How to cite software

Bluebook (22d ed.) citation format · B18 / R18.11.1 · Internet & electronic

Example

Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, Update 1.6.640 (Windows, Sep. 20, 2022).

More examples

Each of these is checked against the rules on every change to the tool.

Discord, Ver. 235 (iOS, June 24, 2024).
Audacity Dev. Team, Audacity, CMakeLists.txt 1.13, https://github.com/audacity/audacity/blob/master/libraries/image-compiler/CMakeLists.txt (last updated May 2, 2024).

What the citation needs

Required

Name — The source’s name, as the rule for this type gives it.

When they apply

Developer — The developer, as it appears on the source.
Release designation — Defaults to “Ver.”
Version / release number — Required, except for an open-source repository cited by URL (R18.11.2(b)).
Release name — The release name, as it appears on the source.
Platform — The service the material was posted on.
Release date (or date last accessed / updated) — The date the rule for this source calls for, with the month abbreviated per T12 (“Nov. 24, 1978”).
Repository URL (open source) — The web address, where you cite the source online (R18.2).
Repository name (if it differs) — The repository name, as it appears on the source.
File and lines — R18.11.2(b): a pincite to a file takes the date it was last updated.

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)

Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, Update 1.6.640 (Windows, Sep. 20, 2022).

Law review footnotes (Whitepages)

Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, Update 1.6.640 (Windows, Sep. 20, 2022).

The words are the same in both; only the typeface changes.

Common mistakes

Each of these is a citation the checker refuses, with what it says is wrong and the corrected form.

Wrong

Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, Update 1.6.640 (Windows, September 20, 2022).

Why

Abbreviate the month: “September” should be “Sep.” (T12).

Right

Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, Update 1.6.640 (Windows, Sep. 20, 2022).

Wrong

Audacity Dev. Team, Audacity, CMakeLists.txt 1.13, https://github.com/audacity/audacity/blob/master/libraries/image-compiler/CMakeLists.txt (last accessed May 2, 2024).

Why

R18.11.2(b): a pincite to a file gives the date the code was last updated, not last accessed.

Right

Audacity Dev. Team, Audacity, CMakeLists.txt 1.13, https://github.com/audacity/audacity/blob/master/libraries/image-compiler/CMakeLists.txt (last updated May 2, 2024).

Governing rules

B18 / R18.11.1

18 — the internet, electronic media & other nonprint resources.
18.11.2 — software.

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

Internet & electronic: