Paralegal Studies

What is legal citation?  Legal citation is defined in Introduction to Basic Legal Citation as:

"a standard language that allows one writer to refer to legal authorities with sufficient precision and generality that others can follow the references. Because writing by lawyers and judges is so dependent on such references, it is a language of abbreviations and special terms."

Citations are used when refering to legal documents including, but not limited to, cases, statutes, and law review articles.  There is some variation in legal citations by document type.

There are a number of options available to you to locate legal citations, including Westlaw and Federal and Illinois resources.

Source:  Martin, Peter W.  Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (online ed. 2010). 2010.  Web.  13 July 2011.

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Additional help with the The Bluebook

• University of Illinois Law Library - http://law-illinois.libguides.com/law-bluebook
  • Explore the features of The Bluebook through the University of Illinois LibGuide:
    • Bluepages 
    • Whitepages
    • Useful Tables
    • Glossary
    • Blue Tips
• The Bluebook's official webpage - http://www.legalbluebook.com
  • Provides tips on using the Bluebook
• Georgetown Law Library - http://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/bluebook 
  • Bluebook Guide: Introduction LibGuide - A LibGuide created by the Georgetown Law Library which introduces The Bluebook and basic concepts of legal citation to new law students.
• Cornell Legal Information Institute - https://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/
  • Cornell's LII: Basic Legal Citation (online)