4Pinpoints Quotations and Alterations

A quotation looks exact, yet the writer changed a word, removed a condition, and used a PDF page number instead of the opinion's reporter page. These are distinct defects. The citation must lead to the passage, and the quotation must preserve what the passage means.

Choose pages, paragraphs, sections, and page/line references; format ranges and footnotes; distinguish exact quotation from paraphrase; disclose substitutions, omissions, and emphasis; and format block quotations. Recognize the difference between Indigo's historical discussion and the newer Bluebook quotation convention actually consulted for this edition.

A page reference points to a page in the source's stable pagination. A paragraph reference points to a formally numbered paragraph. A section reference points to a provision, including its supplied subsections. A transcript may require both page and line. Choose a coordinate the source actually supplies. Do not invent paragraph numbers by counting paragraphs on a webpage that can reflow.

A full reported-case citation places the pinpoint after the first page, separated by a comma. A short case citation commonly uses at before its page pinpoint. Section and paragraph symbols do not use at. Write § 12 or ¶ 8, not at § 12 or at ¶ 8. Preserve the source's subsection punctuation, such as (a)(2)(B), because changing a capital letter or hyphen may point to another provision.

Use commas for scattered pages and a hyphen for a continuous range in this handbook. A range such as 1240-41 drops repeated leading digits; 199-201 retains the digits needed across the hundred boundary. Use §§ or ¶¶ for multiple sections or paragraphs. Where a source's numbering already contains hyphens, to can express a range more clearly. Avoid vague et seq. when the relevant provisions can be identified precisely.

A footnote pinpoint includes the page and n. immediately followed by its number: 248 n.3. The page identifies where the note appears; the note number identifies the note. Similar source-specific locators may include cmt. for a comment or fig. for a figure. Do not cite a footnote number without confirming that it belongs to the indicated page and version.

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986) (explaining when a dispute about a material fact is genuine).

The opinion begins at 242. At 248, the majority explains that a material-fact dispute is genuine when the evidence would permit a reasonable jury to return a verdict for the nonmoving party. The inspected passage also distinguishes material disputes from irrelevant ones. This is real example EX-003. It supplies a source-supported paraphrase; it is not a comprehensive statement of every requirement for summary judgment or a current-rule audit.

After a full citation has been introduced and the reference is clear, a short citation to that location is Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248. A sequential citation may be Id. at 248 if the immediately preceding citation contains only that source. Chapter 6 explains the limits. The page number remains the same even though the short form changes the arrangement around it.

A quotation claims to reproduce words. Check its spelling, capitalization, punctuation, emphasis, and context against the inspected source. A paraphrase uses your own words but still must preserve conditions and limitations. Neither method permits turning may into must, some into all, or the nonmoving party into the moving party.

Short quotations of forty-nine words or fewer normally appear within double quotation marks. Periods and commas used to conclude quoted material go inside the closing quotation mark under this baseline. Other punctuation goes inside only when it belongs to the quoted text. A quotation inside a quotation ordinarily uses single quotation marks within the outer double marks. Check the actual nesting before mechanically replacing quotation marks.

For a substitution, enclose the changed letter or word in brackets. To begin a quoted sentence with a lowercase source word that you capitalize, use [T] if the original begins the selected phrase with t. A bracketed clarification such as [the agency] must accurately identify the original referent; it must not smuggle a disputed interpretation into the court's words.

To omit words from the middle of quoted material, use three spaced periods, written . . . within the quotation. The three periods expressing an ellipsis are distinct from a sentence-ending period. Omitting an ending within a sentence may therefore produce three ellipsis periods plus the sentence period. Do not add an initial ellipsis merely because you begin quoting partway into a sentence. Complete sentences omitted after the end of your quotation do not automatically require an ellipsis. Examine the precise boundary rather than applying one punctuation shortcut to every omission.

If you remove a citation or footnote marker from quoted text, this handbook's explicit-disclosure convention uses an accurate omission parenthetical, without an ellipsis solely for that removal. Added emphasis takes (emphasis added); omitted emphasis should be disclosed. Preserve emphasis already in the source without claiming you added it. Retain a material original error with [sic] only when reproducing that error matters; paraphrasing may be clearer than turning an incidental typo into a distraction.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. The supplied sentence is: “The agency may extend the filing period if the applicant shows good cause.” A writer wants a shorter quotation. “The agency may extend the filing period” reproduces words, but presenting it as an unconditional power can mislead by removing the good-cause condition. The safest repair retains the condition or accurately paraphrases the conditional authority.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. A writer changes may to must and puts [must] in brackets. The brackets reveal a change in text, but they do not make the change substantively legitimate. Brackets should not rewrite the rule. Quote the original or paraphrase accurately. The same principle applies to omitted negations and exceptions.

Set off quotations of fifty or more words as blocks. Under the baseline, use single spacing, left and right indentation, and justified text; omit outer quotation marks. Internal quotation marks remain when present in the quoted passage. Place the following citation at the ordinary left margin rather than inside the indentation. Keep the block's source and pinpoint clear. The reader should be able to identify whether a citation within the quoted block belongs to the source or to your document.

A block may need to continue across a page in a long document. A sensible break preserves readable lines and keeps the citation connected to the ending. Do not make an oversized block unbreakable if that creates a mostly empty preceding page. Check the exported layout, not just the editable source.

