What is the NALT Citation Guide?
The NALT Uniform Format and Citation Guide (also known as NALT's Blue Book) is a standardized format and citation guide for legal research writing in Nigeria. It was developed by the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers (NALT) to provide a uniform approach to legal research writing and citation across law faculties and legal research institutes in Nigeria.
The guide is comprehensive in scope, addressing not only citation formats but also providing detailed guidance on research writing structure, methodology, and presentation. It is designed to be user-friendly and tailored to the Nigerian legal context, unlike foreign citation guides like OSCOLA, MLA, and APA which do not fully address local legal research needs.
History and Development
The desire for a uniform approach to legal research writing and citation in Nigeria has a long history within NALT. The initiative was spearheaded by erudite professors including Popoola of OAU, MOU Gasiokwu of Unijos, Yusuf Aboki of ABU, Allswell Muzan of KSU, and others who believed that NALT was mature enough to establish its own standardized approach to legal research writing.
The proposal for a uniform format and citation guide was presented at the NALT Conference held at the University of Ilorin. A committee was formed comprising senior professors and experts in legal research methodology.
After seven months of rigorous work, a draft proposal was presented and accepted at the NALT Conference at Ebonyi State University (ESU) Abakaliki. The draft was further improved and presented to the Committee of Deans and Directors.
The final draft was ratified and approved at the NALT Conference held at Afe Babalola University (ABUAD). The guide was launched online for the first time under the leadership of Associate Professor Smaranda Olarinde, the 2015 NALT President.
The 2016 EXCO launched the online edition of Part II (now Part III), making it mandatory for NALT Conference papers and proceedings. The first major review and update was carried out by a Four-Man Committee under the leadership of Dakas, CJ (SAN).
The first maiden hard copy publication was produced by the NALT Implementation Committee under the chairmanship of Professor Emily Alemika in partnership with the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
The second edition was published, featuring a more robust and comprehensive content structure divided into four major parts.
Structure of the Guide
The NALT Citation Guide is divided into four major parts:
- Part One: Preliminary information and historical background about the formation of the NALT Guide.
- Part Two: Research preliminaries, approaches to legal research writing, and general format on how to structure research topics into chapters for various academic levels.
- Part Three: The NALT Citation Guide, providing detailed instructions on how to cite various legal sources.
- Part Four: Guidelines for academic journals, including how articles should be structured for publication and a quick guide for contributors to Faculty journals.
Key Features and Benefits
The NALT Citation Guide offers several advantages over foreign citation styles:
- It is tailored to the Nigerian legal context, addressing local legal sources that foreign guides may not adequately cover.
- It provides a standardized approach to legal research writing across all law faculties in Nigeria.
- It simplifies the external examination process for master's dissertations and PhD theses by establishing a uniform format.
- It facilitates better presentation of articles in peer-reviewed journals.
- It has been "Nigerianised" by replacing foreign examples with local cases, statutes, and academic authors while retaining the technical features and principles of established citation styles.
Implementation and Adoption
Since its ratification in 2015, the NALT Citation Guide has been gradually adopted by law faculties and legal research institutes across Nigeria. Some institutions have implemented it fully, while others have adopted it partially for handling postgraduate project writing and preparing articles for publication.
The NALT Implementation and Monitoring Committee continues to work on improving the guide and promoting its adoption nationwide. The committee welcomes suggestions, observations, and inputs to improve the document, which can be forwarded to naltguide2015@gmail.com.
About This Website
This website was created to provide easy access to the NALT Citation Guide and related resources. It features:
- A citation generator tool to help create accurate NALT-compliant citations
- A comprehensive glossary of legal citation terms
- Frequently asked questions about the NALT Citation Guide
- Blog articles on legal citation and research methodology
- Additional resources for legal research and academic writing
Our goal is to support law students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners in producing high-quality legal research that adheres to the standardized NALT format.