Referencing is the academic practice of acknowledging the sources you have used in your work. Sources may be other people's words and ideas, or legal authorities such as legislation and case law.
Referencing demonstrates your ethical use of information, the range of your research and reading, provides authority to your arguments, enables others to find materials cited, and avoids accusations of plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the use of another person's work without proper acknowledgment. Most plagiarism is unintentional and the result of poor academic practice. It's is important to reference when directly quoting or paraphrasing another person's work.
Referencing styles are sets of rules governing referencing practice. They prescribe the type, order and format of information in a reference. There are 3 main types of referencing style: in-text, footnote and endnote. Always check what referencing style is required by your department or assessment, as there may be local interpretations.
An introduction to the general principles of referencing, including why, when and how to reference.
Your Research & Academic Support Librarian is available for 1-2-1 appointments, both on-campus and online, and can advise on all library, research and referencing matters.
Referencing software allows you to manage references, insert citations and create a bibliography, in your referencing style.
EndNote is referencing software from Clarivate. EndNote Desktop supports the OSCOLA referencing style. EndNote is available from Warwick IT Services, and is supported by Warwick Library. Please see the EndNote LibGuide for further information.
The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is the referencing style used by the Warwick Law School and by law schools and legal publishers across the UK. It was developed by the University of Oxford and is free to download from the official OSCOLA website:
OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide - one page quick reference guide to OSCOLA.
OSCOLA Full Guide - complete 4th edn (2012) guide to citing UK and EU primary sources (legislation and case law), and all secondary sources (books, journals and official publications).
OSCOLA International Law Guide - further guidance on citing international primary sources (treaties, case law and UN materials),
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations - database of law journal and law report official legal abbreviations from Cardiff University.
OSCOLA referencing is required for essays and dissertations but not for examinations. In examinations, you need to acknowledge your source, but this should be done in-text (in brackets) and does not require footnotes or a bibliography.
The Law School's current guidance on examinations states:
OSCOLA is a guide to referencing key United Kingdom legal materials including primary sources (legislation and case law), and secondary sources (books and articles). OSCOLA is not a guide to academic or legal writing, nor is it a guide to writing law essays or dissertations.
OSCOLA provide some guidance to referencing European Union and International primary sources, but no guidance to referencing primary sources from foreign jurisdictions. If referencing foreign legal materials, writers should follow referencing guidance from the home jurisdiction.
OSCOLA provides referencing rules and examples for the main types of legal information; but it is not comprehensive, and it does not provide referencing rules of all types of information, especially non-legal information. If you are referencing materials not mentioned in OSCOLA, follow the general principles and be consistent.
OSCOLA is a footnote referencing style. With footnote referencing, numbered footnote markers (superscript numbers) are inserted into your text, normally at the end of your sentence, immediately after the full-stop.¹ You can position footnote markers within your sentence if it improves clarity, e.g. after a semi-colon;² or comma,³ or after a Case Name. The reference is written in a corresponding numbered footnote at the bottom of the page. The footnote is closed with a full-stop.
Most word processing software includes footnote referencing functionality. In Microsoft Word, click on the 'References' menu, and then 'Insert Footnote'. Refer to your word processing software’s help pages for further information.
How to Insert Footnotes and Endnotes in Microsoft Word.
If you state the full title and year (and section where appropriate) of legislation in the main body of your text, you do not need to repeat the information in a footnote. Omit the footnote entirely but include the full reference in the Table of Authorities.
If you state the full name of the case in the main body of your text, you only need to include the case citations in the footnote. Omit the case name from the footnote, but include the citations only. Include the full reference in the Table of Authorities.
A bibliography is a list of sources or references cited in the work. OSCOLA requires a bibliography only for longer works i.e. monographs and dissertations/theses, not shorter works i.e. journal articles or essays. At law school, it is common practice to include a bibliography at the end of an essay. Please check your assessment guidance for further information.
With OSCOLA, the bibliography is split into two section: Table of Authorities (for primary sources) and Bibliography (for secondary sources). Generally, references are copied and pasted from the footnotes to the bibliography, although some minor formatting may also be required.
A Table of Authorities is a list of primary sources (legislation and case law) cited in the work. Normally there is a Table of Cases and a Table of Legislation. There may be additional tables depending on the length of work, and volume and types of sources cited.
