Cite Checking Resources: Introduction to Cite Checking

I. Introduction to Cite Checking

- Intro

- How to Cite Check

- Preparing & Organizing

II. Locating & Collecting Sources

- How to Locate and Collect Sources

- Locating Common Sources

- Using the Library Catalogs

III. Checking Sources

IV. Bluebooking

V. Perma.cc

This guide is designed to help you start your first cite checking assignment, and it is also intended to be a reference that you can return to at anytime for assistance with typical cite checking questions. Please come to the reference desk if you have questions about individual citations. We are happy to help.

The remainder of this guide will provide details to help you with the following steps in the cite checking process:

• Preparing & organizing
• Locating and collecting sources: The process of identifying and retrieving the sources cited
• Checking sources: The process of reviewing and verifying the sources cited to ensure accuracy and completeness
• Bluebooking: The process of reviewing, constructing, and editing footnotes
• Archiving: The process of archiving publicly available source material by generating Perma links for URLs

• Familiarize yourself with your law review's source collection procedures. Review and follow all directions.
• Organize yourself. Use an assigned spreadsheet (or if one is not assigned, create your own), with an entry for each source.
  • Most journals require cite checkers to use an assigned spreadsheet with an entry for each source in each footnote that they are responsible for checking. The column headings in this spreadsheet typically include: Footnote Number, Author, Title, Source, Date, Call Number/URL, Current Location, etc.
• Read your assigned footnotes and the accompanying above the line text.
  • Footnotes are typically divided into ranges. You may have to read parts of the article outside your range to identify sources.
  • Identify the type of source to be retrieved. If you have a large number of footnotes/sources for which you are responsible, you can save time by grouping like resources together. Determine which are books, which are articles, which are website-only sources, and the like. It is usually best to start by identifying books, since some materials may need to be borrowed through an interlibrary loan process.
• Locate and retrieve sources.