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20th Edition of The Bluebook Now Available

This week the new edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation arrived at the O'Quinn Law Library. Nearly 50 pages longer than 2010's 19th edition, the rules and structure are largely similar to previous editions, but some important changes have been made. Here are a few of the major revisions:

Bluepages: The Bluepages (for non-academic citation) have been re-formatted to follow the same structure as the white pages (academic citation) and Bluetable BT2 includes revised jurisdiction-specific citation rules.

Quotations, Rule 5.2(d)(i): No longer requires indication of the ommission of internal quotation marks.

Short Forms of Cases, Rule 10.9(iii): Addition guidance provided for short forms of cites for slip opinions.

Administrative & Executive Materials, Rule 14:
  • Rule 14.2(b) has been expanded to include detailed information on citing comments to agencies.
  • Rule 14.2(d) gives more detailed information on citing guidance documents.
  • Rule 14.4 provides information of citing administrative sources found on commercial electronic databases.

 Books, Reports, and Other Nonperiodic Materials, Rule 15:
  • Rule 15.9 removes language that requires the use of “available at” in parallel citations.
  • Rule 15.9(c)  introduces a citation format for ebooks.

Periodical Materials, Rule 16.6(f) : Clarifies that online newspapers may be used in place of print newspapers.

The Internet, Electronic Media, and Other Non-Print Resources, Rule 18:
  • Rule 18 no longer separately categorizes Internet citations as either direct or parallel; all citations are treated as direct.
  • Rule 18.2.1(b)(ii) provides for the direct citation of Internet sources that share the characteristics of a print source such that they can be fully cited according to another rule, whether or not the source is in print.
  • Rule 18.2.1(d) provides guidance on how to cite Internet sources using archival tools.
  • Rule 18.2.2(a) provides guidance on citing author information on social media platforms.
  • Rules 18.2.2(b)(iii) and 18.2.2(b)(v) detail how to cite titles for blogs contained within a larger website and titles for social media posts, respectively.
  • Rule 18.3 now catalogs where within The Bluebook guidance is provided for citing various sources found on commercial electronic databases.

You can check out copies of the new edition of The Bluebook at the Law Library Reserve desk, or view copies in the Library's Reference Section (KF250.U54). For more information, see the catalog record, or ask one of the reference librarians.

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