String Citation
A citation that stacks multiple sources in a single note to support one proposition.
A string citation — or string cite — is a citation in which several authorities are listed together, separated by semicolons, to support the same statement. In law, a proposition might be followed by four cases 'and citations therein'; in academic writing, a controversial claim might carry a footnote listing five books that each defend it.
String cites signal that the proposition rests on more than one authority. This can be useful when the writer needs to show scholarly consensus, when a court wants to demonstrate that many jurisdictions agree, or when a reviewer expects a survey of the literature. Signal words ('see, e.g.,'; 'accord'; 'but see') tell the reader how each source relates to the proposition and to the others.
The Bluebook prescribes a strict order for string cites: cases before statutes, higher courts before lower, more recent before older within the same court, and so on. Academic style guides are looser but usually expect chronological or alphabetical order. Ignoring the convention can make a footnote look sloppy even when its content is accurate.
Common mistake: padding a string cite with everything the writer has read on the topic. A long string cite of weak or duplicative sources undermines the very claim it is meant to support. Two well-chosen authorities almost always outweigh six loosely relevant ones.
“See, e.g., Smith v. Jones, 200 F.3d 1 (2d Cir. 1999); Doe v. Roe, 250 F.3d 100 (9th Cir. 2001); accord Roe v. Poe, 300 F.3d 500 (5th Cir. 2002).”
Keep reading the glossary
An in-text source reference given in parentheses, keyed to a fuller entry in the bibliography.
A formal reference that lets a reader locate the source of a quote.
A citation that points to the exact page, paragraph, or section where a quoted or paraphrased passage appears.
A short-form citation meaning 'the same source as the one immediately preceding' — the legal cousin of 'ibid.'