Introduction

The Florida Style Manual (Manual or FSM) is designed to assist practitioners and scholars in identifying proper citation forms for legal documents and scholarly articles.

The Manual incorporates citation forms from two controlling sources: Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.800, which provides a uniform citation system for Florida legal documents, and The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, the standard citation authority for American legal journals.

But the Manual also supplements these sources. Conventional Bluebook citation forms fail to adequately capture many Florida-specific sources—particularly those generated by the Florida Legislature. Other Florida sources are not addressed at all by the Bluebook. Likewise, rule 9.800 provides little guidance on textual references and in-text citations. The Florida Style Manual fills these gaps, providing concise citation forms for Florida-specific materials and user-friendly examples of textual references. 

What’s New for This Edition

Updates reflected in the ninth edition conform the Manual to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.800 as it became effective on January 1, 2024. See, e.g., In re Amends. to Fla. Rule of App. Proc. 9.800, 257 So. 3d 91 (Fla. 2018). Further updates conform the Manual to the current, 21st edition of the Bluebook.

A Note to Authors

The Florida Style Manual exists for your benefit. Authors should always strive to accurately cite sources in legal documents and scholarly works. If the Manual can better assist in that endeavor, please contact the Florida State University Law Review with your comments or recommendations.

Michael M. Bartnick, Florida Style Manual Editor (9th ed. 2024)

For a quick comparison to differing citation rules for legal documents and scholarly articles, see the following chart.