Brief Formatting February 2016

Slides are available on the Legal Research TWEN page. Slides and additional resources available in the Class Presentations portion of the library web site at

Brief Template Brief Template will format the cover page and page numbering. Only works with Word 2010 for PC or later versions.

Things Covered Today Creating a Table of Authorities Creating a Table of Contents Additional Resources to Help You Format Your Brief.

Making Your Table of Authorities You have finished writing your brief Backup your brief! or save it in the “cloud”

Go to the beginning of the brief and work your way through marking citations 2) Highlight the full citation. Press Mark Citation 3) Remove pinpoint page 4) Choose the category of citation (see next slide on custom Category) 1) Go to the References tab

How to Create a Custom Category 1) Click Category 2) Highlight a number 3) Type new Category name 4) Click Replace and then OK

Go to the beginning of the brief and work your way through marking citations 2) Highlight the full citation. Press Mark Citation 3) Remember to remove pinpoint page 4) Choose the category of citation 5) Type short citation 6) Click “Mark All” 7) Click Close and proceed to next citation 1) Press the References tab U.S. Supreme Court

1) Go to the Table of Authorities page and place your cursor on that page. 2) Go to the Home tab and press the paragraph symbol to hide the field codes to ensure proper pagination.

1) Click on the References tab 2) Click on Insert Table of Authorities 3) Make sure “Use passim” and “Keep original formatting” are checked. 4) Click OK

Format your Table of Authorities as instructed. Pay attention to font and order of categories. You are able to edit this document once the Table has been created. Id. cites must be entered manually.

Making Your Table of Contents Do this step LAST. Save your Brief and it to yourself.

1) Highlight the title of the section. 2) Press the Paragraph Dialog box 3) Choose the appropriate level for the Table of Contents. Click OK All Section Titles: Level 1 Within Argument section: Point Heading I, II, etc.: Level 2 Point Heading A, B, etc.: Level 3 Point Heading i, ii, etc.: Level 4 Point Heading a, b, etc.: Level 5 4) Repeat these steps for all components included in the Table of Contents

2) Click on References tab 3) Click on Insert Table of Contents or Custom Table of Contents (Word 2013) 1) Go to the Table of Contents page and place your cursor on that page. 4) Uncheck “Use hyperlinks” 5) Change levels to the appropriate number based on your pointheadings. 6) Make sure “Show page numbers” and “Right align page numbers” are checked. 7) Click OK

Other Resources Brief Formatting Web Page at Create TOA Manually Videos Other Links