How to cite a letter, memo, e-mail or press release
Bluebook (22d ed.) citation format · B17 / R17.2.3–17.2.4 · Books, periodicals & other secondary
Example
Memorandum from President Franklin Roosevelt to Att’y Gen. Robert H. Jackson (July 1, 1939) (on file with the Harvard Law School Library).
More examples
Each of these is checked against the rules on every change to the tool.
- E-mail from Jacob Sarasin, Editor, Colum. L. Rev., to author (Dec. 14, 2023, 01:33 ET) (on file with author).
- Press Release, Screen Actors Guild, Screen Actors Guild Hails Passage of California Privacy Law (Sep. 30, 1998) (on file with author).
What the citation needs
Required
- Date — The date the rule for this source calls for, with the month abbreviated per T12 (“Nov. 24, 1978”).
When they apply
- Kind — Which form of this source you are citing. The fields that matter change with it.
- Writer — Who sent it.
- Addressee — Who received it.
- Issuing body (press release) — For a press release, the body that issued it.
- Title (press release) — The title as it appears on the source. R8(a): capitalize every word except articles, conjunctions and prepositions of four or fewer letters, unless they begin the title or follow a colon.
- Pincite — The exact page (or section, or paragraph) your point is on — not the first page. R1.2(f): pincites are required except after “see generally”.
- Where it can be found — Where the source can be found.
- URL — The web address, where you cite the source online (R18.2).
In a brief and in a law review
The Bluebook sets citations two ways: the Bluepages for court documents and legal memoranda, the Whitepages for law review footnotes. Here is the first example above as each one prints it, in its typeface.
Court documents (Bluepages)
Memorandum from President Franklin Roosevelt to Att’y Gen. Robert H. Jackson (July 1, 1939) (on file with the Harvard Law School Library).
Law review footnotes (Whitepages)
Memorandum from President Franklin Roosevelt to Att’y Gen. Robert H. Jackson (July 1, 1939) (on file with the Harvard Law School Library).
For this source the two are set the same way.
Common mistakes
Each of these is a citation the checker refuses, with what it says is wrong and the corrected form.
Wrong
Memo from President Franklin Roosevelt to Att’y Gen. Robert H. Jackson (July 1, 1939) (on file with the Harvard Law School Library).
Why
Year of publication is required (R15.4(a)).
Year is required (R15.4(a)).
Right
Memorandum from President Franklin Roosevelt to Att’y Gen. Robert H. Jackson (July 1, 1939) (on file with the Harvard Law School Library).
Wrong
E-mail from Jacob Sarasin, Editor, Colum. L. Rev. to author (Dec. 14, 2023, 01:33 ET) (on file with author).
Right
E-mail from Jacob Sarasin, Editor, Colum. L. Rev., to author (Dec. 14, 2023, 01:33 ET) (on file with author).
Wrong
Screen Actors Guild, Screen Actors Guild Hails Passage of California Privacy Law (Sep. 30, 1998) (on file with author).
Why
Year of publication is required (R15.4(a)).
Year is required (R15.4(a)).
Right
Press Release, Screen Actors Guild, Screen Actors Guild Hails Passage of California Privacy Law (Sep. 30, 1998) (on file with author).
Governing rules
B17 / R17.2.3–17.2.4
- 17 — unpublished & forthcoming sources (ordinary roman type).
- 17.2 — unpublished materials.
- 17.2.3 — letters, memoranda & press releases.
Build this citation with the generator, check one you have already written, or paste a whole list of footnotes to check them in order.
Related source types
Books, periodicals & other secondary: