rule 20.4 for other nations
  • Rule 21.4 and scattered references in Rule 21 give citation details for the U.N. Charter, League of Nations Covenant, and other founding documents for international organizations

statutes cited in code as well as in session law form:

  • Rule 12 covers American statutes in both forms, and basic examples of both are set out on page 111; Tables 1.1 (federal) and 1.3 (states) list abbreviations for both code and session law compilations.
  • Rule 12.4 covers session laws in detail.

legislative documents:

  • Rule 13 covers federal and (less thoroughly) state legislative materials; Rule 13.1 (page 135) shows basic examples of both; use Table 9 if you need decipher abbreviations used in a legislative document citation.

administrative & executive materials (e.g., regulations, agency/rulemaking, administrative decisions:

  • Rule 14.1 shows basic citation forms for commonly cited administrative materials

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