How to cite a hearing

Bluebook (22d ed.) citation format · B13 / R13.3 · Statutes & legislation

Example

Toxic Substances Control Act: Hearings on S. 776 Before the Subcomm. on the Env’t of the S. Comm. on Com., 94th Cong. 343 (1975).

What the citation needs

Required

Hearing title — 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.
Congress — The number of the Congress (“104th”).
Year — The year that goes in the date parenthetical at the end of the citation.

When they apply

Session — The legislative session.
Page — The page the source begins on. The page you are citing goes in the pincite.
State (state hearings) — For a state hearing, the state, abbreviated per T10.
Legislative body — The body that issued the document.
Statement parenthetical — Whose testimony you cite: “statement of Sen. Jennings Randolph”.

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)

Toxic Substances Control Act: Hearings on S. 776 Before the Subcomm. on the Env’t of the S. Comm. on Com., 94th Cong. 343 (1975).

Law review footnotes (Whitepages)

Toxic Substances Control Act: Hearings on S. 776 Before the Subcomm. on the Env’t of the S. Comm. on Com., 94th Cong. 343 (1975).

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

Toxic Substances Control Act: Hearings on S. 776 Before the Subcommittee on the Environment of the Senate Committee on Commerce, 94th Cong. 343 (1975).

Why

Abbreviate “Subcommittee” to “Subcomm.” (T9).

Abbreviate “Senate” to “S.” (T9).

Right

Toxic Substances Control Act: Hearings on S. 776 Before the Subcomm. on the Env’t of the S. Comm. on Com., 94th Cong. 343 (1975).

Governing rules

B13 / R13.3

13 — legislative materials.
13.3 — hearings.
13.3(a) — federal committee hearings (full cover title).
T9 — legislative-document abbreviations.

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Related source types

Statutes & legislation: