Editing Citation signal (section)

=={{anchor|Signal formatting}}Formatting==

==={{anchor|Capitalizing Signals}}Capitalization===
The first letter of a signal should be capitalized when it begins a citation sentence. If it is in a citation clause or sentence, it should not be capitalized.

==={{anchor|Signal Placement and Typeface}}Placement and typeface===
One space should separate an introductory signal from the rest of the citation, with no punctuation between. For example, ''See'' ''American Trucking Associations v. United States EPA'', 195 F.3d 4 (D.C. Cir. 1999).

Do not italicize a signal used as a verb; for example, for a discussion of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]]'s failure to interpret a statute to provide intelligible principles, see ''American Trucking Associations v. United States EPA,'' 195 F.3d 4 (D.C. Cir. 1999).

==={{anchor|Order of signals}}Order===
When one or more signals are used, the signals should appear in the following order:<ref name="legalbluebook.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.legalbluebook.com/|title=The Bluebook|work=legalbluebook.com|access-date=March 24, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060402211345/http://legalbluebook.com/|archive-date=April 2, 2006|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Introductory signals
** No signal
** e.g.,
** Accord
** See
** See also
** Cf.
*Signals indicating comparison
** Compare
* Signals indicating contradiction
** Contra
** But see
** But cf.
* Signal indicating background material
** See generally

When multiple signals are used, they must be consistent with this order. Signals of the same basic type - supportive, comparative, contradictory or background - are strung together in a single citation sentence, separated by semicolons. Signals of different types should be grouped in different citation sentences. For example:

"''See'' ''Mass. Bd. of Ret. v. Murgia'', 427 U.S. 307 (1976) (''per curiam''); ''cf.'' Palmer v. Ticcione, 433 F.Supp. 653 (E.D.N.Y 1977) (upholding a mandatory retirement age for kindergarten teachers). ''But see'' Gault v. Garrison, 569 F.2d 993 (7th Cir. 1977) (holding that a classification of public school teachers based on age violated equal protection absent a showing of justifiable and rational state purpose). ''See generally'' Comment, ''O'Neill v. Baine'': ''Application of Middle-Level Scrutiny to Old-Age Classifications'', 127 U. Pa. L. Rev. 798 (1979) (advocating a new constitutional approach to old-age classifications)."

When ''e.g.'' is combined with another signal, the placement of the combined signal is determined by the non-''e.g.'' signal; the combined signal "''see, e.g.''" should be placed where the "''see''" signal would normally be. In a citation clause, citation strings may contain different types of signals; these signals are separated by semicolons.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lawtutoresq.co.uk/oscola-generator|title=OSCOLA Referencing Generator|work=lawtutoresq.co.uk|access-date=March 2, 2021}}</ref>

==={{anchor|Order of authorities within each signal}}Order of authorities===
Authorities in a signal are separated by semicolons. If an authority is more helpful or authoritative than others cited in a signal, it should precede them. Otherwise, authorities are cited in the following order:
*Constitutions and other foundation documents
#Federal
#State (alphabetically by name)
#Foreign (alphabetically by jurisdiction)
#Foundation documents of the United Nations, the League of Nations and the European Union (in that order). Constitutions of the same jurisdiction are cited in reverse chronological order.
*Statutes
#Federal: Statutes in U.S.C., U.S.C.A., or U.S.C.S.; other statutes currently in force, by reverse chronological order of enactment; rules of evidence and procedure and repealed statutes (by reverse chronological order of enactment)
#State (alphabetically by state): Statutes in the current code, by order in the code; statutes in force but not in the current code, by order in the code; rules of evidence and procedure, and repealed statutes (by reverse chronological order of enactment)
#Foreign (alphabetically by jurisdiction): Codes or statutes in the current code, by order in the code; statutes in force but not in the current code, by reverse chronological order of enactment, and repealed statutes (by reverse chronological order of enactment)
#Treaties and other international agreements, other than the foundation documents of the [[United Nations|UN]], [[League of Nations]], and the [[European Union|EU]]: cite in reverse chronological order.
*Cases: Cases decided by the same court are arranged in reverse chronological order; all U.S. circuit courts of appeals are treated as one court, and all federal district courts are treated as one court. Cite cases in the following order, in the order of federal, state, foreign, and international:
#Federal:
##Supreme Court
##Court of Appeals, Emergency Court of Appeals and Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals
##Court of Claims, Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and bankruptcy appeals panels
##District courts, Judicial Panel on [[Multidistrict Litigation]] and Court of International Trade 
##District bankruptcy courts and the Railroad Reorganization Court
##Court of Federal Claims, Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and Tax Court
##Administrative agencies, alphabetically by agency
#State
##Courts, alphabetically by state and then by rank within each state
##Agencies, alphabetically by state and then alphabetically by agency within states
#Foreign
##Courts, alphabetically by jurisdiction and then by rank within each jurisdiction
##Agencies, alphabetically by jurisdiction and then alphabetically by agency within each jurisdiction
#International
##International Court of Justice, Permanent Court of International Justice
##Other international tribunals and arbitration panels, alphabetically by name
*Legislative materials: Cite in the following order: bills and resolutions, committee hearings, reports, documents, and committee prints, floor debates (in reverse chronological order)
*Administrative and executive materials: Cite in the following order: federal (Executive Orders, current Treasury Regulations, other regulations in force, proposed rules not in force, repealed materials), state (alphabetically by state) and foreign (alphabetically by jurisdiction)
*Resolutions, decisions, and regulations of intergovernmental organizations: Cite in the following order: [[United Nations|UN]] and [[League of Nations]] ([[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]], then [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]], then other organs in alphabetical order) and other organizations (alphabetically by name of organization)
*Records, briefs, and petitions, cited in that order
*Secondary materials: Cite in the following order: uniform codes, model codes and restatements (in reverse chronological order by category); books and pamphlets, works in journals, book reviews not written by students, student-written law-review materials, annotations, magazine and newspaper articles, working papers, unpublished materials and electronic sources (including Internet sources). For all secondary sources except codes and restatements, cite alphabetically by last name of author; if none, by first word of title.
*Cross-references to the author's own material in text or footnotes; for example: See Arnold v. Runnels, 421 F.3d 859, 866 n. 8 (9th Cir.2005); ''United States v. Soliz'', 129 F.3d 499, 504 n. 3 (1997), overruled on other grounds by ''United States v. Johnson'', 256 F.3d 895 (9th Cir.2001) (en banc) (per curiam); ''Evans v. Demosthenes'', 98 F.3d 1174, 1176 (9th Cir.1996).<ref name="legalbluebook.com"/>

