Legal Citation & Research: The Bluebook & Nexis Uni. The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is a style guide that is the most widely used system of legal citation in the legal community of the United States. It is typically referred to as the Bluebook.

The Bluebook style of citation includes a uniform system used by law practitioners to site case law, statutory law and other legislative materials, state constitutions, the United States Constitution, administrative law, and legal books or reports, journals, magazines, digital/Internet Sources and international materials.

While the Bluebook covers both state and federal law, some courts require their own system of citation that takes precedence over the Bluebook system of citation. While the Bluebook includes how to United States Supreme Court cases, the United States Supreme Court writes its opinions using its own system of citation.

Publication Information

Publication Information: The Bluebook was first published somewhere between 1920 and 1926 and the online version was first offered in 2008. The Bluebook is in its 20th edition. Like all other systems of citation such as MLA, APA, CSE, etc., the Bluebook is revised periodically to keep up with the everchanging ways that the law is delivered to the legal community from primarily print publications to the digitizing of publications for online consumption.

The publishers of the Bluebook are: The Harvard Law Review Association, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and the Yale Law Review Journal Company, Inc.

How to Access Bluebook Citation

Legal Community

Generally, the Bluebook is a publication secured by Copyright and is purchased by practitioners in the legal community. An annual subscription including online and print is available for under $40.00 through the Bluebook website: www.legalbluebook.com. Subscribers to Lexis or Westlaw, the primary online databases used by practitioners in the legal community for research, can access information about how to cite legal materials using the Bluebook style of citation.

Students: Nexis Uni

Colleges, universities and law schools have libraries that subscribe to numerous online databases including Westlaw and Lexis. Lexis now provides a student version of its database, Nexis Uni, to subscribing colleges, universities, and law schools. Eastern Gateway Community College is currently a subscriber to Nexis Uni.

EGCC students therefore can access this database free of cost through the student’s online library account. For more information about how to access an EGCC library account, refer to your Loud Cloud course menu or the EGCC website: www.egcc.edu/library/

How to Access Nexis Uni through EGCC Library

1. Go to the EGCC website: www.egcc.edu

2. Select “Click here to go to Gateway”

3. Under “Important Links” select “Library”

4. Select “Search EGCC Library Resources.”

5. You can locate Nexis Uni by selecting “OhioLink” or you can select the quick-link “Nexis Uni” under “Other E-Resources.” You may receive an “Off Campus-Access” prompt that asks for your last name and password.

6. Passwords are entered in the following format: first initial capitalized, last name with first letter capitalized, last four digits of your student ID#: JSmith1234

7. Your last name and passwords are case sensitive. Do not use your social security number.

8. If you have difficulty logging in, email libhelp@egcc.edu

9. On the home screen of Nexi Uni, you can select “Help” in the upper right-hand corner of the home screen.

10. Select the folder “Getting Started with Nexis Uni” to review basic features of the database. The “Help” folder also provides information for how to search the database and offers a support page with video tutorials. The direct link for that support page is: https://www-lexisnexis-com.egcc.ohionet.org/en-us/support/nexis-uni/default.page?lbu=US&locale=en_US&audience=all

11. You can also find video tutorials for practically anything that you’d like to do within this database on YouTube.

12. Working with this professional database requires time and practice. Over time and with practice, research skills will develop to the necessary level for successful legal research in college and in the legal workforce.

How to Find Bluebook Citations in Nexis Uni

Case Law

1. Once you find the case you are looking for and select it, you will see the Nexis Uni Citation at the top of the page. Immediately under the case name you can select, “Export Citation.”

You will then see a box “Citation Export” and underneath a prompt asking, “What’s your selected citation format?” You can scroll through your options and select “Bluebook” and the Nexis Uni citation will reconfigure to a Bluebook citation.

2. The option “Copy to Clipboard” below the citation allows you to copy and paste the citation into your own file. Bluebook citation note: Bluebook Rule 18.2.1 clarifies that it is not necessary to include the URL/Internet address at the end of a citation for official versions of cases or statutes.

Therefore, if locating case or statutory law on Nexis Uni, you should exclude web addresses from your citation.

Statutory Law

1. When searching for a statute or administrative law on the home page of Nexis Uni under “Guided Search,” you will be asked “What are you interested in?” You will select “A Publication.”

2. If you know the name of the Code or other statutory text you are looking for, it is easier to skip the prompt asking you to “Search for something specific?” and just type into the “Find publication” the name of your source. As you type, Nexis Uni will offer options as to the texts in the database for you to select.

3. Select “Search.” Select the statute or other legislation you are looking for.

4. Immediately under the statutory title offered by Nexis Uni, you can select, “Export Citation.” You will then see a box “Citation Export” and underneath a prompt asking, “What’s your selected citation format?”

You can scroll through your options and select “Bluebook” and the Nexis Uni citation will reconfigure to a Bluebook citation.

5. The option “Copy to Clipboard” below the citation allows you to copy and paste the citation into your own file. Bluebook citation note:

Bluebook Rule 18.2.1 clarifies that it is not necessary to include the URL/Internet address at the end of a citation for official versions of cases or statutes. Therefore, if locating case or statutory law on Nexis Uni, you should exclude web addresses from your citation.