How do you dictate legal citations and section symbols?

To dictate a section symbol, say its name. In Microsoft Word's dictation, "section sign" produces § and "paragraph sign" or "paragraph mark" produces ¶ ¹. The rest of a citation, such as the title, the volume and the reporter, is ordinary speech, and recognition errors can appear there. Our guide to legal dictation software covers the tools, and this page covers the symbols and the citation checks.

Word's dictation turns spoken symbol names into § and ¶

Microsoft's symbol table for Dictate in Word pairs the spoken phrase "section sign" with the § character, and "paragraph sign/mark" with ¶ ¹. Dictation in Word is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers ², so a firm without that subscription cannot use the spoken symbols in Word.

To start dictation, you have two routes, depending on the platform. In Word for Windows, press Alt+H, D or Alt and the backquote key (`) ³. In Word for Mac, use Home > Dictate or the shortcut Option + F1 ⁴.

Typing § on Windows is a fallback when dictation is not available

Microsoft's table of legal symbols in Word lists the section sign as ALT+0167 ⁵. Hold Alt, type 0167, and release Alt. Use this when you are typing rather than dictating, or when the spoken phrase does not produce the symbol in your tool. We did not check a Mac shortcut for § in 2026, so test one before you rely on it.

Dragon has its own route for words the software does not know. Nuance says that to add a word you specify the word and its spoken form, and you can train Dragon on its pronunciation ⁶. Add the citation terms your firm uses often, such as a reporter abbreviation or a statute name, so the software knows them before you dictate.

Multiple statute sections take two section symbols, according to a 2021 blog

When a citation covers a run of statute sections, a 2021 law library blog reports that the Bluebook's 21st edition advises against "et seq." and uses two section symbols instead ⁷. The post's example is 42 U.S.C. §§ 1396a-1396d. To dictate the doubled form, say "section sign" twice, then check the result on screen, because we did not test how each tool handles it.

Two caveats apply. The post summarizes the 21st edition, and courts and journals can require a different edition, so check the rule your court or journal uses. The spacing around the symbol and the rule for each citation type come from the Bluebook text itself. We did not check those details here.

Steps for dictating a citation and checking it

1. Dictate the citation in its natural order. Say the title, the volume, the reporter or code, and then the section, and say "section sign" where the symbol goes.
2. Spell the names that are unusual. In Dragon, say "Spell That" and spell the word, and the spelling window adds it by its letters ⁸.
3. Insert missing symbols by key. Use Alt+0167 on Windows for § when the spoken phrase does not work.
4. Check every citation against its source. Do not check it against memory. Dictation can change a number or a case name without any sign on screen.
5. Keep a list of the citations you checked. A short record shows the firm that a person verified each one.

Limits: what dictation cannot do for a citation

Dictation does not know whether a citation is correct. It converts sound to text, so a volume number that is spoken wrong will be written wrong. No study we found measures error rates on citations alone, so the only reliable test is your own. Dictate a page with about twenty citations, count the wrong ones, and compare tools on that count.

For the broader workflow and the review step, see how legal dictation works with an assistant. For the products and their prices, see what Dragon Legal is and whether it is still sold. For whether dictation is still common among lawyers, see do lawyers still dictate.