How to Cite a Headnote

Headnotes are similar to introductions to legal documents and are often written by lawyers or other legal professionals. They are designed to summarize legal facts at the beginning of a document, in a short and precise manner. While working on a research paper or legal project, you may want to use information from a previous headnote. It is important to properly cite the information and attribute the headnote to the original writer. Properly citing gives strength and credibility to your work.

Instructions

  1. Modern Language Association (MLA) Format

    • 1

      Find the original author of the headnote you are citing. After a quote in your writing, list the author's last name followed by the page number of the quote. For example, following the quote, a proper citation would be "Smith 101."

    • 2

      List the authors in a separate "Works Cited" page. This page appears at the end of your paper and lists all citations by author. Alphabetize the authors by last name. The previous citation would be listed as "Smith, John. Title of Headnote. Date of Publication: Page of Publication" or "Smith, John. Case of Walker vs. Columbus. 9 Dec. 2009: 3-4."

    • 3

      Continue listing all attributed authors in the Works Cited page. All lines must be double-spaced throughout the page. Each line after the first line should be indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, according to the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

    American Psychological Association (APA) Format

    • 4

      Locate all original authors of the headnote. After a quotation or specific information in your paper, list the author by last name and then list the date of the headnote. For example, to cite the headnote by John Smith in APA, list "Smith 2009" in your paper.

    • 5

      Create a "Reference" page at the end of your paper. This is similar to a Works Cited Page in MLA format. List the authors by last name, followed by first name, the year of publication in parentheses, the name of the headnote case and the page numbers. It may look something like this: "Smith, John. 2009. Headnote for Collupy vs. State, 23-24."

    • 6

      List all references in the same format as you would in MLA. Double space the entire page, and indent each line following the first line by 1/2 inch from the left margin.

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