The Bluebook

Full Citation 

Examples:

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803).

Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc) (adopting as precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to October 1, 2981). 

1. Name of the Case

Only the first named party on each side of the "v" should be cited. 

First and middle names, and initials of parties should be eliminated, leaving only the last names of the parties. 

Phrases indicated other parties (et. al) or alternative names (a.k.a) should be omitted.

Procedural phrases such as "in the matter of" should be abbreviated (In re)

Abbreviate all common words within table T6 and geographical locations in T10

2. The published (or unpublished) source 

The reporter of the case should be listed by 

Volume Number

Abbreviated name of the reporter (Table T1) 

Page on which the case begins 

Pincite citations should be used to point the reader to the specific page of the opinion that your proposition is related to. These are listed after the beginning page number, following a comma. 

3. A parenthetical indicating the court and year of decision

Courts should be abbreviated using Table 1

When citing to the United State Supreme Court, the court is not necessary to include in the parenthetical. 

4. Other parenthetical information, as needed. 

Weight of authority parentheticals can be used to indicate when you are using a dissenting or concurring opinion. 

An explanatory parenthetical can be used to briefly explain why the source supports the proposition. 

For more information- see Rule 1.5

5. Prior or subsequent info, as needed.

See B10.1.6

These phrases should be abbreviated according to Table 8, and should be underlined. 

For more information- see Rule 10.7 

Short citation forms can be used  if you have already cited fully to the authority. 

Id.can be used when citing the immediately preceding authority. But only when the preceding citation cites one authority. You may indicate different page numbers in the source by including a pincite (ie. id. at 4.) Pro tip: The underline goes under the period, the i in id. should be capitalized only when it begins a citation sentence. 

Short form citations may be used:

1.  it is clear to the reader which authority is being referenced
2.  the full citation appears within the same general discussion
3.  the reader will not have trouble locating the full citation 

Examples:

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803).

Marbury, 5 U.S. at 140. 

5 U.S. at 140. 

Id. at 140.

When using a party name in a short form, use the first party unless that party is a geographical unit, a government entity, or a common litigant. Short hand versions of names (First Nat'' Bank becomes First Nat'l) are allowed so long as they remain unambiguous.