Bluebook Website Citation: Format, Rules & Examples
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0 sourcesBluebook Website Citation follows Rule 18.2.2: give the author, the italicized title of the specific page, the website name, a date parenthetical, and the full URL — for example, Eric Goldman, When Should Search Engines Ignore Court Orders?, Tech. & Marketing L. Blog (Sept. 4, 2013), http://blog.ericgoldman.org.
What is the Bluebook format for citing a website?
The Bluebook website format is: Author, Title of Web Page, Website Name (Date), URL. The author appears in ordinary roman type, the specific page title is italicized, and the website or institutional name follows. Rule 18.2.2 governs this order, and Rule 18.2.3 handles dates.
Add a comma after each element. In law review footnotes, the website name is set in large and small caps; in briefs and memoranda it stays in ordinary roman type. The URL comes last, preceded only by a comma — never by the old phrase “available at.”
| Element | Typeface | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Roman (ordinary) | 18.2.2 |
| Title of page | Italics | 18.2.2 |
| Website / owner name | Small caps (academic) or roman (court) | 18.2.2 |
| Date parenthetical | Roman, in parentheses | 18.2.3 |
| URL | Roman, ends with period | 18.2.2 |
What does a Bluebook website citation look like?
A complete Bluebook website citation places five ordered parts on one line. The colour-coded example below labels each element so you can match your own source. This is a real blog-post citation formatted for a law review footnote.
- Author — first name then surname, ordinary roman type, followed by a comma.
- Title — the specific page or post title, italicized, in headline case.
- Website name — the site or institution; small caps in academic footnotes.
- Date — publication date (and time if shown) in a parenthetical.
- URL — the full direct address, ending with a period.
How do you cite a website with no author or no date?
When a web page names no author, begin the citation with the italicized title, then give the website name. When no publication date appears, add a (last visited Month Day, Year) parenthetical — but only as a last resort under Rule 18.2.1(c), after checking for a “last updated” date.
Prefer, in order: an explicit publication date, a “last modified/updated” date, and finally “last visited.” A dynamic page that shows no reliable date takes the last-visited form.
No authorFaculty & Research, Harvard L. Sch., https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty (last visited July 18, 2026).
Last updatedBill Ong Hing, Understanding Institutionalized Racism, Legal Servs. N. Cal.: Race Equity Project (last updated Mar. 2, 2015), http://www.equity.lsnc.net/racism.
How does academic Bluebook differ from court documents?
The Bluebook uses two typeface systems. Law review footnotes (the main rules, including Rule 18) put the website name in large and small caps. Court documents and legal memoranda follow the Bluepages (B18), which use only ordinary roman type and italics — no small caps.
| Feature | Academic (footnotes) | Court / memo (Bluepages) |
|---|---|---|
| Website name | Large & small caps | Ordinary roman |
| Page title | Italics | Italics |
| Placement | Numbered footnote | Numbered footnote or in-line |
| Governing section | Rule 18.2 | Bluepages B18 |
Bluebook website citation examples
The examples below cover the most common cases: an authored news article with a timestamp, an organizational page, and a page with no author. Copy the structure and swap in your own author, title, site, date, and URL.
News articleRyan Thoreson, Trump Administration Moves to Reject Transgender Identity Rights, Hum. Rts. Watch (Jan. 23, 2025, 5:00 AM), https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/01/23/reject-transgender-rights.
Newspaper siteEric Posner, The Case Against Human Rights, Guardian (Dec. 4, 2014, 6:00 AM), https://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/04/case-against-human-rights.
Blog postEric Goldman, When Should Search Engines Ignore Court Orders?, Tech. & Marketing L. Blog (Sept. 4, 2013), http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2013/09/when_should_sea.htm.
Org, no authorAbout the FTC, Fed. Trade Comm’n, https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc (last visited July 18, 2026).
For preservation, Rule 18.2.1(d) recommends appending an archived URL in brackets after the live link, for example [https://perma.cc/U2AN-2TXE].
How do you cite a website in text and in short form?
Bluebook style does not use parenthetical in-text citations. Instead, you place a superscript footnote number in the sentence and put the full citation in the corresponding footnote. Every source is first cited in full, then shortened on later references.
After a full citation, use id. for the immediately preceding source and a supra short form for earlier ones. A website short form gives the author’s surname, the italicized short title, and supra with the first footnote number.
Short formGoldman, supra note 4.
Immediately afterId.
How accurate is this Bluebook guide?
This guide reflects the 21st edition (2020) of The Bluebook, the current edition as of 2026. The rules for internet sources are stable, but three points demand human judgment. First, choose the correct date form — publication, updated, or last-visited — because a wrong choice misleads readers about currency.
Second, small-caps formatting cannot be shown in plain text and must be applied in your word processor for academic pieces. Third, journals often impose local style sheets that override or supplement Bluebook defaults. Always confirm against the printed rulebook or your journal’s guide before submission, and verify that every URL still resolves. Treat any generator, including ours, as a first draft to be proofread.
Bluebook website citation FAQ
What is the basic Bluebook format for a website?
Author, Title of Page, Website Name (Date), URL. The title is italicized, the site name is in small caps for academic footnotes, and the URL ends the citation with a period.
Do I still write “available at” before the URL?
No. “Available at” is retired for direct website citations. The URL simply follows a comma. Use “available at” only when directing readers to an online copy of a source that also exists in print.
What date do I use if the page has no date?
Use a “last visited” parenthetical only as a last resort. First look for a publication date, then a “last modified” or “last updated” date; the last-visited form applies when no reliable date is shown.
Where does the website name go and how is it styled?
The website name follows the italicized title. In law review footnotes it is set in large and small caps; in court documents and memoranda it stays in ordinary roman type per Bluepages B18.
Does Bluebook use in-text citations?
No. Bluebook uses numbered footnotes rather than parenthetical in-text citations. A superscript number in the text points to a footnote containing the full or short-form citation.