OSCOLA referencing

Students undertaking modules in the School of Law should use the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) referencing style. This referencing system uses footnotes.

Reference list

At the end of a piece of work a table or list of cases used should appear, this should then be followed by a table a legislation which should list every statute that has been cited in the work. See sections 1.6 and 1.7 (pages 10 and 11) of the 4th edition OSCOLA guide (available on the Oscola Site).  These should then be followed by a bibliography listing all secondary sources used, arranged in alphabetical order by the lead author’s surname, further guidance can be found in section 1.7 of the 4th edition OSCOLA guide (available on the Oscola Site). 

What to put in your text

Guidance on how to cite sources in-text and create footnotes can also be found in the 4th edition OSCOLA guide. OSCOLA also has two further guides, the Quick guide to OSCOLA and the International Materials Guide. 

Further help

For an online tutorial on how to use OSCOLA  use Citing the law website. 

More information about using the OSCOLA referencing system can be found on at Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. On here you will be able to find a section on frequently asked questions, as well as an archive page on OSCOLA for EndNote Styles.

Colleges

Professional Services