Melanie Kalmanson is a commercial litigation attorney and former Florida Supreme Court law clerk. She is the author of the Bluebook Wednesday Tips Newsletter. Click here to subscribe to Melanie’s newsletter.
Bluebook Tip #7, Block Quotes (Rule 5.1(a))
If your direct quote is over 50 words, it should be in a block quote.
Tip: To quickly count the words in your quote, select it in your Word document. Look in the bottom left corner of Word and the word count will be there.
Indentation
The block quote itself should be set off from the text.
I indent mine 0.5″ on each side.
If the block quote starts from the beginning of the paragraph in the source, indent it (meaning the first line starts at 1″ if your block quote is indented 0.5″). If not, don’t.
Bluebook block quote example
Here is how a 59-word quotation changes when it is set as a block quote. This example assumes the quotation begins within the source paragraph.
Raw quotation
Format as a block quote
Formatted block quote
Careful legal writing depends on more than finding the right authority. Writers must explain why the authority matters, connect the quoted language to the argument, and preserve the source’s meaning. As one editor reminded the team, “Accuracy begins with context,” because a quotation that is technically precise can still mislead when it is separated from the reasoning around it.
Quotation Marks
Do not start your block quote with quotation marks.
Quotation marks, if any, should appear as they do in the text. (Rule 5.2)
For example, if your block quote includes a quote of another source, it would be:
Melanie’s Bluebook Wednesday post today was about block quotes. It was helpful because I’ve been confused about them. Quoting Rule 5.2, she wrote: “[Q]uotation marks within a block quotation should appear as they do in the original.”
Tip: To reference Bluebook Wednesday Tip #6, you would not change the quotation marks in this instance. Just leave them as they are because you’re not adding a level of quotation marks.
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