Steve (aka StePHen) Bainbridge notes that the Bluebook style guide used for legal scholarship uses a near-useless citation format for blogs: Blog Name, URL (Month Day, Year, Hour:Minutes CST).
It’s quite odd to me that blogs would be treated differently than any other online magazine in this regard. I’ve lately taken to italicizing blog names in that same way I would a magazine or newspaper’s online sites. It seems the most obvious choice. Indeed, I can’t think of a reason offhand for treating them differently. Certainly, it’s not quality, as even the lousiest local paper (and believe me, many are indescribably bad) are cited exactly the same way as the New York Times or The Atlantic Monthly.
My academic prejudice is towards the old-style Chicago Manual of Style citations, preferably using footnotes rather than end notes. I prefer to have as much information as possible about the author’s name, irrespective of whether it introduces any gender biases into my subconscious. I despise parenthetical citations, which not only disrupt the flow of the words but give too little information to easily verify that it actually says what it’s purported to say. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. But I digress.
