PDF Sources

RATIONALE FOR PDF SOURCES

The Bluebook has a strong preference for citation to print sources, expressed in Rule 18 and implicit throughout the rules. The Bluebook prefers print sources because they are stable over time and not subject to changes in format or pagination, or to "link rot." In many cases PDF images of print sources are readily available either on free Web sites or through library databases, and frequently these will be the most convenient method for source and cite verification.

Note that it may be necessary or appropriate to cite to a more preferred source than the author cited. A case may have become available in a source preferred by The Bluebook, or a newspaper article that was originally cited to a newspaper Web site could be acquired by an interlibrary loan request for the article as it appeared in print.

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If you have any questions about any of the citations, sources, or databases used in source and cite, please ask a reference librarian for assistance!

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CASES

United States Supreme Court. The Bluebook provides extensive rules for citation to United States Supreme Court opinions in Table T1. Slip opinions are first to appear and the United States Reports the last. The library holds print copies of each of these sources except slip opinions. The Bluebook requires citation in the following order of preference, if the decision is available in that source. If the case may have become available in a more preferred source since the article was drafted, cite to that instead.

Cite	Reporter (in order of Bluebook preference)	PDF Source	Coverage
U.S.	Official United States Reports. (Publication of the United States Reports generally lags 2-3 years after the decisions.)	HeinOnline	Complete archive
		Supreme Court Web site (files are very large)	From 1991
U.S.	United States Reports Preliminary Prints (Softbound versions subject to correction; lags about a year.)	HeinOnline	Approximately one year to three years
S. Ct.	West Supreme Court Reporter.	West's Supreme Court Reporter is available in PDF in Find & Print. Follow the instructions below. You can also find the PDFs by search in the SCT database.	From 1918 (for source and cite purposes, only last 2-3 years important for citation purposes)
L. Ed.	Supreme Court Reporter -- Lawyer's Edition	Not available in PDF.
U.S.L.W.	United States Law Week	Database available online, but not in a PDF format.
(Slip Op.)	Slip opinions	Supreme Court Web site	Last three years
		HeinOnline	Last four years
	Records and Briefs	Westlaw	From 1990
		Making of Modern Law	1832-1978

Published Cases in Federal and State Courts.

Westlaw now provides PDFs of substantially all published decisions in its federal and Regional Reporters back to 1920. This means that most federal and state cases you need should be available. Since the Bluebook prefers the West Regional Reporters to state official reporters, West's PDFs make the job much easier. The principal exceptions are the California Reporter (Cal. Rptr.) and the New York Supplement (N.Y.S. Supp.).

You can access PDFs at the top of any opinions for which they are available by locating the decision with Find or by a search in the appropriate case database. The easiest approach to download several cases at once, however, is to use West's Find & Print. To use Find & Print, log on to Westlaw. Choose Research Now on Westlaw from the left to reach the Westlaw main page. Choose Find & Print from the very top left of the Westlaw main page. Enter the cites you need (up to 20), and check Substitute with Reporter Images.

Here is the coverage, courtesy of West:

CITE	REPORTER	Reporter Volumes in PDF
S. Ct.	Supreme Court	39 - to date
F.	Federal 1st	259 - 300
F.2d	Federal 2d	1 - 999
F.3d	Federal 3d	1 - to date
F. Supp.	Federal Supplement 1st	1 - to 999
F. Supp. 2d	Federal Supplement 2d	1 - to date
B.R.	Bankruptcy	1 - to date
N.W.	NorthWestern 1st	174 - 300
N.W.2d	NorthWestern 2d	1 - to date
N.E.	NorthEastern 1st	124 - 200
N.E.2d	NorthEastern 2d	1 - to date
So.	Southern 1st	82 - 200
So. 2d	Southern 2d	1 - to date
S.E.	SouthEastern 1st	100 - 200
S.E.2d	SouthEastern 2d	1 - to date
S.W.	SouthWestern 1st	215 - 300
S.W.2d	SouthWestern 2d	1 - to 999
S.W.3d	SouthWestern 3d	1 - to date
P.	Pacific 1st	183 - 300
P.2d	Pacific 2d	1 - 999
P.3d	Pacific 3d	1 - to date
A.	Atlantic 1st	107 - 200
A.2d	Atlantic 2d	1 - to date

Cases or Pleadings in Lower Courts Not Available in PDF on Westlaw.

