Legal citations serve two purposes:
1. to provide the reader with a reference to the precise location of a source being cited; and
2. to give the reader a brief description, and sometimes weight of authority, of a source being cited.
Legal citations can be difficult to master. The two leading manuals for rules of citation are The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed. Harvard Law Review Association) and ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation (Association of Legal Writing Directors).