===Parenthetical information===
Parentheticals, as needed, explain the relevance of an authority to the proposition in the text. Parenthetical information is recommended when the relevance of a cited authority might not otherwise be clear to the reader. Explanatory information takes the form of a present-participle phrase, a quoted sentence or a short statement appropriate in context. Unlike the other signals, it immediately follows the full citation. Usually brief (about one sentence), it quickly explains how the citation supports or disagrees with the proposition. For example: ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (overruling ''[[Plessy v. Ferguson]]'', 163 U.S. 537 (1896)).

==={{anchor|Phrases not quoting the authority}}Phrases not quoting an authority===
Explanatory parenthetical phrases not directly quoting the authority usually begin with a present participle and should not begin with a capital letter: ''See generally'' John Copeland Nagle & J.B. Ruhl, ''The Law of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management'' 227-45 (2002) (detailing the ESA's prohibition on the possession of protected species). When a complete participial phrase is unnecessary in context, a shorter parenthetical may be substituted:
Such standards have been adopted to address a variety of environmental problems. ''See, e.g.'', H.B. Jacobini, ''The New International Sanitary Regulations'', 46 Am. J. INT'L L. 727, 727-28(1952) (health-related water quality); Robert L. Meyer, Travaux Preparatoires ''for the UNESCO World Heritage Convention'', 2 EARTH L.J. 45, 45-81 (1976)(conservation of protected areas).

==={{anchor|How do I determine whether my argument needs a parenthetical?|Phrases quoting the authority}}Phrases quoting an authority===
If the parenthetical quotes one or more full sentences, it begins with a capital letter and ends with punctuation: ''See'' Committee Note to Interim Rule 8001(f) ("Given the short time limit to file the petition with the circuit clerk, subdivision (f)(1) provides that entry of a certification on the docket does not occur until an effective appeal is taken under Rule 8003(a) or (b)."). Insert a space before the opening parenthesis of the explanatory parenthetical. If the parenthetical does not contain a complete sentence, the writer should not place final punctuation (such as a period) inside it.

Place a parenthetical included as part of a citation before an explanatory parenthetical:<ref>''The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'' R. 1.5(b), at 66 (Columbia L. Rev. Ass'n et al. eds., 21st ed. 2020).</ref>
Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(1) (emphasis added) (also indicating that "[a] party may instruct a deponent not to answer . . . when necessary to preserve a privilege"). Shorter parenthetical phrases may be used if a complete participial phrase is unnecessary in the context of the citation: The Florida Supreme court recently declared that "where the seller of a home knows facts materially affecting the value of the property which are not readily observable and are not known to the buyer, the seller is under a duty to disclose them to the buyer." ''Johnson v. Davis'', 480 So. 2d 625, 629 (Fla. 1985) (defective roof in three-year-old home). If a source directly quotes or supports an argument (no signal or "see" before a citation), no parenthetical is necessary.

==={{anchor|Order Within a Citation|Be careful of...}}Order in a citation===
If a cited case has subsequent history or other relevant authority, it follows the parenthetical: ''Anderson v. Terhune'', 467 F.3d 1208 (9th Cir.2006) (claiming that a police officer's continued questioning violated due process rights), ''rehearing en banc granted'', 486 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir.2007).

==={{anchor|Supra|Infra|Compare ALWD 10 (3d) and Bluebook 3.5 (18th)}}Internal cross-references===
Portions of text, footnotes, and groups of authorities within the piece are cited with ''supra'' or ''infra''. ''Supra'' refers to material already in the piece, and ''infra'' to material appearing later in the piece. "Note" and "Part" refer to footnotes and parts (when parts are specifically designed) in the same piece; "p." and "pp." are used to refer to other pages in the same piece.<ref name="legalbluebook.com"/> These abbreviations should be used sparingly to avoid repeating a lengthy footnote or to cross-reference a nearby footnote.