Info Skills Citing References: citing an article from a law journal using OSCOLA
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What is OSCOLA? What is OSCOLA?
OSCOLA stands for ‘The Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities’.
OSCOLA is a document that was devised to provide a clear set of guidelines on how to cite legal materials. This tutorial will help you cite an article from a law journal using OSCOLA.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal
To the right is the first page of an article from a law journal. Most of the information needed to build a reference can usually be found on this page. This reference should be used in both the footnote(s) and the bibliography in your work.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal
To the right is the first page of an article from a law journal. Most of the information needed to build a reference can usually be found on this page. This reference should be used in both the footnote(s) and the bibliography in your work.
Firstly, you need to identify the author (or authors) of the journal article. In this instance, the author is: John Dewar.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal
To the right is the first page of an article from a law journal. Most of the information needed to build a reference can usually be found on this page. This reference should be used in both the footnote(s) and the bibliography in your work.
Firstly, you need to identify the author (or authors) of the journal article. In this instance, the author is: John Dewar. In your reference, his name would be written as: J Dewar
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal
To the right is the first page of an article from a law journal. Most of the information needed to build a reference can usually be found on this page. This reference should be used in both the footnote(s) and the bibliography in your work.
Firstly, you need to identify the author (or authors) of the journal article. In this instance, the author is: John Dewar. In your reference, his name would be written as: J Dewar Note that the author’s first name is always given as an initial, even if the original document gives the name in full.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next follows the title and (if there is one) the sub-title of the journal article. This information is always on the title page of the journal article.
In this instance, the title of the journal article is: The Normal Chaos of Family Law. The article has no sub-title.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next follows the title and (if there is one) the sub-title of the journal article. This information is always on the title page of the journal article.
In this instance, the title of the journal article is: The Normal Chaos of Family Law. The article has no sub-title. So, the reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next follows the title and (if there is one) the sub-title of the journal article. This information is always on the title page of the journal article.
In this instance, the title of the journal article is: The Normal Chaos of Family Law. The article has no sub-title. So, the reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ The title of the journal article is always enclosed in single quotation marks. Note that a comma is used after the author’s name.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next, you need to give the date of publication. This is the year in which the law journal where the article is located was published.
In this instance the date of publication is 1998.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next, you need to give the date of publication. This is the year in which the law journal where the article is located was published.
In this instance the date of publication is 1998. So the reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ (1998)
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next, you need to give the date of publication. This is the year in which the law journal where the article is located was published.
In this instance the date of publication is 1998. So the reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ (1998) Note that the year is enclosed in round brackets.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Law journals are published serially and are organised into volumes. Next, you need to identify in which volume of the journal series the article is located.
In this instance, the article is located in volume 61 of the journal series.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Law journals are published serially and are organised into volumes. Next, you need to identify in which volume of the journal series the article is located.
In this instance, the article is located in volume 61 of the journal series. So the reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ (1998) 61
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Law journals are published serially and are organised into volumes. Next, you need to identify in which volume of the journal series the article is located.
In this instance, the article is located in volume 61 of the journal series. So the reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ (1998) 61 Note that only the volume number is given, you do not need to include the part number.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next follows the title and (if there is one) the sub-title of the law journal in which the article was published. This information may be on the title page of the article, or on the title page of the journal volume.
In this instance, the title of the journal is: Modern Law Review. The journal has no sub-title.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next follows the title and (if there is one) the sub-title of the law journal in which the article was published. This information may be on the title page of the article, or on the title page of the journal volume.
In this instance, the title of the journal is: Modern Law Review. The journal has no sub-title. So the reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ (1998) 61 MLR
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Next follows the title and (if there is one) the sub-title of the law journal in which the article was published. This information may be on the title page of the article, or on the title page of the journal volume.
In this instance, the title of the journal is: Modern Law Review. The journal has no sub-title. So the reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ (1998) 61 MLR Note that the title of the journal is given as an abbreviation. You can find a list of standard abbreviations using the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Lastly, you need to give the first page of the journal article.
In this instance, the first page of the journal article is page 467.
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Lastly, you need to give the first page of the journal article.
In this instance, the first page of the journal article is page 467. So the complete reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ (1998) 61 MLR 467
Citing References > Citing an article from a law journal Lastly, you need to give the first page of the journal article.
In this instance, the first page of the journal article is page 467. So the complete reference now reads: J Dewar, ‘The Normal Chaos of Family Law’ (1998) 61 MLR 467 Note that only the page number is given. There is no need to include ‘p.’ or ‘page’ to indicate that you are giving a page number.