• Follow General Abbreviations (ALWD Appendix 3) when listing states, cities, districts, dates, etc.
• Case names are italicized (Smith v. Waukegan Park Dist.) or underlined (Smith v. Waukegan Park Dist.). (ALWD 1.1)
• Do not italicize or underline the comma after the case name. (ALWD 1.4)
• Abbreviate versus to "v."
• Place a period after every citation. All citations are complete sentences.

Case name, Official reporter volume Official reporter abbreviation Initial page, Unofficial reporter volume Unofficial reporter abbreviation Initial page (Date).

Smith v. Waukegan Park Dist., 231 Ill. 2d 111, 896 N.E.2d 232 (2008).

• List official IL reporter (Ill.) first, followed by the unofficial reporter (N.E.2d).

Tip: You can tell this is an IL Supreme Court case in two ways, one is the "Ill." indicates Illinois Supreme Court, and second is when nothing but a year is in the final parenthesis. These things indicate that case was decided by the highest court in a particular jurisdiction. Please note that also applies to U.S. Supreme Court cases, where "U.S." would indicate the highest court, as would a date with nothing else in the final parenthesis.

Tip: If you only have the N.E.2d cite, look on the spine of the N.E.2d volume, go to the front of the book to find Illinois Reports References, and convert this to an Illinois Reports ("Ill.") citation. In practice, you would want to cite the Illinois Reports, or the Illinois Reports and the North Eastern Reporter Second Series, but never just to the N.E.2d if you are in Illinois.

Tip: ALWD reports that the West Illinois Decisions are off print. However, they are in print and updated as recently as January, 2010. Use the Illinois Reports Reference located in the front of each volume to convert North Eastern Reporter and Illinois Reports citations.

Case name, Official reporter volume Official reporter abbreviation Initial page, Unofficial reporter volume Unofficial reporter abbreviation Initial page (Court abbreviation Date).

In Illinois

People v. Gonzalez, 385 Ill. App. 3d 15, 895 N.E.2d 982 (1st Dist. 2008).

• It is customary to use "People" in IL when referring to the state of Illinois. (ALWD 12.2)
• "Ill. App. 3d" stands for Illinois Appellate Court Reports Third Series and is the official reporter.
• "1st Dist. 2008" means the case was decided in 2008 in the First Judicial District of IL.

Caveat: The above citation is what you will commonly see in practice in Illinois. It does not comply exactly with the ALWD format, which cites this case as: People v. Gonzalez, 385 Ill. App. 3d 15, 895 N.E.2d 982 (Ill. Appl.1st Dist. 2008). Note in the strict ALWD format, the "Ill. App." is repeated in the parenthesis with the district and date.

Outside of Illinois

Ill. v. Gonzalez, 385 Ill. App. 3d 15, 895 N.E.2d 982, (Ill. 2008).

• Use the above citation when outside of Illinois.
• See ALWD 12.2(h) for how to cite a case before another state's court.
• The "Ill." in the parenthesis with the year of the decision informs another state's court that this citation is an IL decision.

Volume number Code Section number (Year of publication).

765 ILCS 130 (2008).

• Correct format for the Illinois Compiled Statues (ILCS), the official code in IL.

Tip: The numbering systems in both the Illinois Compiled Statutes and West's Smith-Hurd Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated are conformed. The citation to the annotated code is the same as the citation to the official code. Use ILCS for both.

Caveat: The above citation is what you will commonly see in practice in Illinois. It does not comply exactly with the ALWD format, which cites this statute as: 765 Ill. Comp. Stat. 130 (2008). Note in the strict ALWD format, the "Ill. Comp. Stat." replaces "ILCS."