Bluebooking and Legal Citation

• B16- basic format for periodicals in court documents.
• R16- detailed format for periodicals in academic writing.
• R16.6- special rules for newspapers. 
• T13- abbreviations for periodical titles.

Caution by kaneiderdaniel/ CC BY SA 3.0

Do not rely solely on this page to Bluebook.

Please keep in mind:

1. Your professor or court system may have special rules.
2. Rules or situations may have changed since this page was last updated.
3. We may be wrong! 

Double check with your professor, outside guides, and the Bluebook rules themselves.

If you notice a mistake, please contact library.reference@lls.edu

Basic Format for Law Reviews, Scholarly Journals, and Other Consecutively Paginated Periodicals

Basic Format for Magazines and Other Nonconsecutively Paginated Periodicals

Formatting Tips

• In academic writing, the periodical title is in small caps.  To make small caps in Word or other Microsoft products, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Shift+K on a PC or Command+Shift+K on a Mac.
• The article title is italicized in academic writing and underlined or italicized in court documents. However, use ordinary roman type for words that would be italicized in the main text (i.e. case names and titles of publications, speeches, and articles) (R16.3, R2.2.)
• Everything else is in normal type.

Most law reviews and scholarly journals are consecutively paginated and most magazines and other non-scholarly publications are nonconsecutively paginated. 

A periodical is "consecutively paginated" if page numbers continue between issues within each volume and "nonconsecutively paginated" if they start over with each new issue.

For example:

• Within Volume 46 of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, Issue 1 ends at page 410 and Issue 2 begins at page 411, picking up the page numbering where the previous issue left off. Because the numbering continues between issues, Loyola Law Review is "consecutively paginated."
• In contrast, each issue of the Loyola Lawyer starts over at page 1. The Loyola Lawyer is "nonconsecutively paginated."

So why the different formats?

• To find an article in a consecutively paginated periodical, all you need to know is the volume and page, so the Bluebook does not require you to include the issue.
• To find an article in a nonconsecutively paginated periodical you need to know the specific issue, so the Bluebook requires you to include the date on the issue cover.