14Books, Treatises, Articles, and Periodicals

A citation lists a surname, a title, and “page 20,” but not the edition. Another gives a journal volume as though it were a book volume. You cannot identify the work reliably until you classify its publication structure.

Collect author/title/edition/editor/date information; distinguish books and serial publications; use page and section locators; preserve article first pages; construct eligible short forms; and separate a secondary author's interpretation from primary authority.

Indigo's practitioner book pattern generally uses any set volume, author names in roman type, italicized title, pinpoint, and a parenthetical with applicable editor/translator/edition/year information. Preserve author names as printed, rather than importing the case-name rule that removes given names. Edition information matters because pages and text change.

For two authors, preserve their order and join them with an ampersand. Indigo permits listing all authors or using et al. for more than two. Our house preference lists all when practical, with the source's contributor roles preserved. An editor is not silently converted into the author of every chapter. A translator's contribution and publication information require their own treatment where applicable.

The Indigo Book: A Manual of Legal Citation (Christopher Sprigman & Jennifer Romig et al. eds., Public.Resource.Org 2d ed. 2021).

The manifest states a final release on August 31, 2022, while recommending the citation above with 2021. Both facts are recorded, not silently reconciled. EX-009 verifies that bibliographic statement and the publication's practitioner scope. It does not establish that every example in the manual is error-free.

For a passage locator in this online manual, use its rule/table identifier and heading context in a source note. A fabricated page number would defeat reproducibility. When a subsection label duplicates another, supply the heading and distinctive context as well.

A treatise can organize text by volume, section, paragraph, and pages. Preserve the locator used by the work. A volume number before the author is distinct from an edition number in the parenthetical. A section can remain stable when pagination changes, but do not assume stability without comparing the edition.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. Supplied book: Lina Vale and Omar Reed, Writing from Evidence, third edition, published in 2025; relevant page 42. Training citation: Lina Vale & Omar Reed, Writing from Evidence 42 (3d ed. 2025). There is no “at” before the pinpoint in this full-book pattern. A later supra form uses an at-page locator.

A conventional journal citation identifies author, italicized article title, journal volume, abbreviated journal name, first page, pinpoint, and year. The article's first page identifies the article; the pinpoint locates the specific passage. Just as with cases, these fields have different jobs.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. Supplied article: Lina Vale, “Source Cards in Practice,” volume 12 of Harbor Law Review, beginning at page 100, relevant page 108, published 2025. Training citation: Lina Vale, Source Cards in Practice, 12 Harbor L. Rev. 100, 108 (2025). The fictional journal label is not a verified real periodical abbreviation.

Magazine and newspaper formats can depend on date and issue structure rather than continuous journal volume pagination. Collect the actual publication date, edition where relevant, and page or electronic locator. A publication's online supplement can be a distinct publication; an article appearing online does not automatically acquire the print journal's pagination.

Student work may be identified as Note, Comment, or another supplied designation. Anonymous or unsigned work has its own title-based treatment. Do not invent a named author to make a formula look complete. An institutional author should be recorded as the actual institution, not replaced by an unnamed employee.

Books and articles can use id. after a single immediately preceding source, or an eligible supra form referring to an earlier full citation. Use a short title to distinguish several works by one author. The work must remain recoverable within the document. A source card is not a reader-facing full citation merely because you personally know where it is saved.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. After the full Vale/Reed book citation and an intervening authority, a clear short form is Vale & Reed, supra, at 42. If another Vale/Reed book is cited, include a distinguishing short title or repeat sufficient identifying information. After a single immediately preceding citation to the same work at 42, Id. may suffice.

A treatise explains law; it does not automatically establish what the receiving court currently requires. An article may advocate a change rather than describe an existing rule. Identify the author's stance and the publication date. If your sentence attributes the author's argument, cite it as an argument. If it states current binding law, inspect the relevant primary sources and treatment.

Publisher headnotes and editorial summaries are separate third-party material. They may help discover relevant pages, but verify the underlying source. This project does not claim Indigo's CC0 dedication covers every linked book, article, or publisher annotation.

Indigo permits et al. once a work has more than two authors. The consulted Bluebook 22 B15.1 separately describes listing three authors and permits its et al. option for more than three. Our house preference lists all authors when practical, which can avoid this particular conflict without claiming the sources are identical. Preserve the actual authors and their order. A required receiving convention still controls.

Book: volume if any + author + title + pinpoint + contributor/edition/year. Journal: author + title + volume/journal + first page/pinpoint + year. Other periodical: actual issue/date/locator structure. Short form: source eligibility plus clear earlier identification.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. A supplied treatise by Lina Vale and Omar Reed, Writing from Evidence, third edition, 2025, says at page 42 that writers should distinguish allegations, testimony, and findings. A fictional article by Lina Vale proposes that courts require source cards with every filing. A draft cites the article for “Courts require source cards.” The invented article is advocacy; the supplied excerpt contains no current court requirement.

The book can support a sentence attributing the writing advice to its authors. The article can support a sentence attributing the proposal to its author. Neither establishes the draft's description of an existing filing rule. If the document needs to state what a court currently requires, inspect the applicable official rule. Otherwise revise the sentence to say that Vale proposes a requirement. This correction concerns the author's stance, not merely the publication year.

Edition checking prevents another support failure. Suppose a reader finds page 42 in the second edition and sees a different passage. The third-edition citation is not necessarily wrong, but the reviewer needs the third edition to reproduce the check. Record the edition you inspected and keep the passage's locator tied to it. If you switch editions during revision, recheck every dependent pinpoint rather than retaining old page numbers under a new edition parenthetical.

