ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

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The Bluebook admonishes authors not to use electronic resources unless the information cited is unavailable, by which they mean not readily available in a traditional printed source (Rule 18).

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Commercial Electronic Databases - Rule 18.1

(1) In effect the Bluebook is referring to Westlaw and Lexis (though there are others like LoisLaw). They are deemed reliable enough to cite when a source is unavailable in a traditionally printed form.

(2) When citing a case from Westlaw or Lexis include the following:-

Case name; docket number; database identifier; court name; full date.

The database identifier is the code or number given to the source by the database.

In the example below the identifier is 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 2525:-

Davis v. Latschar, No. 99-5037, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 2525 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 22, 2000).

(3) Statutes:- In the parenthetical, indicate the database, publisher and how current the database is (comparable to the copyright year of the hard copy).

For example:- Mont. Code Ann. § 2-4-7 (West, Westlaw through 2000 legislation).

(4) Other sources:- Indicate any database identifiers and if it is unclear which database is being used, indicate the name in parenthetical.

For example:-

H.R. 2650, 108th Cong. § 44(c) (2000), 2000 CONG US HR 4001 (Westlaw).

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Internet Citations - Rule 18.2

Direct Citations to Internet Sources - Rule 18.2.3

(1) Cite directly to an internet source when, a) a source does not exist in a traditionally printed form or commercial database, or b) when a traditional printed source is practically unavailable (e.g. dissertation), and c) it is not availble on Westlaw or Lexis.

(2) Model:-

author/title/case; pagination and publication date (parenthetically), and then directly append the URL to the citation.

(3) Typeface the title or party name as you would for a normal citation. Do not underline the URL.

(4) If an author is unclear, a title alone may be used.

(5) Only pinpoint cite if the page number appears in the document itself, e.g. PDFs, and not screen numbers.

(6) As for dates, indicate a year when the date clearly refers to the material cited, else use "last visited X date " in the parenthetical.

For example:-

Tom Parfitt, 'Father of the Turkmen' dies 66, Guardian Newspaper, December 21, 2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,1976842,00.html.

Parallel Citations with Internet Sources - 18.2.2

A parallel internet citation (along with a traditional printed source), is encouarged if the internet source is, 1) identical in content, and 2) will substantially improve access to the source when the printed source is generally unavailable.

After the citation to the traditional source, insert "available at" followed by the internet source (thus indicating that it is merely a secondary location for the material).

For example:-

Town of Concord 2007 Community Preservation Plan, Concord Community Preservation Committee (Sep. 25, 2006), available at http://www.concordnet.org/dplm/CPPlan2006FFINAL.pdf.

Which URL do I cite?

The URL should take the reader directly to the page, with no intervening links in between. If the URL is long and unwieldy, then indicate the root URL with a parethentical explaining how to access the information. Note, if the explanation itself is long and unwieldy, then resort to inserting the unwieldy URL itself. PDF URLs are preferable over URLs with no PDFS.

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Last updated, May 2007