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Cite Checking Resources: Locating & Collecting Sources

This guide is designed to help law students start their first cite checking assignment, and is also intended to be a reference that students can return to at anytime for assistance with typical cite checking questions.

How to Locate and Collect Sources

The next major step in a cite check is to locate the sources cited in your footnotes, choosing the most authoritative and stable format available. The Bluebook requires citation to print sources "unless there is a digital copy of the source available that is authenticated, official, or an exact copy of the printed source" (Rule 18.2) (this often means a PDF, though it can be a website if the governing authority has designated it as such). See Rule 18 for more information.

Working off-campus: Review the Access to Databases Guide carefully for information on accessing licensed database resources.

Knowing where to look: Each of the tabs in the box below provides tips on locating a common type of source found in cite checks.

Locating common sources

Books

  • Use UC Library Search. If we have a physical item in any campus library, note the call number so that you can locate the book on the shelf. 
  • Refer to Service for Journal Staff for borrowing instructions, including how to submit an Interlibrary Loan if there is no copy on campus.

Law Review Articles

  • You may locate an online PDF version or a print volume on a library shelf.
  • HeinOnline (a subscription database) has a large collection of law review articles in PDF form.

Non-Law Periodical Articles

All Articles

  • Search for a journal:
    • A reliable way to locate a publication is to look up the name of the journal.
    • Click UC Library Search and then select Journal Title at the top of the screen. Enter the journal's title and click search.
    • If there is a catalog entry for that journal, click the title to see the full record.
      • For print access, note the call number so that you can locate the print copy in the stacks.
      • For electronic access, scroll down to Online access to see if the library subscribes to that journal electronically. You may need to have your VPN enabled in order to access subscription databases.
  • Search by article title:
    • UC Library Search also allows users to search for individual article titles. This search feature will not always produce a match, so it usually saves time to start with the publication title search described above. To search this feature:
      • In the Articles, books and more search box, enter the article's title and click search.
      • Then follow the steps given above.
    • Google Scholar
      • You also can use Google Scholar to search by article title.
      • Make sure you have enabled your VPN. If UCLA subscribes to the article online (e.g. through Heinonline, JSTOR, etc.), Google Scholar will provide a link to that content.
      • Note: Google Scholar may locate the article you need on SSRN or another online repository. Online repositories are not journal databases; they are places for authors to store their work. Authors often upload to a repository the "author's final version," which is the last draft the author had before giving the journal a copyright license. The "author's final version" is usually not the version you want to use for cite checking, so be cautious when using SSRN or other repositories for this purpose.

Access: Electronic versus Print

  • If you are having difficulty accessing our electronic databases from home, remember that our subscriptions are IP-authenticated; see the Database Access Guide for more details. Keep in mind that even when the library has an online subscription to a journal: (1) the database might not have PDF versions of articles; or (2) our database subscription may cover a limited range of dates and the article that you are trying to locate may not fall within the date range of our online subscription. In either case, you will have to locate the article in print on a shelf in the library stacks.
  • If you are unable to access the article electronically or in print at one of our campus libraries, please review the Service for Journal Staff for borrowing instructions.
  • Finally, if your journal does not strictly require you to follow Bluebook's requirement of checking a print or PDF source, you can find non-PDF articles in other online databases such as Lexis or Westlaw.

Bluebook Rule 17 covers unpublished and forthcoming sources.

Working Papers

  • Unpublished working papers are typically designated as such on a paper's title page or description. Working papers are available from a variety of sources, including government websites, global organizations, and scholarship repositories, like SSRN. Note that numbered papers designated as working papers are cited under Bluebook Rule 17.4, while unnumbered papers designated as working papers are cited under Bluebook Rule 17.2.1.
  • Many working papers are also catalogued by title in library collections, so check for an electronic copy or a print copy:

Dissertations/Theses

Cases

When cite checking cases, the Bluebook allows the use of digital copies if they are “authenticated, official, or an exact copy of the printed source."  (Bluebook Rule 18.2).

