Brief Formatting
February 2015
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
http://bit.ly/drakebrief
Brief Template

Brief Template will format the
cover page and page numbering.

Only works with Word 2010 for PC or
Word 2011 for Mac or later versions.

Does not work with Office 365.
Things Covered Today

Creating a Table of Authorities

Creating a Table of Contents

Screenshots are from Word 2010 for PC

Resources for Alternative Methods to
Create Your Brief.
Making Your Table of Authorities

You have finished writing your brief

Use the Save As option and create a
new document named BriefClean.

Go back and work from your original
completed brief.
Go to the beginning of the brief and work your way through marking citations
1) Go to the
References
tab
2) Highlight the full citation. Press Mark Citation
3) Remove pinpoint
page
4) Choose the
category of citation
(see next slide on
custom Category)
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
1) Press the
References
tab
2) Highlight the full citation. Press Mark Citation
4) Choose the category
of citation
3) Remember to
remove pinpoint page
U.S. Supreme Court
6) Click “Mark All”
5) Type short citation
7) Click Close and
proceed to next
citation
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
3) Make sure
“Use
passim” and
“Keep
original
formatting”
are checked.
2) Click on Insert
Table of Authorities
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.
2) Press the Paragraph Dialog box
1) Highlight the title of
the section.
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
1) Go to the Table
of Contents
page and
place your
cursor on that
page.
3) Click on Insert Table of Contents or
Custom Table of Contents (Word 2013)
6) Make sure
“Show page
numbers” and
“Right align page
numbers” are
checked.
7) Click OK
4) Uncheck “Use hyperlinks”
5) Change levels to the appropriate
number based on your pointheadings.
Other Resources
Brief Formatting Web Page
Create TOA and TOC Manually
 Specific instructions for Mac users
