The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation

Although the product itself seemed fine at first glance, upon opening it I found that some of the pages were stuck together at the top and an entire section (pages 45-60) have the entire bottom section cut off, as though someone took scissors to it. This is absolutely unacceptable for a product I could have bought new for just $10 more. Would not recommend buying from this seller.

I ordered this product exactly 33 days ago and have not received it! When contacting the store, then told me there was nothing they could do for me. the store has these third party companies selling products on their website without even checking the company out. I ordered another book at the same time that I haven't received as well, and when I looked up the name of the company with the BBB, they had a rating of an F. I emailed both companies and got no emails back. the store DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE COMPANIES PHONE NUMBERS ON FILE!! I am not only disappointed with the service from the third party, but with the store as well.

HORRIBLE SERVICE!!!!

I ordered this product exactly 33 days ago and have not received it! When contacting the store, then told me there was nothing they could do for me. the store has these third party companies selling products on their website without even checking the company out. I ordered another book at the same time that I haven't received as well, and when I looked up the name of the company with the BBB, they had a rating of an F. I emailed both companies and got no emails back. the store DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE COMPANIES PHONE NUMBERS ON FILE!! I am not only disappointed with the service from the third party, but with the store as well.

HORRIBLE SERVICE!!!!

This is the standard citation system used by lawyers. Initially it will seem awkward, since it is quite different from the citation systems used in other fields. But once you're used to it, you'll see that it is compact and efficient. For example the tiny cite "471 U.S. 626" is enough to lead the reader directly to a case, both on paper and online, far more efficiently than trying to convey the same information through, say, a MLA citation. (The basic rule for a citation is "Volume number, abbreviated name of the source, page number.")

As a bonus, this is a small book, far more portable than lugging around the behemoth "Chicago Style Guide." The main weakness of this book is that its small size, combined with the goal of being comprehensive, makes it very dense, with few explanations. There seems to be the assumption that you'll first encounter this in law school, with a professor to explain how it works, and the book itself is merely a reference.

Research and writing guides for the academic community (and the legal community in this case), don't come much more direct and no-nonsense than this. The Bluebook doesn't mess around with cheesy tips on how to write or structure a paper, which are useless puffery in other style guides that are merely there to add space and cost. The Bluebook lays out the highly complex requirements of the style in an easy-to-follow format, with useful examples for all (or most) possible sources, from standard newspaper articles to sections of foreign constitutions. The book ably provides what you need to write a properly-cited paper for the legal academic world, with no need to waste your time slogging through the filler of a typical style guide. The only problem is that the Bluebook is not quite adequate for beginners, even if they're fairly knowledgeable, because it assumes you're already familiar with the voluminous Latin terms and other arcane language of the legal realm. Basic introductions to some terms would certainly be an asset here, but eventually you'll have to buy a law dictionary anyway. [~doomsdayer520~]

Bilgerunner is correct! We should neither overlook the religious, nor the astronomical implications of The Bluebook, "Oh for heaven's sake!"; the complexities of its tautologies "because ... get this ... the Bluebook CREATED those complexities in the first place!"; its promotion of elitism and class-warfare "What do you expect when you let a bunch of Harvard *students* write the rules?"; its acknowledgement of the metaphysical group-think of a closed society, "the entire legal profession has foolishly signed on"; and, as previously stated, its ultimate tragedy, "Until ALWD is the standard in legal practice, you'll need the Bluebook if you plan to be a lawyer." Nothing, NOTHING, compares to the sweep; the scope; the onomatopoetic characterizations; the vivid text-painting; the dramatic tension and resolution; the historical perspective; the skillful use of regional dialects; the frank and earthy, yet futuristic, dialogue; the compassion and depth of human emotion; the dialectical materialism--in short, and as Governor Palin would say, the simple gosh-darn transcendence--of The Bluebook!