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Introduction & Disclaimer
Citations are essential tools which highlight sources authors use in their scholarship. The legal tradition requires proper, certain, and sufficient citation from law students, attorneys, judges and other legal professionals. Most law schools require using the Bluebook—a style guide.
Courts sometimes have their own rules and guides dictating citation in their particular venue. Sometimes these rules appear as court rules, and sometimes courts issue guides.
- Citation
- The formal acknowledgement of the use of the words or ideas of another; a note of reference, explanation, or comment usually placed below the text on a printed page.
- Tool
- A web-based or downloadable software program or application (an app).
- Bibliography
- The works or a list of the works referred to in a text, consulted by the author in its production. Synonyms include: reference list or works cited.
- Citation manager
- Citation management tools allow you to collect, organize, and store information resources in one place. They also simplify the process of citing references in articles or research papers, as well as generating bibliographies in a wide range of citation styles.
- Extraction
- The act of selecting excerpts or terms and copying out or citing.
- Storage space
- When choosing a citation management system, check how much storage space is available for the option you prefer. Free storage space is usually limited in size.
Please check with your professors and course guidelines before using these tools for your LLEAP classes, which may have course rules restricting the use of these tools. It is best if you understand the citation rules before using this guide and similar resources. Citation managers that claim they can provide Bluebook citation formats can make errors (even this guide may contain misstakes mistakes).
Ultimately, you are responsible for the accuracy of your citations.
Ultimately, you are responsible for the accuracy of your citations.