hlr-footnotes-and-cite-check

Documents

Use when building and stress-testing the heavy footnote apparatus of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it survives the student-editor cite-check / source-pull. Builds and audits the apparatus for pull-readiness; it does not set Bluebook form per citation (hlr-sources-and-bluebook) or manage the editor relationship (hlr-student-editor-review).

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills/blob/HEAD/Harvard-Law-Review-Skills/skills/hlr-footnotes-and-cite-check/SKILL.md

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Footnotes and Cite-Check (hlr-footnotes-and-cite-check)

Legal scholarship runs on a dense footnote apparatus, and HLR editors run a full cite-check / source-pull: they obtain every cited source and confirm that each footnote actually supports its proposition, that quotations are exact, and that pincites are right. The author who is pull-ready before submission sails through; the one who is not faces painful rounds. This skill builds the apparatus and audits it for that scrutiny.

When to trigger

Building footnotes as you draft, or auditing them before submission
Preparing for the source-pull after an offer
A footnote carries a proposition you are not sure the source supports
Quotations, pincites, or short forms feel shaky after editing moved footnotes

What the apparatus must do

Support every proposition. Each assertion of law or fact in the text has a footnote whose source actually states (or, with the right signal, supports) it — at the exact page cited.
Carry the qualifications. Caveats, contrary authority, and side disputes live in footnotes so the text reads as a clean argument (see the text/footnote division in hlr-writing-style).
Be verifiable by a stranger. A student editor with no prior knowledge must be able to pull each source and confirm the footnote — that is the whole test.

Pull-readiness: the author's source file

Before submission, assemble a source file: a copy (or precise locator) of every cited source with the cited page marked and the supported proposition noted. This is the single best predictor of an easy cite-check.

Source type	What to keep	Pull-check
Cases	Reporter cite + the pincited page	Does that page state/support the proposition?
Statutes / regs	Exact section, current version	Is the language current and on point?
Articles / books	Copy with cited page flagged	Quote exact? Pincite to the right page?
Web sources	Archived/dated copy (link rot is real)	Captured with an access date?

Self-running cite-check (do this before editors do)

Proposition ↔ source match. Read each footnote against the page it cites. If the page does not support the claim, fix the cite or soften the claim — never leave the gap.
Quotation accuracy. Check every quotation character-for-character against the source; verify the pincite.
Signal accuracy. Confirm the signal matches the relationship (see hlr-sources-and-bluebook).
Short-form integrity. After any footnote reordering, re-verify every Id. and supra — these break silently when notes move.
No orphan or dead cites. Every footnote resolves; no broken cross-references or rotted URLs.

Checklist

Every text proposition has a supporting footnote, pincited to the exact page
Source file assembled: every source kept with the cited page marked
Each footnote re-read against its source page (proposition actually supported)
Every quotation verified character-for-character and pinned
Signals match relationships; short forms (Id./supra) re-verified after moves
Web sources archived with access dates (link rot)
No orphan footnotes, dead cross-references, or unsupportable claims

Anti-patterns

Footnotes that gesture at a source which does not actually support the proposition
Quotations not checked against the original (a cite-check failure that erodes trust fast)
Dangling Id./supra after footnotes were reordered in drafting or editing
Citing web sources without an archived, dated capture (link rot at proof time)
Leaving the source-gathering until editors ask — assemble the source file before submission

Output format

【Apparatus】every proposition footnoted + pincited? [Y/N]
【Source file】all sources kept with cited pages marked? [Y/N]
【Self cite-check】propositions match sources; quotations exact? [Y/N]
【Short forms】Id./supra re-verified after moves? [Y/N]
【Pull-ready】a stranger could verify every footnote? [Y/N]
【Next】hlr-writing-style (text/footnote balance) → hlr-submission

Supplementary resources

../../resources/external_tools.md — citators (Shepard's/KeyCite), archiving (Perma.cc), reference managers
../../resources/official-source-map.md — HLR's Bluebook role and editorial cite-check practice