  • First, Check T1 in the Bluebook for the approved case reporter for each court and jurisdiction.
  • Try HeinOnline, Westlaw, and Lexis for Bluebook-approved PDF versions of cases. Keep in mind that: (1) most electronic versions of cases are not PDFs; and (2) if you find a PDF version of a case, many PDFs are from non-Bluebook-approved case reporters.
  • Use the library
    • If you cannot find Bluebook-approved versions online, locate print versions in the library. In the UCLA Law Library, federal case reporters are located on the 1st floor, and state-specific case reporters are located on the 2nd floor. Access the Bluebook-approved reporter noted in Bluebook T1.
    • Our library no longer has a current subscription to several case reporters. For example, copies of F. and F. Supp. reporters are no longer updated in our library. There also may be a lag between a case being published in those reporters and the PDF being available on Westlaw.

Statutes: Codes

Under Bluebook Rule 12.1, "Official and unofficial codes arrange statutes currently in force by subject matter" (emphasis added).

  • See our guide on finding federal statutes for helpful information.
  • Choosing official or unofficial versions: The Bluebook (21st ed.) prefers but does not require citation to official state or federal codes.  (Rule 12.1).  Check T1 in the Bluebook for the preferred statutory compilation ("code").  Be aware that there is often more than one published version of a jurisdiction's code and that the Bluebook will tell you which version is preferred.
    • Check with your journal to confirm the policy on using official/unofficial and print/online code versions.
    • Official versions: Most states publish their codes in an official bound volume (print) version. Some states publish their codes in an official online version. Some states have both. The Bluebook (21st ed.) allows citation to online official state codes whenever available online (rather than when only available online, as was previously the case).
    • Unofficial versions: These can also come in bound volumes or online versions. 
  • Citing the date of the code: The Bluebook (21st ed.) does not require a date on a federal code citation.  You may choose to put the date on a federal code, if desired. The Bluebook requires a date for state code citations.
    • When citing a bound volume of the current official or unofficial code, the Bluebook requires you to access the actual bound volumes in print. This rule is because the required date for a code section is neither the year the section was enacted, nor the current year in which it is in force, but rather: "the year that appears on the spine of the volume, the year that appears on the title page, or the latest copyright year—in that order of preference." (Bluebook Rule 12.3.2).
    • If you require the bound volumes of state codes in order to determine the proper date for your citation:
      • Check T1 in the Bluebook to confirm the preferred version.
      • Check the State Codes at UCLA document below for more information on whether our library owns the preferred version.
      • In our library, federal codes are located on the 1st floor, and state codes are located on the 2nd floor.
    • If you need the date for an online version of the code, see Bluebook Rule 12.5.

Statutes: Session Laws

Under Bluebook Rule 12.1, "Official and privately published session laws report statutes in chronological order of enactment" (emphasis added).

  • Background: Like codes, session laws are also statutes, but they refer to a law or act in its entirety as it was passed, rather than a section of that law or act as it was later codified. A law typically starts as a bill, gets passed by a legislature, approved by a president or governor, published and bound in a collection of “session laws” that are organized chronologically by order of passage, and then finally published and bound in “codes” or the familiar arrangement of subject matter topics (e.g. titles of the United States Code). Bluebook Rule 12.2.2 explains the exceptions for when a Session Law would be cited instead of the current Code.
  • Accessing PDFs of session laws: HeinOnline has PDF versions of session laws for federal, state, and US territories. In Hein, locate federal session laws under "U.S. Statutes at Large" and locate state sessions laws under "Session Laws Library."
  • Citation format:
    • Federal: A citation to a federal session law looks like: Pub.L. No. 91-190, § 102, 83 Stat. 852 (1970). The “Stat.” portion of the citation refers to a publication called “Statutes at Large,” which is the federal collection of session laws published chronologically before a law gets codified and published in the United States Code. 
    • State: A citation to a California session law looks like: Toxic Mold Protection Act, ch. 584, 2001 Cal. Stat. 4775. The “Cal. Stat.” portion of the citation refers to a publication called “Statutes of California and Digests of Measures,” where California session laws are published chronologically before they are codified and published in the California Code. 

