# Law Students in the House - Do you use CiteIt? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674 "2004-06-29T06:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/1 "2004-06-29T06:05:53Z")
I hate the Bluebook. Is CiteIt worth getting for a law student? Do you use the professional or student version? [http://www.citeit.com/](http://www.citeit.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/2 "2004-06-29T06:54:49Z")
I’m a law student but I’ve not heard of Citelt or the Bluebook. Are these exclusively American conventions for citing cases? ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/3 "2004-06-29T14:28:59Z")
I think the Bluebook and CiteIt are just for American law. You can cite things from outside American law, but I don’t know if other countries use the Bluebook standards. Here is some info on the Bluebook: [http://www.legalbluebook.com/](http://www.legalbluebook.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/4 "2004-06-29T14:42:34Z")
When I was in law school (2001-03), we ONLY used the Bluebook. To do anything else was unthinkable, and we would clearly have been WRONG and graded accordingly. I’ve honestly never heard of CiteIt until now, but I’ve been underground, studying for the Bar, not working. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/5 "2004-06-29T15:13:33Z")
I wouldn’t bother with it. Once you get good at bluebooking, it becomes second nature. We used to dream of such lovely devices that could do our cites and such for us, but I don’t think I’d even need it at all now. I’d say cowboy up and get good at the bluebook. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/6 "2004-06-29T17:12:06Z")
No it’s not worth it, especially if you just want to use it for some lawschool papers or legal writing. The types of citations you’ll use there aren’t very hard at all-the most remotely tricky thing is remembering the Rule of Five but that’s about it. For what it’s worth, I’m on a law journal that accepts international authors and knew next-to-nothing about Bluebooking when I joined (I had the school’s laziest legal writing prof who used to spend most of his time telling us anecdotes about being bitten by wildlife) and managed to become a Bluebook maven by the end of one article. Like pravnik said, it becomes second nature. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/7 "2004-06-29T23:59:19Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > I think the Bluebook and CiteIt are just for American law. You can cite things from outside American law, but I don’t know if other countries use the Bluebook standards. Thanks for that **Mr Varnsen**. At my university (Macquarie University in Sydney), we use the citation methods set out in the \*Australian Guide to Legal Citation \* (Melbourne University 2002). I think it’s pretty much the Australian standard. And, I’ve just discovered, it’s also published in a blue-covered book - coincidentally? [Australian Guide to Legal Citation](http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/mulr/aglc.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/8 "2004-06-30T01:48:49Z")
**Cunctator** , I did law at Melbourne Uni, and a couple of my friends is on the MULR, which publishes the AGLC. I heard that the blue colour of the AGLC is a reference to other famous blue cite books. No idea if it’s baed on this specific one, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-students-in-the-house-do-you-use-citeit/252674/9 "2004-06-30T02:35:21Z")
> [@lambchops](#): > > **Cunctator** , I did law at Melbourne Uni, and a couple of my friends is on the MULR, which publishes the AGLC. I heard that the blue colour of the AGLC is a reference to other famous blue cite books. No idea if it’s baed on this specific one, though. \*\*lambchops \*\* - I thought as much. Obviously blue is \*the \* colour if one wants one’s citation guide to have any credibility.