Indigo 2.0 describes cleaned up as an evolving practice rather than an adopted uniform rule. Bluebook Online's 22nd-edition B5.3, actually read for this edition, provides a specified readability-modification approach using citation modified for nested quoted material. Its scope is limited; further substantive changes still require appropriate alteration or omission disclosure. A receiving court or assignment may have its own direction.

This handbook's default examples use explicit brackets, ellipses, and accurate modification parentheticals so a beginner can trace each change. That is a house teaching choice. It is not a claim that citation modified is forbidden, that cleaned up is universally accepted, or that all courts require our default. The editorial ledger preserves the edition conflict and the exact consultation URL.

Replace the viewer's page counter with the appropriate source pagination. Replace at ¶ with ¶. Restore a condition omitted from a misleading quotation. Do not use brackets as permission to change the source's meaning. Do not label a paraphrase a quotation. Do not use cleaned up or citation modified as a substitute for checking each word and the cited source's context.

Use the source's actual coordinates. Separate identification from location. Verify quotations against the source, then assess the effect of every change. Use blocks at fifty words under the taught baseline. Treat readability modifications as bounded conventions subject to the receiving document's requirements.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. The supplied source says: “The board may reopen an application after thirty days only if the applicant presents newly discovered evidence.” A proposed quotation reads: “The board [must] reopen an application . . . if the applicant presents evidence.” The source and board are invented solely for this editing session.

Write the original and the proposed quotation on separate lines. Mark each changed unit. May became must. After thirty days disappeared. Only disappeared. Newly discovered disappeared. The brackets and ellipsis disclose that changes occurred, but the quotation now announces a different obligation and a different evidentiary threshold. A disclosure device cannot cure a change that misrepresents the source. Restore the material terms or use an accurate paraphrase.

An accurate paraphrase might explain that the board has conditional authority to reopen after thirty days when newly discovered evidence is presented. Because this is a paraphrase, do not put it inside quotation marks. Because it still describes a source's rule, attach the source's actual citation when its identifying information is supplied. This workshop supplies only the excerpt, so a completed practice answer should not invent a reporter, code number, or year to make the paragraph appear finished.

Sometimes a change is modest and legitimate. If the source uses it for the board, a bracketed clarification can identify the board when the referent is certain. If a quotation begins with the source's lowercase the but functions as your complete sentence, [T] can disclose the capitalization change. Those alterations preserve meaning while improving readability. The alteration record should say what changed and why, so a later editor can verify the decision without reconstructing it from memory.

Omissions require a separate context check. A quotation can reproduce every retained word exactly and still mislead by excluding a negation, qualification, or exception. Read at least the surrounding sentence and any material preceding or following explanation. Expand that review when the excerpt depends on a defined term or earlier premise. There is no universal number of surrounding paragraphs that establishes adequate context; the necessary scope follows the passage's dependencies.

Locators need their own record because extraction software can rearrange a page. Save the source page or paragraph identifier beside the selected passage. If an excerpt spans two pages, inspect both. If its substantive condition appears on the second page, a pinpoint to the first page alone may leave the reader without the very language that qualifies the quotation. Use a supported range when appropriate rather than selecting the shorter locator for appearance.

After converting a quotation to a block, repeat the textual check. Layout work can introduce fresh omissions when someone deletes opening or closing quotation marks mechanically, removes internal quotation marks, or moves the following citation into the block. Compare the final exported text with the approved excerpt. Your alteration record should correspond to the delivered document, not to an earlier draft that was accurate before a formatting change. A quotation audit ends with the words readers will actually encounter.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. The supplied source reads: “The clerk received the signed request on Monday. The clerk entered it in the register on Tuesday. The board considered the request on Friday.” Three accurate excerpts perform different tasks. “The clerk received the signed request on Monday” quotes a complete proposition as a phrase inside your sentence. “The clerk received the signed request . . . .” omits the end of that quoted sentence, preserving a sentence period in addition to the ellipsis. “The clerk received the signed request on Monday. . . . The board considered the request on Friday.” preserves two complete sentences while indicating the omitted intervening sentence. Check the applicable quotation convention and the meaning of each retained statement; omitting the registration event would be misleading if your sentence depended on when registration occurred.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. The source says “The clerk received the requests.” Changing its plural to a singular for legitimate grammatical integration produces “The clerk received the request[].” under Indigo R8.2.1's omitted-letter convention. This mechanical example does not authorize turning a proposition about several requests into a proposition about one identified request unless the surrounding source supports that narrowing. A faithful paraphrase often reads more naturally.

For a quotation containing an existing bracketed alteration, distinguish your work from the source's. An appropriate (alteration in original) parenthetical says that the alteration came from the quoted source. Do not label your own new clarification that way. Likewise, an (emphasis added) parenthetical should correspond to emphasis you introduced. Keep a marked source excerpt so another editing pass can distinguish original and added emphasis without guessing.

Indigo R8.2.4 lists parentheticals disclosing omitted citations and footnotes; R8.3.6 directs writers to add such disclosure. R8.2.6, however, lists citation-omitted and footnote-omitted parentheticals among those not to indicate. Those instructions conflict. This handbook follows explicit, accurate disclosure of the omitted material in its default examples and identifies that choice as house style. A receiving instruction can select another convention. The contradiction explains why exercise CC-04-08 asks you to distinguish our choice from a court requirement.