Websites

Locating and pulling a website as a source seems simple. However, one thing to keep in mind is the risk that links can break or the content therein can change. Once you have verified a link in your cite check assignment, consult with your journal's editors about using Perma.cc to archive URLs and create permanent Perma.cc links to the website. If so, please familiarize yourself with how to use Perma.cc by consulting our guide below, the Perma website itself, or in a later tab of this LibGuide:

UN Documents

UN documents can be located using the UN document symbol in the citation.

Human Rights Council Res. 26/9, Rep. of Human Rights Council, 26th Sess., June 10-27, 2014, A/HRC/RES/26/9 (June 14, 2014).

In the citation above, the UN document symbol is A/HRC/RES/26/9. “Each UN document has a unique symbol at the top right of the document or on the cover page. Symbols include both letters and numbers. Some elements of the symbol have meaning, while other elements do not. The first component indicates the organ to which the document is submitted or the organ that is issuing the document.  (A/ = General Assembly)." For more information, visit About UN Documents. 

  • Important tip: If you have a United Nations Document Symbol, the easiest way to download a document is to add the symbol after the following URL:http://undocs.org/.  For example:
    • http:undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/26/9
  • Another place to start is the UN Documents database.
  • Last but not least, our law library has a helpful research guide on UN materials.

Treaties

Bluebook Rule 21.4.5 requires determining whether the United States is a party to the treaty and whether the treaty is bilateral or multilateral. 

Newspapers

Bluebook Rule 16.6(f) permits online newspapers to be used in place of print newspapers.

  • When using an online version, the citation should be to the online version. Note that article titles and published dates may vary between online and print versions. It should not appear that you are citing to the print version if you have not checked the print version.

If you wish to locate an electronic version or print version (or an equivalent PDF of the print):

  • Use UC Library Search. Try searching by the title of the news article.
  • Use the advanced search option on UC Library Search. Enter the title of the newspaper, and select "Newspapers" under "Material Type."
  • Use Lexis or Westlaw. To check for content coverage, search by the title of the news periodical.
  • The law library also has a helpful guide on Newspapers in the United States.

Using the Library Catalogs

Using UC Library Search

Whether you are looking for a physical volume in the library or an electronic version of a source through a subscription database, begin with UC Library Search. 

  1. Use the Articles, books and more search box to run a broad search. Use the filters to narrow by UCLA Location.
  2. Use the Advanced Search to run a more focused search. Under Search filters, click the drop-down menu where it says Any field and input your information (e.g. title, author, etc.). 
  3. Depending on how broad the search was, you may need to review a number of results.  When you see the right one, click the title, which will bring up the catalog record for that item. 

In the catalog record, look for:

  1. Which campus library has the item (sometimes it will be in a library other than the Law Library);
  2. The item’s Call Number so that you can locate it on the library shelf; and
  3. If applicable, an electronic link to a database that has the item (for journal cite checking purposes, confirm that the database provides a PDF instead of a plain-text electronic version).

Locating Materials Outside UCLA

The WorldCat database collects data on the holdings of libraries throughout the United States and the world.  WorldCat can help you with your cite check in two ways. 

  1. You can search for a book, journal name, or other item to determine whether it has been properly cited or whether there are problems with spelling, dates, etc.
  2. If UCLA does not own the item, WorldCat can help you determine whether any other libraries own a copy so that you can make a request for Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

You can access WorldCat in two ways: directly through the WorldCat interface or through UC Library Search (at the top, under Search for, select WorldCat Global Catalog).

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