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Bluebook is a registered trademark of the Columbia Law Review Association, the Harvard Law Review Association, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and The Yale Law Journal.

Citation rules/Quotations

Quotations.

Block quotations, alterations, omissions, and quotation marks.

22 rules on 3 pages of the book.

In this chapter

  • 5.1Formatting of Quotations9
  • 5.2Alterations and Quotations Within Quotations7
  • 5.3Omissions6

5.1Formatting of Quotations

  • Use a block quotation or remove the marks
  • 5.1(a)(i)Indent the block quotation on both sides
  • 5.1(a)(ii)Move the call number outside the closing mark
  • 5.1(a)(ii)Move the citation after the block quotation
  • 5.1(a)(iii)Add the first-line indent
  • 5.1(a)(iii)Remove the indent from the first line
  • 5.1(b)(i)Use single quotation marks
  • 5.1(b)(iv)Move the punctuation inside the quotation mark
  • 5.1(b)(iv)Move the semicolon outside the mark

5.2Alterations and Quotations Within Quotations

  • 5.2(c)Use “[sic]”
  • 5.2(d)(i)Use parentheses for the notation
  • 5.2(d)(iii)Remove the emphasis parenthetical
  • 5.2(e)Move the attribution parenthetical last
  • 5.2(e)Remove italics from the nested case name
  • 5.2(f)Add an attribution parenthetical
  • 5.2(f)(i)Remove the inner quotation marks

5.3Omissions

  • Remove the opening ellipsis
  • Use the right mark for an omission
  • 5.3(b)Remove one of the two ellipses
  • 5.3(b)(i)Capitalize the first word of the quote
  • 5.3(b)(iii)Add the fourth period or remove the ellipsis
  • 5.3(b)(iv)Move the ellipsis or remove it

Check a document against these 22 rules.

Also in this part of the book: Structure and signals, Typeface conventions, Subdivisions and pincites, Short forms and id., Abbreviations and numbers, Capitalisation, Titles of officials.

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