Use the Best Bluebook Format Citation Generator for Book Citing
What would you call the biggest time-sucker for law school students? Briefs? Reading? Mock trials? Chances are, for you, like for the majority of others who have chosen the law to be their life-long love, it’s the appropriate referencing of legal documents in every single piece that you produce.
We understand the frustration. While in general academic writing citing is important, when it comes to legal writing, citing becomes indispensable. You can’t convey your message to the reader without explaining which documents you have used in your conclusions and assumptions.
And yet, things get so much more complicated when it comes to the law! Each document has to be cited following a certain format. There are lists of abbreviations, reporters (periodicals that publish court decisions), authorities and so on.
The Bluebook has norms to cover it all – that’s why it’s so extensive and elaborate. In fact, the guide has a separate chapter that is its miniature version to help navigate the norms.
If you are unwilling to master this skill or need some help at the beginning – we have something to offer. This free Bluebook citation generator for books has all you need to make citations fast, effectively and with a guarantee of no mistakes. Read on – we will tell you more!
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation
The Bluebook, its name reflecting the color of its cover, is an extensive style guide used for legal citation in the U.S. Since the times it was first compiled, its origins still debated, the guide has suffered multiple revisions and editions. It is currently in its 20th edition and is used widely across the U.S. in both academic institutions and courts.
The guide includes four parts that deal with different components of citations. The first one, called the Bluepages, is a miniature version of the guide. The second part contains extensive rules for citing different types of sources. The third part includes tables that provide information on abbreviations, authorities and other specific data. The last part is an index to help you find relevant information faster.
Other legal citation systems exist, too. For now, the Bluebook remains the dominant style across the U.S., which means you won’t be able to avoid using it.
How to generate the Bluebook in-text citation for book sources
Luckily, creating the Bluebook in-text citation for book sources using our tool is much easier than tracing the norms in the guide and trying to follow them on your own. To use it, you won’t have to spend more than a few seconds.
To generate a citation:
- Choose the style you need in the tab (Bluebook)
- Choose the source you want to cite
- Enter the information about your source – the author’s name, title, etc.
- Click on “Generate”
- Grab your citation and paste it where necessary in your paper
The general rule is that legal documents are cited in the text of your paper, while academic sources are included in footnotes or endnotes. The specifics, however, will be defined by your institution.
Learning to save time and optimize efforts is crucial for any law school student. You won’t be able to succeed if you don’t acquire the skill early on. Our Bluebook format citation generator for book and other sources is one of those tools that will help you do just that. Add it to your toolkit, and you won’t be disappointed.
What the Bluebook referencing style for a book implies
There are different norms for citation of academic sources, such as books and legal documents, e.g. court decisions, cases, and constitutions. Rule 15 includes the norms of the Bluebook referencing style for a book.
The general format for citing books is as follows:
- The full name of the author
- The title of the book
- The part cited – section, paragraph and page number
- The edition cited
- And the year of publication
Both the author’s name and the title of the book should be in small caps.
The author’s name should appear in the citation as it appears in the original publication. Titles such as “Dr.” should not be used but designations such as “Jr.” should be included. For books with two authors, include both names as they are mentioned in the original publication joined by an ampersand.
For three and more authors, specify the first author and add “et al.” as you would do in the majority of other styles. Alternatively, you can specify all names in the order as they appear in the original publication, provided that doing so bears some particular relevance for the citation.
When the author is an institution, provide the full name of such institution. If both are specified as contributors, include the author’s and the institution’s names separated by a comma. If multiple units of an institution are to be given credit to, then start from the smallest and continue with the largest one, skipping any middle-sized units.
As it’s already been mentioned, the Bluebook style guide favors abbreviation, and so you should consult the appropriate Rule of the guide to find out an appropriate abbreviation for the institutional author.
The names of editors and translators, if any, are to be included in the citation in parenthesis.
The title of the book should be in small caps and capitalized according to the Bluebook’s norms, which means to capitalize all letters excluding articles, conjunctions, and prepositions that are no longer than four letters. Regardless of their length and part of speech, the first word in the title and the first word after a colon should be capitalized.
The edition of the book is provided only if the corresponding book has more than one edition. In the case of a single edition, specify the year in parenthesis after the book’s title. If the edition is by another publisher than the original, provide such information in the citation.
Naturally, when it comes to e-books distributed online, additional rules for Internet sources will apply.