Traditionally lower court decisions in most state court systems, in addition to pleadings and other court filings, were not published because they lacked precedential value. Now you can frequently find such documents in PDF online, but it can take some searching. They may be posted by parties to the case, interested organizations, or courts themselves where cases are especially important. A Google search limited to the filetype:pdf can often bring up a document if you search for the key parties in the case.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

What the cite looks like	Publication	PDF Source		Coverage
U.S. Public Laws
Pub. L. No. 102-2 P.L. 102-408 106 Stat. 1992	Statutes at Large U.S. Public and Private Laws	GPO Access THOMAS	104 th Congress (1995) to date
		HeinOnline	1789-2002
		Westlaw (US-STATLRG)	1789-1972
Proposed Laws and Congressional Materials
S. 516 H.R. 422	Congressional Bills	GPO Access THOMAS		103d Congress, (1993) to date
	Congressional Committee Prints	GPO Access		105th Congress (1997) to date
	Congressional Hearings	GPO Access		105th Congress (1997) to date
H.R. Rep. No. 98-2 S. Rep. No. 104-201	Congressional Reports	GPO Access THOMAS		104th Congress (1995) to date
H.R. Rep. No. 70-13 S. Rep. No. 63-114	Congressional Reports (Historic)	LexisNexis Congressional (Serial Set)		1817-1969
145 Cong. Rec. H1817	Bound Congressional Record	GPO Access THOMAS		Vol. 145 (1998) to date
	Early congressional debates	Library of Congress American Memory project		1789-1877
Presidential Materials
Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc.	Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents	GPO Access			1993 to date
		HeinOnline			1965 to date
Pub. Papers	Public Papers of the Presidents of the U.S.	GPO Access			1991 to date
Administrative Materials (Regulations)
	GAO Reports	GPO Access	FY 1993 to date
47 C.F.R. § 73.609	Code of Federal Regulations	GPO Access	1997 to date
		HeinOnline	1938-1983
60 Fed. Reg. 50,379	Federal Register (includes proposed regulations)	GPO Access	1994 to date
		HeinOnline	1936 to near current

Various Government Agency Reports and Working Papers

Frequently working papers and agency reports court can be located in PDF by a search on Google. Some tricks to narrow your search include placing key phrases from the title in quotes (but note that authors frequently misstate titles so try various options), limiting the domain searched where appropriate (for a government report add site:gov to your Google search), and limiting the filetype to PDF (add filetype:pdf to your Google search).

Most common legal and academic journals are readily available in PDF, except occasionally the most current issue(s). In general, the library catalog NUcat or the Northwestern Main library electronic resources page will provide links to electronic versions of journals to which Northwestern subscribes. Note that in NUcat or the electronic resources page, you must enter the name of the journal, not the title of the article to retrieve your results.

Not all electronic versions will provide PDFs, but it is not generally easy to tell from the links. Examples of databases that do include PDFs are HeinOnline, JSTOR, Academic Search Elite, and Wilson Select Plus. Occasionally LegalTrac will provide PDFs of certain bar magazines. LexisNexis Academic is an example of a database that does not provide PDF versions. (A couple of our databases provide a PDF that is not actually a facsimile of the original, but this is rare.)

HeinOnline contains most legal journals you will need. An example of a law journal that is not in HeinOnline is the Journal of Law & Society, which is found in JSTOR. HeinOnline and JSTOR usually "embargo" the last year or more of most journals, but frequently we will have access to current issues in PDF through another source. Use NUcat to determine whether another source is available.

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BOOKS

The university subscribes to some current books in PDF through various electronic book vendors. Use NUcat for access to these books.

The library has access to a tremendous number of digitized historical books and other works, including treatises, colonial and early state laws, and founding documents. These are highlighted on our historical resources page. In many cases, the library catalog NUcat will provide access to these digitized texts.

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NEWSPAPERS

Newspaper	PDF Coverage
Chicago Tribune (Historical)	1890-1985
Los Angeles Times (Historical)	1881-1985
New York Times (Historical)	1851 through the end of 2003
Wall Street Journal (Historical)	1889 through 1989
Chicago Defender	1910-1975
Washington Post	1877-1990

What the cite looks like	Item	PDF Source		PDF Coverage
U.S. Treaties (Note: Several treaty indexes and guides are available in the U.S. Treaty collection in HeinOnline.)
	U.S. international agreements,1998-	U.S. Dept of State F.O.I.A. Electronic Reading Room. To search for treaties and agreements, check the box "International Agreements," then enter your search terms in the box at the bottom of the screen.	1998-
T.I.A.S. (Older T.I.A.S. Cites can be found in U.S.T. below)	Treaties and International Acts Series	HeinOnline	1982-1996
U.S.T.	United States Treaties and Other International Agreements	HeinOnline	1950-1984
Stat.	United States Treaties in the Statutes at Large (1848, 1867)	HeinOnline	1848, 1867
Other International Materials
I.L.M.	International Legal Materials	HeinOnline	1962 to date
KAV	Kav Agreements	HeinOnline	1986-date
U.N.T.S.	United Nations Treaty Series	United Nations Treaty Collection	1946-2003
L.N.T.S.	League of Nations Treaty Series	United Nations Treaty Collection	1920-1944
O.J.	Official Journal of the European Union	EUR-Lex	From 1998
U.N. Doc.	United Nations Document	UN ODS (United Nations Official Documents System)		From 1946
	United Nations Bibliographic Information System (indexing to United Nations Official Documents System)	UNBISnet