| name | ylj-sources-and-bluebook |
| description | Use when building and formatting the citation apparatus for a The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) piece — pinpoint cites, Bluebook form, and source support for every assertion. It governs cite construction; the final editorial cite-check and source-pull is ylj-footnotes-and-cite-check. |
Sources & Bluebook (ylj-sources-and-bluebook)
Legal scholarship is carried in its footnotes, and YLJ formats them in Bluebook form (The
Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation), supplemented by the Journal's own citation requirements. Every
sentence that asserts law or fact carries a footnote with a pinpoint cite to authority that actually
supports it. This skill builds correct, supported cites as you draft; the line-by-line editorial verify
happens later in ylj-footnotes-and-cite-check.
When to trigger
- Drafting any sentence that states what the law is, what a court held, or a fact
- Unsure of Bluebook form for a case, statute, regulation, book, or article
- A footnote cites a source generally instead of to the exact page/section
- Preparing the manuscript so student editors can source-pull every footnote
Core rules YLJ editors enforce
- A cite for every proposition. Assertions of law and fact are footnoted; unsupported claims get
flagged in source-pull.
- Pinpoint, always. Cite the exact page (
id. at 412), section (§ 1983), or paragraph — never
just the first page of a long opinion when you rely on a holding deep inside it.
- The source must actually say it. A cite that doesn't support the sentence is the single most
common source-pull failure; quote or paraphrase only what the page contains.
- Bluebook form by source type (typeface, order of authorities, signals, short forms):
| Source | Skeleton (Bluebook) |
|---|
| Case | Name v. Name, Vol Reporter Page, pin (Court Year). |
| Statute | Title U.S.C. § X (Year). |
| Regulation | Vol C.F.R. § X (Year). |
| Book | Author, Title Page (ed. Year). |
| Law-review article | Author, Title, Vol Journal Page, pin (Year). |
| Short forms | id.; supra note N; hereinafter, used consistently. |
Signals and explanatory parentheticals
- Use introductory signals precisely —
See, See also, Cf., But see, Contra, E.g. —
each means a different relationship between the cite and the text; misuse signals to a reader (and a
source-puller) that you misread the source.
- Add explanatory parentheticals for any cite whose relevance isn't obvious from the text — they
prove you read the source and save editors a step.
- Order string cites by the Bluebook hierarchy of authorities; don't list cases alphabetically.
Quotations and paraphrase
- Verbatim language needs quotation marks and a pinpoint cite; paraphrase still needs a cite to the
Bluebook + the Journal's requirements. Cleaning up another's words without quotation marks is a
source-pull and integrity failure.
- For altered quotations use the Bluebook conventions (
[ ], . . ., (emphasis added)).
Checklist
Anti-patterns
- "String of see-cites" with no pinpoints — guarantees source-pull friction
- A cite to the first page of a 40-page opinion for a holding buried at page 38
- Wrong signal (
See where the source directly states it, or vice versa)
- Paraphrase that tracks the source's wording without quotation marks (integrity flag)
- Deferring all Bluebook formatting to "the editors will fix it" — they cite-check, they don't ghostwrite
Output format
【Apparatus state】% of assertions footnoted; pinpoints present? Y/N
【Bluebook form】case/statute/article skeletons applied consistently? Y/N
【Signals】used deliberately? Y/N
【Quotations】marked + pinpointed + alterations flagged? Y/N
【Next】ylj-writing-style for prose, then ylj-footnotes-and-cite-check for the full verify
Supplementary resources
