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Legal Abbreviations & References

Citing Sources

The two frequently used styles for citing sources in your legal research paper are:

• The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Carrier REF KF246 .U5)
• ALWD Citation Manual: a Professional System of Citation (Carrier KF245 .A45 2010)

Online Help

• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation by Peter W. Martin for advice on both styles of legal citation.
• CheckCite for helping you format citations in APA or Turabian.

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Reading Citations

Court Cases

The format for a court case is volume number, source, and first page. 

Here is an example:  127 S. Ct. 336

In this example:

127 is the volume number

S. Ct. (or Supreme Court Reporter) is the source

336 is the first page

Laws

The format for a law looks similar but differs.  It gives the title number, source, and section. 

Here is an example:  2 USC 381

In this example:

2 is the title

USC (or U.S. Code) is the source

381 is the section

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Common Abbreviations

The following are the abbreviations for some common legal resources.

For additional abbreviations, see:

• Prince's Dictionary of Legal Citations (Carrier REF KF246 .P73 2006)
• The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Carrier REF KF246 .U5)

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