In the Table of Cases, cases are listed in A-Z order by party name. Copy and paste the reference (case name and citations) from the footnote to the table. Remove any italics from the case name, any pinpoints for quoted pages/paragraphs, and the full-stop at the end of the reference.
In the Table of Legislation, list all Acts/Statutes in A-Z order by title, and then all Statutory Instruments in A-Z order by title. Copy and paste the references from the footnote to the table. Remove any italics from the legislation name, any pinpoints for quoted section numbers, and the full-stop at the end of the reference.
If you have cited legislation or case law from other jurisdictions, you should separate references by jurisdiction, and list international materials first, followed by regional materials i.e. European Union, and then by each national jurisdiction i.e. United Kingdom. If you have a large number of references, you may wish to have a separate table for each jurisdiction.
The bibliography is a list of secondary sources (books, journals and other commentary) cited in the work. There is only one bibliography, and references are listed in A-Z order by author's surname. You do not need to organise the bibliography into sections by material type unless otherwise instructed in your assessment guidance.
In the bibliography, copy and paste the references from the footnote to the bibliography. Invert the authors' name: from first name last name format, to last name initial format. Remove any pinpoints for quoted pages/paragraphs, and the full-stop at the end of the reference. Keep the italic font in the book or journal titles.
Personal authors (a person) should be presented as First Name Surname in the footnote e.g. Jackie Hanes, and Surname, Initials in the bibliography e.g. Hanes, J OSCOLA uses little punctuation and there are no periods after or between initials.
Corporate authors (an organisation) should be presented as the full name of the organisation, in both footnotes and the bibliography e.g. University of Warwick.
Give the author's name as it appears in the publication, including for judges, but omit titles e.g. Lord/Lady or Sir/Dame and postnominals e.g. QC/KC.
If citing between 1 and 3 authors, you should list all authors names, in the order listed on the source, in both the footnotes and the bibliography.
If citing 4 or more authors names, you should list only the first author's name, followed by words 'and others'. Do not use et al.
Some sources have an editor instead of, or as well as, an author. If citing an editor, include the abbreviation ed (for a single editor) or eds (for multiple editors) in round brackets, after the editor(s) name(s) e.g. Jackie Hanes (ed) or Hanes, J (ed).
All direct quotations and paraphrasing should be referenced by a footnote, including the page, paragraph or section number(s) of the original source at the end of the footnote. OSCOLA uses limited page number signals: if citing a book, book chapter or report, the page number(s) stand alone at the end of the footnote (do not use p. or pp. or at). If citing a journal article or law report, where the reference ends with the first page number, you should separate the numbers with a comma i.e. first page, quoted page.
The first time a source is cited, it should be referenced in full, normally in a footnote. If the source is cited again, the subsequent references can be abbreviated, using either ibid or a short form and cross-reference. You are advised to leave ibids and short forms until your work is finished, as the numbering of footnotes may change during editing, and may lead to incorrect cross-references.
Ibid is an abbreviation of the Latin ibidem, meaning 'in the same place'. In referencing it is used to refer to the immediately preceding footnote. If you cite a source, and then cite the same source in the very next footnote, you can use 'ibid' in place of the full reference. If you are citing the same source, but at a different page number, simply add a comma after ibid and then the new page number.
Short forms and cross-references are used to reference to other previous footnotes, where they are not immediately preceding. If you cite a source, and then cite the same source later in your work, you can use a short form and cross reference to the original footnote.
For books and articles, the short form is normally the author's surname. For case law, the short form is normally the first party name, in italics. The short form is followed by the letter 'n' and a number in (round brackets) e.g. Smith (n 5). N is an abbreviation for footnote number, and the number is the number of the footnote containing the original full reference. If you are citing the same source, but at a different page number, simply add the new page number to the end of the reference.
Full reference of Secondary Source (as cited in Full reference of Primary Source, Page)
If you are reading a source, and it mentions another source, you may wish to cite the other source in your work.
The best academic practice is to find and read the original source and then cite it directly. If you are unable to find the original source, you can cite it indirectly, 'as cited in', another source. This practice of indirect citation is known as secondary referencing.
