Sample Bluebook Citations

Illinois has one semi-official (unannotated) code and two unofficial (annotated) codes, one published by West and the other by Lexis. See R. 12 (pp. 120-125), B12.1.2 (p. 19).

Important: Do not use the abbreviations for the Illinois Compiled Statutes listed in Table 1 (pp. 262-263, abbreviated as Ill. Comp. Stat. & Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann.). This format is for use in law review articles. Use ILCS as the abbreviation for all forms of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, both semi-official and unofficial. This is the accepted format for citing statutes in court documents. 

Note that some of the dates in the examples below have been fabricated for demonstration purposes.

Semi-official unannotated code: The phrase "State Bar Edition" is included in parentheses after the year. A publisher name is not included.

35 ILCS 635/22 (2014 State Bar Edition).

810 ILCS 5/3-101 (2014 State Bar Edition).

Annotated codes: When citing to one of the unofficial annotated codes you need to indicate which set you used by identifying the publisher at the end of the cite. Remember that when citing to an annotated code, cite only to the text of the statute, not to any of the annotations or other editorial enhancements.

35 ILCS 635/22 (West 2006).

35 ILCS 635/22 (LexisNexis 2002).

810 ILCS 5/3-118 (West 1993).

810 ILCS 5/3-118 (LexisNexis 2002).

Citing to a pocket part or supplement: See R. 3.1(c) (pp. 71-72). Do not cite to a pocket part or supplement if the only new information is additional case annotations or references to secondary sources. 

810 ILCS 5/3-118 (West Supp. 2016). 

810 ILCS 5/3-118 (LexisNexis Supp. 2016).

Citing multiple consecutive sections:

• Illinois' numbering system for statutes includes dashes. For example, 735 ILCS 5/2-101 is a single section, not a range from 2 to 101.
• For this reason if you are citing to a range of sections, use the words "to" or "through" instead of a dash to avoid confusion. 
• When citing a range of sections or an entire act, the range must be specified in the citation. Do not use et. seq.
• See R. 3.3(b) (pp. 75-76).

35 ILCS 200/26-5 to 200/26-25 (2014 State Bar Edition).

35 ILCS 635/1 through 635/905 (West 2006).

Citing multiple non-consecutive sections: Separate sections with a comma.

35 ILCS 200/26-20, 635/35 (2014 State Bar Edition).

Citing online versions of Illinois statutes: Include the legal service provider name and the currency of the database as provided by the legal service provider's description. See R. 12.5.

35 ILCS 200/26-20 (Lexis through P.A. 99-495 of the 2015 Legis. Sess.)

35 ILCS 200/26-20 (West, Westlaw through P.A. 99-495 of the 2015 Legis. Sess.)

Citing to the previous version of the Illinois code, Illinois Revised Statutes (used prior to recodification into the Illinois Compiled Statutes):

Ill. Rev. Stat. ch. 120, ¶ 799 (1991).

There is one official federal code and two unofficial (annotated) codes, one published by West and the other by Lexis. See R. 12 (pp. 120-125), B12.1.1 (pp. 18-19) & Table 1 (p. 236).

Official United States Code:

8 U.S.C. § 1101 (2012).

Unofficial annotated codes: When citing to one of the unofficial annotated codes you need to indicate which set you used by identifying the publisher at the end of the cite. Remember that when citing to an annotated code, cite only to the text of the statute, not to any of the annotations or other editorial enhancements.

8 U.S.C.A. § 1101 (West 2005).

8 U.S.C.S. § 1101 (LexisNexis 1997).

Citing to a pocket part or free-standing supplement: See R. 3.1(c) (pp. 71-72). Do not cite to a pocket part or supplement if the only new information is additional case annotations or references to secondary sources. Only cite to the supplement/pocket part when statutory text is included (partially or reprinted in its entirety; see the examples below). 

• Citing to both the main volume & supplement (use when relevant material is found in both the main volume and the pocket part/supplement, e.g. if new statutory text is included in the pocket part/supplement but the text is only part of the code section, so you would need to refer back to the main code section to make sense of it):

8 U.S.C.A. § 1101 (West 2005 & Supp. 2016).

• Citing to supplement only (use when new statutory text is found either only in the pocket part/supplement, or the code section from the main volume is reprinted in its entirety in the pocket part/supplement, including the new material):

8 U.S.C.S. § 1101 (LexisNexis Supp. 2016).

Citing multiple consecutive sections: See R. 3.3(b) (pp. 75-76). Use two section symbols in a row to indicate more than one section is being cited. Use a dash between the beginning and ending section numbers.

8 U.S.C. §§ 1101 - 1105a (2012).

Citing multiple non-consecutive sections: Use two section symbols in a row to indicate more than one section is being cited. Separate section numbers with a comma.

8 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1523 (2012).

Citing online versions of unofficial codes: Include the legal service provider name and the currency of the database as provided by the legal service provider's description. See R. 12.5.

18 U.S.C.S. § 1956 (Lexis through Pub. L. No. 113-108).

18 U.S.C.A. § 1956 (Westlaw through Pub. L. No. 113-93).