Proper citation and organization of your research is important for academic and practical purposes. Citation styles outline standard ways of recording references in research papers, memos and legal documents. There are standards for abbreviation, punctuation, italicization and capitalization. There are many citation styles, each one considered standard in different fields
A commonly accepted citation standard for Canadian legal writing is The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation. It is often known as the McGill Guide. The McGill Guide is in its 10th edition and is available in the library and on Westlaw.
Canadian Legal Citation Style Guides:
American Legal Citation Style Guides:
The Bluebook Quick Style Guide
Online
Print resources
There are many citation styles and the library has many citation style guides both online and in print.
Research management tools help you keep track of your research. They can also help you cite sources using proper citation standards—but their output isn't perfect.
Research management tools are also called
Most reference managers work best with web-based secondary materials or Library records. They are less useful for case law and legislation found on the web.
The subscription legal research databases contain their own research management tools.
Lexbox is a free tool that manages research and formats citations for primary materials accessed in CanLII and the Supreme Court of Canada website. It integrates with an extension to the Chrome browser.
Zotero is a free and open-source citation management tool developed specifically for academic researchers, and it suits the needs of lawyers as well. It outputs citations in the McGill Guide style and is an excellent tool for assembling research materials, especially web-based documents.
Download links, and further information about using Zotero see the Zotero for Law guide.