The primary source is the one you have read; the secondary source is the one you have read about. You should cite the full reference of both sources in your footnote, but only the primary source in your bibliography. Be careful, as this practice will create very long footnotes, which take words from your word count.
Short Title | Year
Footnote:
Footnote with section number:
Footnote if subsequently referring to Act with abbreviation:
Table of Authorities:
Title | Year, | SI | Year/Number
Footnote:
Footnote with regulation number:
Table of Authorities:
Case Name | Neutral Citation, | Law Report Citation
Case Name | [Year] Court-Abbreviation Case-Number, | [(Year)] Volume Law-Report-Abbreviation First-Page
After 2001, cases were assigned a neutral citation, in addition to their law report citation, which identifies the case by year, court and case number.
Footnote:
Footnote with page [paragraph] number (and judge):
Footnote if full case name stated in main body of text:
Table of Authorities:
Case Name | Law Report Citation (Court-Abbreviation)
Case Name | [(Year)] Volume Law-Report-Abbreviation First-Page (Court-Abbreviation)
Before 2001, cases were identified by the law report citation and an abbreviation for the court.
Footnote:
Footnote with page number (and judge):
Footnote if full case name stated in main body of text:
Table of Authorities:
Legislation Title | [Year] OJ | Issue/First-Page
Footnote:
Footnote with article number:
Footnote if subsequently referring to Act with abbreviation:
Table of Authorities:
Legislation Type | Number | Legislation Title | [Year] | OJ | Issue/First-Page
Footnote:
Footnote with article number:
Footnote if subsequently referring to legislation with abbreviation:
Table of Authorities:
Case Number | Case Name | ECLI Citation, | Law Report Citation
Case Number | Case Name | Jurisdiction:Court:Year:Case-Number, | [(Year)] Volume Law-Report-Abbreviation First-Page
After 2011, EU cases were assigned a uniform citation (European Case Law Identifier or ECLI), in addition to their law report citation, which identifies the case by jurisdiction/country, court, year, and case number. ECLI citations are not covered in the OSCOLA 4th edition, but are included in the OSCOLA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and are expected to feature in the next edition of OSCOLA.
Footnote:
Footnote with page [paragraph] number:
Footnote if full case name stated in main body of text:
Case Name | (Number) | ECLI Citation, | Law Report Citation
In the Table of Authorities, the order of case name and case number are reversed, to aid alphabetical ordering of the list of cases.
Case Name | Law Report Citation
Case Name | [(Year)] Volume Law-Report-Abbreviation First-Page
Footnote:
Footnote with page [paragraph] number:
Footnote if full case name stated in main body of text:
Table of Authorities:
Case Name | App no Number/Year | (ECtHR, Judgment Date)
Footnote:
Table of Authorities:
If a case is unreported in an official series of law reports, you can cite the judgment using the application number, court and judgment date.
The referencing rules for international law materials are covered in a separate OSCOLA: Citing International Law guide.
Where possible, cite from the official international treaty series in preference to others i.e. UNTS (United National Treaty Series) CTS (Consolidated Treaty Series) or LNTS (League of Nations Treaty Series). Otherwise cite from national official treaty series e.g. UKTS (United Kingdom Treaty Series) or other international treaty series.
Treaty Title | (adopted Date | entered into force Date) | Volume | Treaty Series | First-Page (Abbreviation)
Footnote:
Footnote with article number:
Table of Authorities:
For multi-lateral treaties, state the adopted (signature) date, and the entered into force date. This information is commonly available from the UNTC Online website, and the FLARE Index to Treaties.
Treaty Title | (Parties-To-Treaty) (adopted Date, entered into force Date) | Volume | Treaty Series | First-Page (Abbreviation)
Footnote:
If the parties to bilateral treaties are not given in the treaty title, then state them in (round brackets) after the title. Adopted and in-force dates should be given where available. Bilateral treaties may be published in national treaty series, in the above examples in the Australian Treaty Series (ATS) and as a Command Paper (CP) for the UK treaty.
The referencing rules for international law materials are covered in a separate OSCOLA: Citing International Law guide.
Cite International Court of Justice cases from the official International Court of Justice Reports (ICJ Rep) series. For other international courts, cite from an authoritative law reports series such as the International Law Reports (ILR).
