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Bluebook Guide: Periodicals

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

Overview

The Bluebook provides much coverage on periodic materials, which include, among other things, law review journals!  See R16, pp. 157-69 for the Whitepages rules and B16, pp. 23-24 for the Bluepages rules.  

As noted previously in the section on Typeface, law review articles will use three typefaces for periodical materials.  The author’s name is in ordinary type, the article title is italicized, and the periodical name is in large and small caps.  

In a court document under the Bluepages, only the article title will be italicized (or underscored depending on preference).  The rest of the citations will be in ordinary type.

More Examples

The Bluebook provides more examples of basic citation forms for various periodicals for academic legal writing at R16.1, pp. 157-58, and for court documents at B16, pp. 23-25.  Also, there are some examples on The Bluebook's Quick Style Guide.

Basic Citation Examples of Periodicals for a Law Review Article

Highly Specific Topics

See the overviews and examples presented in The Bluebook for the following Whitepages Rules on these highly specific topics on periodical materials.

  • Consecutively Paginated Journals (R16.4, p. 160)
  • Nonconsecutively Paginated Journals and Magazines (R16.5, pp. 160-61)
  • Signed & Unsigned Student-Written Law Review Materials (R16.7.1(a) & (b), pp. 163-64)
  • Student-Written Book Reviews (R16.7.1(c), p. 164)
  • Non- Student-Written Book Reviews (R16.7.2, p. 164)
  • Symposia, Colloquia & Surveys (R16.7.3, p. 165)
  • Commentaries & Other Special Designations (R16.7.4, p. 165)
  • Multipart Articles (R16.7.5, pp. 165-66)
  • Annotations (R16.7.6, p. 166)
  • Proceedings, Regular Publications by Institutes & ABA Section Reports (R.16.7.7, pp. 166-67)
  • Newsletters & Other Noncommercially Distributed Periodicals (R16.7.8, p. 167)
  • Electronic Databases & Online Sources (R16.8, p. 167)