Bluebook/editing question Forum

[Cornhuskers3]

Couple of quick obscure bluebook rules I'm struggling with and my editor is MIA. I've checked google and the rest of the internet. If these have already been answered, I apologize and would be happy to be pointed in the right direction. Just want to make sure I'm on the right track before I waste even more time if I've been doing this incorrectly.

1) really dumb question, but we still abbreviate in footnotes correct? Board-->Bd., Education --> Educ., etc.

2) Re footnote placement: in the middle of the text is okay right? Blah blah blah,[1] yada yada yada.[2] -- the placement of [1] would be correct?

3) When a parenthetical uses a quote from the source, I know we always start the quote with a capital letter no matter what and also use the sources closing punctuation but what if the closing punctuation is semi-colon...do I just include a period?

For example a sentence from a case or note would read: spending my weekend checking cites has been hell; this is not fun at all. I'd only want to cite what was said before the semi-colon.

The footnote would read: Cornhuskers3, Why Law Review is Awful, 2012 Law Review Cite 566, 568 (2013) ("pending my weekend checking cites has been hell."). Would this be correct in terms of the period placement?

EDIT: or for example if the quoted part in the parenthetical has no punctuation following it, would it just be the "..."?

Finally, if anyone is familiar with this, I pulled this from Bluebook rule 10.6.3. When citing a case, including a parenthetical and then including a citing to, it would be correct to end it in triple parentheses all of the time, correct? For example

Jack v. Jane, 111 F. Supp. 2d 222, 333 (N.D. Ill. 2008) (“It is well-established,
however, that the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment do not extend to private conduct.”)
(citing Joe v. Jeff, 444 F.3d 555, (7th Cir. 1996)).

Would turn into

Jack v. Jane, 111 F. Supp. 2d 222, 333 (N.D. Ill. 2008) (“It is well-established,
however, that the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment do not extend to private conduct.”
(citing Joe v. Jeff, 444 F.3d 555, (7th Cir. 1996))).

Thanks all!

[A. Nony Mouse]

2 is yes. 1 is mostly yes (footnotes are like body text - you only don't abbreviate if the language is part of the body of a sentence, rather than a cite. So if the footnote read, "As Scalia argued in Doe Board of Education," no abbreviation, but if it's a cite, it would be Doe Bd. of Educ. v. Smith, etc.).

I'm blanking on the others. I want to say that it should be an ellipsis since you're not quoting the whole sentence, but I always kind of fudged that. And I would just do the first example of parentheticals, e.g., cite ("quote") (citing cite), not cite ("quote" (citing cite)). But I throw that out there just in case no one else responds, I don't have the Bluebook handy so I'm really not sure.

[Cornhuskers3]

2 is yes. 1 is mostly yes (footnotes are like body text - you only don't abbreviate if the language is part of the body of a sentence, rather than a cite. So if the footnote read, "As Scalia argued in Doe Board of Education," no abbreviation, but if it's a cite, it would be Doe Bd. of Educ. v. Smith, etc.).

I'm blanking on the others. I want to say that it should be an ellipsis since you're not quoting the whole sentence, but I always kind of fudged that. And I would just do the first example of parentheticals, e.g., cite ("quote") (citing cite), not cite ("quote" (citing cite)). But I throw that out there just in case no one else responds, I don't have the Bluebook handy so I'm really not sure.

Thanks. Like I said the example in the Bluebook lists it the second way (the way you told me not to do it but I just wanted to make sure I was applying it correctly). One more quick question in reference to abbreviations. If I have a case name in text, I still don't abbreviate correct?

[A. Nony Mouse]

2 is yes. 1 is mostly yes (footnotes are like body text - you only don't abbreviate if the language is part of the body of a sentence, rather than a cite. So if the footnote read, "As Scalia argued in Doe Board of Education," no abbreviation, but if it's a cite, it would be Doe Bd. of Educ. v. Smith, etc.).

I'm blanking on the others. I want to say that it should be an ellipsis since you're not quoting the whole sentence, but I always kind of fudged that. And I would just do the first example of parentheticals, e.g., cite ("quote") (citing cite), not cite ("quote" (citing cite)). But I throw that out there just in case no one else responds, I don't have the Bluebook handy so I'm really not sure.

Thanks. Like I said the example in the Bluebook lists it the second way (the way you told me not to do it but I just wanted to make sure I was applying it correctly). One more quick question in reference to abbreviations. If I have a case name in text, I still don't abbreviate correct?

Yeah, my Scalia v. cite example is the same for the body text - a case name used in the body of the text isn't abbreviated, but in a cite it is. Of course, you can abbreviate the name in the text in that once you've cited a case, you don't have to give the full name, but the individual words in the name aren't abbreviated (if that makes any sense).

And I reverse myself on the parenthetical question - I did some quick googling and you're right (my previous quick googling was less accurate). You are applying it correctly as far as I can tell (and yes, triple parentheses look weird but are legit in those circumstances).

[Cornhuskers3]

Cool thanks for all the help! Appreciate it!

[Cornhuskers3]

One final thought:

If I have a cite to say a law review article and then a parenthetical that goes along these lines:

Cite (discussing "blah blah blah blah")

How do I deal with closing punctuation in that instance? I know for a full on quote, you either include the closing punctuation or put in ellipses. Would the same rule apply (if there's a period in the actual text include, if not and it's taken from a middle of the sentence then ellipses?)? Also should the first word in the quote be capitalized if it is not in the text (similar to a full on quote)?

Thanks again!

[jathomp]

Here, do not capitalize the first letter of the quoted material in your parenthetical if it is not capitalized in source, and do not include any closing punctuation other than your closing quotation mark. (Feel free to submit any citation questions under feedback/questions SPAM DELETED).

[Cornhuskers3]

What do you mean closing question mark?

So if the text says: blah blah blah, yada yada yada.

Citation would read: Cornhuskers3, Bluebooking for 2Ls 101, 111 L. Rev. 222, 333 (discussing "blah blah blah...").

No ellipses there then and no capital b for the first blah?

Or if the text read simply: blah blah blah.

Citation would read: Cornhuskers3, Bluebooking for 2Ls 101, 111 L. Rev. 222, 333 (discussing "blah blah blah.").

Are you saying no period there even though it's included in the source?

[Myself]

.

[swimmer11]

1. Yes, if what you're talking about are citations in the footnote.
2. Yes, some editors dont like it, though.
3. Is that true? You always start the quotation with a capital no matter what?

I would've done this.

Cornhuskers3, Why Law Review is Awful, 2012 Law Review Cite 566, 568 (2013) (". . . spending my weekend checking cites has been hell . . . .").

I'm assuming "spending my weekend checking cites has been hell" was not at the beginning of the original source. It would be different if you had an introduction, though.
So, I would've put: Cornhuskers3, Why Law Review is Awful, 2012 Law Review Cite 566, 568 (2013) (author notes that "spending my weekend checking cites has been hell").

Your other question: "or for example if the quoted part in the parenthetical has no punctuation following it, would it just be the "..."?"

I don't get what you're asking. When will a quote never have punctuation following it? Won't there always be a period at least.

I do not think you are supposed to start a quote with an ellipsis.