Case Name | ICJ Law Report Citation
Case Name | [Year] ICJ Rep First-Page
Footnote:
Footnote with page number:
Footnote if full case name stated in main body of text:
Table of Authorities:
Case Name | Law Report Citation
Case Name | [(Year)] | Volume | Law-Report-Abbreviation | First-Page
Author, Title of Book (Edition edn, Publisher Year)
The edition statement is only required for second or later editions. For first editions, or books without an edition statement, do not include '1st edn' in the reference.
The place of publication is not required. It is also permissible to abbreviate the publisher e.g. Oxford University Press = OUP.
For ebooks, follow the general rules for referencing print books. It is not necessary to include the ebook platform or web address.
Author, ‘Title of Chapter’, in Editor ed, Title of Book (Edition edn, Publisher Year)
Title of Encyclopaedia (Edition edn, Year) vol Volume, para Paragraph
Author, 'Title of Article', Title of Encyclopaedia (Date) <web address> accessed Accessed-Date
Encyclopaedias are commonly referenced by title, volume and paragraph number. If the author and article title are known, you can include them at the start of the reference, and it will more closely follow the referencing rules for book chapters.
If the encyclopaedia is published online only, and the article does not have volume and paragraph numbers, then include the web address and accessed date at the end of the reference.
Author, ‘Article Title’ Citation
The journal article citation is expressed as: ([Year]) Volume Journal-Abbreviation First-Page
Legal abbreviations are normally stated in the journal, but if unknown, please refer to the Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations.
If the journal does not have a legal abbreviation, use the full title of the journal instead.
The year is normally in (round brackets), but where journals do not have volume numbers, the year should be in [square brackets].
For most ejournals, follow the general rules for referencing print journal articles. Some journals are published online only, and articles do not have page numbers. For online only journals, include the web address and accessed date at the end of the reference.
Author, ‘Title of Article’ Citation <web-address> accessed Accessed-Date
Author, ‘Title of Article’, Title of Newspaper (Place, Publication-Date) First-Page
Author, ‘Title of Article’, Title of Newspaper (Place, Publication-Date) <web-address> accessed Accessed-Date
Author, Title of Website (Publication-Date) <web-address> accessed Accessed-Date
The referencing rules for websites can be adapted for other types of media including government publications, official reports and statistics, and audio-visual materials like films, documentaries, and YouTube videos.
There are specific referencing rules for parliamentary papers including Bills, Command Papers and Hansard Debates. Please refer to the full OSCOLA referencing guide for further information.
Author, ‘Title of Blog Post’ (Title of Blog, Publication-Date) <web-address> accessed Accessed-Date
The referencing rules for blog posts can be adapted for other types of serialised media including episodes of television and radio programmes, and podcasts.
Author, 'Title of Thesis' (Award, Awarding Body Year)
Author, 'Title of Paper' (Title of Conference, Place, Date)
The referencing rules for conference papers can be adapted for other types of public lecture. They can also be adapted for lectures delivered as part of taught modules, although you should generally avoid citing your lecturers or teaching materials.
Online tutorials providing an introduction to the general principles of plagiarism and referencing, and to the OSCOLA legal referencing style. If you would like to complete a How to do OSCOLA Referencing course, the online tutorials from Cardiff and IALS are recommended:
Avoiding Plagiarism - the library's introduction to plagiarism and the consequences of plagiarism for students.
Introduction to Referencing - the library's introduction to referencing using the Harvard (Warwick Medical) referencing style.
Citing the Law - OSCOLA referencing tutorial for undergraduate law students developed by Cardiff University.
Introduction to OSCOLA - OSCOLA referencing tutorial for postgraduate law students developed by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
Discover a range of library and study skills guides including how to study law, how to think critically, and how to write law essays and prepare for examinations.
Discover how to find legislation, case law, and journal articles using law databases, including Doing Legal Research online course and Lexis+ UK and Westlaw UK law database training and certification courses.
Discover how to avoid plagiarism, how to use the OSCOLA legal referencing style, and how to manage references with EndNote referencing software.
Discover the library's support for researchers including literature searching, reference management, research data management, open access and publishing, and research metrics.