A multi-author collection also requires attention to roles. A chapter author may make the argument while the volume's editors organize the collection. Preserve chapter author, chapter title, book title, editors, edition, and relevant pages as applicable. Do not make the editors appear to have written a chapter simply because their names dominate the cover. The title page, chapter heading, and publication information can each supply different needed fields.

For journal articles, inspect the article's opening page and the passage page separately. The first page identifies the article; the pinpoint identifies the sentence used. A PDF viewer's page 9 may correspond to journal page 108. If the online supplement uses article numbers or its own pagination, preserve that structure. Never borrow a print volume and first page from a different article with a similar title to complete an electronic citation.

Secondary sources can also cite primary authorities inaccurately or selectively. When a treatise's description is central to your legal argument, follow its primary citations and inspect the underlying passages when available. Record whether you verified the primary proposition or only the secondary author's account. A reliable secondary source can be a useful research guide without becoming a substitute for every current-law check your document needs.

Finally, review the short form after adding other works by the same author. A surname-plus-supra reference that was once unique can become ambiguous when a second article appears. Add a distinguishing short title or repeat sufficient source information under the applicable convention. The short form should help the reader retrieve the exact work and edition, not merely recognize the author's name. Good secondary-source citation preserves contributor roles, publication identity, location, and the distinction between description and advocacy.

The Federal Judicial Center's Judicial Writing Manual: A Pocket Guide for Judges identifies its second edition as 2013 and its fourth printing as 2020. The inspected passage on printed page 24 explains that citations help readers identify and find sources and recommends consistent form. A practitioner citation to that passage is Federal Judicial Center, Judicial Writing Manual: A Pocket Guide for Judges 24 (2d ed. 2013). The fourth-printing detail remains in the source record. See EX-P14-01.

This is writing guidance published by the Center, not a rule binding every court. The publication also distinguishes its educational content from policy or recommendations of the Center's Board. Accurate citation preserves the work's identity without converting its publisher into an endorsement of this handbook or a mandatory filing instruction.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. A collected book is titled Practical Record Writing, edited by Mara Chen and Jules Vega, second edition, 2025. Lina Vale wrote a chapter titled “Checking a Record,” which starts at page 31; the relied-on passage is at page 38. A clear citation is Lina Vale, Checking a Record, in Practical Record Writing 31, 38 (Mara Chen & Jules Vega eds., 2d ed. 2025). The supplied names and title are wholly invented.

The author field identifies who wrote the chapter. The chapter title identifies the contribution. The word in connects it to the collected work; the collection title identifies the book. The first page identifies the contribution's beginning, and the pinpoint identifies the passage. The parenthetical identifies the editors and inspected edition. Do not replace Vale with the editors merely because the book cover gives their names greater visual prominence.

For a translated work, collect the original author separately from the translator and the translated edition's publisher, edition, and year as required by the applicable convention. The translator does not become a coauthor through a shared parenthetical. An original-publication year, if included, does not replace the publication information for the translation whose wording and pagination you actually used. If comparing translations, preserve both sets of publication information; the page numbers and wording may differ.

For a multivolume treatise, the volume number belongs to the set's organization, while an edition number describes a version. A section number is another separate coordinate. If pages carry a chapter prefix, preserve it: an invented page labeled 4-17 is not page 417. A pinpoint range across prefixed pages can become hard to read; repeat the complete endpoints where clarity requires it. Do not let a citation manager strip meaningful punctuation while normalizing a page field.

Annual supplements and replacement pages

Some nonperiodical works are updated without replacing every volume. Record the actual supplement, release, replacement pages, or updated online version used. A copyright year on the set's title page may not identify the newer passage. Conversely, the date you opened an online treatise does not prove that every chapter was updated that day. Inspect the displayed version information at the relevant chapter or section.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. A supplied treatise has a 2023 bound volume and a 2025 supplement. The original section states one formulation; the supplement adds a qualification. If the paragraph relies on the qualification, a citation identifying only the bound volume leaves the reader in the wrong text. Identify the actual supplemented version and locator under its publication convention, and retain the relevant passage in the research record. If the supplement directs readers to replacement pages, check those pages rather than treating the instruction itself as substantive text.

Periodical pagination determines the pattern

A continuously paginated journal uses a volume and first page to identify its article. A magazine or journal whose pagination restarts with each issue instead needs the issue's publication date under Indigo's pattern. Do not decide from the word Journal in the title; inspect the publication. The same first page can recur in each issue when pagination restarts.

Fictional training example — not legal authority. The invented magazine Harbor Practice restarts pagination each month. Omar Reed's article “Checking Exhibits” begins at page 12 in the June 2025 issue; the passage is at page 15. The source permits Omar Reed, Checking Exhibits, Harbor Prac., June 2025, at 12, 15. The date identifies the issue, the first page identifies the article, and the second page identifies the passage. A made-up volume number would not improve this citation.

When a student publication identifies a piece as a Note or Comment, retain that source designation. For an unsigned work, begin with the title under the applicable rule instead of inventing a byline. When a periodical changes its title, use the title of the issue you actually inspected. If it renumbers into a new series, record that new-series information. A journal's present-day branding should not silently replace the publication identity printed on a historical article.

Keep short forms connected to the actual work

In footnotes, an eligible supra reference can identify the earlier note containing the full citation; use the actual note number after final numbering. In running practitioner text, an unambiguous author-and-supra reference can suffice under Indigo. Add a short title when several works by the same author appear. For periodicals, Indigo R31.1 limits consecutive id. repetitions to four before restoring a fuller reference. That specific instruction is not a rule that every source type shares exactly the same repetition limit.