The citations resulting from ALWD will be identical to Bluebook, except a few very minor differences.
"In the seventh edition, every sentence that has a corresponding rule in the 21st edition of The Bluebook is followed by an endnote reference to Appendix 8 in the Guide, which provides the rule citation for The Bluebook."
Guide to Legal Citation, ALWD, https://www.alwd.org/guide-rule-correlation-guides (last visited Feb. 14, 2023).
"In some instances, the Bluebook does not address a specific point. For example, how does someone cite to an interview — especially an interview conducted on Zoom? ..." Arizonalib, What’s New in the ALWD 7th Edition? CRIV BLOG (Sept. 15, 2021), https://crivblog.com/2021/09/15/whats-new-in-the-alwd-7th-edition/.
"Some differences between ALWD and the Bluebook do appear. They are small, but interesting. For example, the Bluebook uses “e-mail.” ALWD dispenses with the hyphen and uses “email.” ALWD changed LEXIS to Lexis....ALWD suggests being specific about the database being cited. For example, if the user’s research comes from using Westlaw Classic, state Westlaw Classic (not just Westlaw) in the citation. On the other hand, if the user’s research comes from using Westlaw Edge, state Westlaw Edge in the citation (again, not just Westlaw)." Id.
One difference for BRIEFS:
If the case name is in the text of the sentence:
Bluebook Rule B10.1.1(vi)
If you are citing to the case for the first time, you must put the entire citation in the text of the sentence, like this:
In Pime v. Loyola Univ. of Chicago, 803 F.2d 351, 353 (7th Cir. 1986) a defendant utilized a BFOQ defense for hiring professors on the basis of religion claiming it needed to hire a certain number of Jesuits in order to uphold its educational tradition and the character of the institution.
ALWD rule 34.1c
Even if you are citing to the case for the first time, and have the name of the case in the sentence, you can STILL put the rest of the citation at the end of the sentence:
In Pime v. Loyola Univ. of Chicago, a defendant utilized a BFOQ defense for hiring professors on the basis of religion claiming it needed to hire a certain number of Jesuits in order to uphold its educational tradition and the character of the institution. 803 F.2d 351, 353 (7th Cir. 1986).
Rule 34.1c says you MAY use the citation as a grammatical element of a textual sentence, but it is not required and the citation can just go at the end. Some commentators prefer to have the citation at the end because then it does not break up the sentence.
(also see ALWD Rule 12.16(c) re. short form when the name of the case is in the textual sentence, and Bluebook R. 10.2 allows you to do the short form in the same way)
Citation after every sentence?
ALWD Rule 34.2 provides an exception for including a citation after every sentence. If each sentence in a paragraph refers to the same page from the same source, you can just put a single citation at the end of the paragraph. ALWD suggests that the best practice is to include a citation after every sentence, so as not to confuse the reader.
The Bluebook does not provide this exception and requires a citation after every sentence where the information is drawn from a source.
Full citation only the first time you cite it?
Bluebook Rule B10.2:
You can use the short form only if the full citation "falls in the same general discussion"**, is clear to the reader what is referenced, and the reader will have no difficulty locating the citation.
ALWD Rule 11.1c
Only have to use full cite the first time you cite to the source, but you CAN use full cite more frequently if local court rules require or the first time you you cite to a source in a new section of the document.
** Usually people interpret "in the same general discussion" as in the same "section" of the brief, like the ALWD rule says. However, "in the same general discussion" might be ambiguous if there are 2 or 3 very small subsections under a main section, and it would seem O.K. then to use the short form in the subsections. Just try and be consistent in interpreting the rules because they do afford some discretion.
If you learned ALWD and want to use Bluebook, the main difference is that Bluebook is divided into the Blue pages, for citations in memos and briefs (practitioner citations) and the White pages for academic citations (in law review articles and law school papers). Sometimes the Blue pages are not detailed enough, so the Blue pages contain references to the White pages which should be consulted even when doing practitioner citations. (page 2 of the Bluebook, 21st ed.).
If you want to use ALWD for citations in an academic article, especially pay attention to ALWD rules:
You will see that these rules are marked with an icon for "Academic Formatting".
Also, many of the main rules in ALWD include an example for academic formatting in the Fast Formats table at the beginning of the main rule (eg. Rule 13, Rule 14, etc.) as well as a subsection of the rule that tells you how to do an academic footnote (e.g. Rule 13.2(e) - Full Citations to Constitutions for Academic Footnotes.)