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Bluebook Guide: Books & More

This guide introduces the Bluebook's uniform system of legal citation. This guide is best used in conjunction with the Bluebook.

Basic Elements

The Whitepages cover citations for books, reports, and other nonperiodic materials.  See R15, pp. 147-56.  There are some examples on The Bluebook's Quick Style Guide.  The main elements for these types of citations include:  

  • Author (large and small caps)
  • Title (large and small caps)
  • Page, section, or paragraph cited
  • Editor or translator
  • Edition
  • Date

The main elements for these citations slightly differ in the Bluepages (see B15, pp. 22-23) and include:

  • The volume number (for multi-volume sets)
  • The full name(s) of the author(s) as written in the publication
  • The title of the publication (underscored or italicized)
  • A pinpoint citation
  • A parenthetical indicating the year of publication, the name of the editor (if any), and the edition (if more than one)

Basic Citation Examples