Citing Electronic Resources

Introduction

Proper citation of electronic resources provides the reader with the ability to locate materials mentioned in law reviews, court opinions, statutes, and other legal materials. The most used legal citation guides in the legal field are The Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation, published by the Harvard Law Review Association and the ALWD Citation Manual, compiled by the Association of Legal Writing Directors. These sources should be checked for proper citation form.

ALWD Citation Manual, A Professional System of Citation
2d. ed., 2003
Reserve KF 245 A45 2003
The Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation

University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation (maroon book)
1989
Reference KF245 .U544 1989

Online Resources

The following websites provide additional assistance.

American Association of Law Libraries. AALL Universal Citation Guide. Version 2.1

Provides a draft of a proposed citation system that would be vendor-neutral. Citation form would include elements that appear in the reported case and not rely on commercially published sets of court reporters for correct citation form.

Martin, Peter. Introduction to Basic Legal Citation.
See section on How to Cite Electronic Sources.

Evaluating Web Resources

The Internet provides an opportunity for people with access to computer hardware and web authoring software to create online resources that are accessible for others to view. Unlike most book and article publication, there is no editor verifying the authenticity or reliability of information provided. It is necessary for the user of the information to determine the validity and accuracy of the information presented. Several factors can assist in helping the user evaluate internet resources.

Factors to Be Considered

Purpose of the website or information - The amount and range of materials located on the Internet is very extensive. Before using the Internet determine the type of information needed. Are scholarly articles needed, perhaps different viewpoints on an issue are needed. Determining the type of materials needed will help in narrowing down the results provided by Internet search engines such as Google.
The source of the information - Ask the following questions: Can the author or producer of the information be determined? The type of domain suffix can often provide a clue about the website. Materials produced by educational and research organizations have a domain suffix of .edu. Websites produced by the government carry a .gov domain suffix. Commercial products or companies use the .com suffix. Beware especially aware of a ~name in a URL as these pages are usually personal home pages. Is the author an authority in the subject field you are researching?
The content of the information - The accuracy of the information provided is the most important factor to be considered when evaluating web resources. Web sites are not usually reviewed and it is easy to misrepresent facts. Verifying the information presented by comparing it with other information found on different websites is a necessary step. Another important factor related to the validity of the information is whether or not the producer of the information is promoting his/her point of view which can lead to a biased treatment. In the age of information explosion and rapid reporting of information, a researcher will want the most recent information. Is the website frequently updated and is the date of the last update provided. It is fun to create a website, much less fun to keep it current.
Usability of the website - There are many websites that provide information from the same sources. Look for websites that are well organized with internal search engines that provide keyword searching to materials located on the website. The site should be easy to navigate with clearly labeled links.

Links to Other Sites on Evaluating Websites

Evaluating Information Tutorial (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University Libraries)
Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask (UC Berkeley Library)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Why it is a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources: Evaluation Criteria (New Mexico State University Library)