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Legal Citation

Bluebook and ALWD Manual

What is citation management software?

Citation management software allows the researcher to maintain a database of citations and research notes.  The software’s functionality can range from a simple bibliography-generating tool to a sophisticated research management tool with the ability to create outlines and organize your notes.  It is a great way to stay organized as you write papers.

Warning

All software products (including Lexis and Westlaw) make mistakes when converting to Bluebook format.  You must double check all citations.  Ultimately you are responsible for correctly writing the citation in Bluebook format, not the software.

Be sure to look at the course syllabus and/or ask the professor whether using any automatic citation generators is against class policy.

Citation Help from Lexis and Westlaw

Citation Generator

Citation Managers

Bierce Library has an extensive guide to citation managers, including a page on Juris-M and Zotero

Juris-M is the best bibliographic manager for creating Bluebook for law review citations - and it is free!

PowerNotes

Powernotes

While PowerNotes itself does not convert citations to proper Bluebook form, you can use it to organize things you find on Lexis and Westlaw and use the copy and paste functions on Lexis and Westlaw.

See Use Cases>For Law with video demo.

Used as a Chrome extension, Powernotes helps create better research by assisting you in staying organized. It allows you to capture content from across the web, easily organize the information, switch between projects, collaborate, and generate citations and bibliographies. Create an account with your university email address.