1. OSCOLA Referencing Librarians for Business and Law (FBL)
Contact Details:
UWE Library Services
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FBL Librarians

2. Presented by: Kelly Whittard Katie Cox FBL Librarians
An Introduction to the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA)
Presented by:
Kelly Whittard
Katie Cox
FBL Librarians

3. Objectives
Be more confident in understanding the principles of legal citation
Be able to use the OSCOLA guide to create clear citations
Know where to look for further help
BLIS Online: OSCOLA tutorial
Further help

4. Why cite. What’s the point of referencing. Have a go. www. socrative
Why cite? What’s the point of referencing? Have a go! Room: Cox5347

5. Clear quotation UWE Bristol guidance Quoting one or two lines:
Put quotation marks around the quote and include within a standard-format paragraph of your text. Include any italics or errors of spelling or punctuation found in the original.
Example:
As Pearson et al. state, ‘The basis of evidence-based practice is, of course, evidence’.3
[accessed 26 September 2016]

6. Clear quotation UWE Bristol guidance Quoting more than two lines:
Indent the quotation in its own paragraph and leave out the quotation marks. Include any italics and errors of spelling or punctuation found in the original.
Example:
Pearson et al. summarise the issue as follows:
Critical appraisal is a difficult component of the systematic review
process, and a good understanding of research design is required.
The major aim of critical appraisal of any type of evidence is to
establish the validity of the evidence for practice. Validity refers to the
soundness of the evidence; in other words, it is about the degree to
which we can accept the evidence as trustworthy and believable.3
[accessed 26 September 2016]

7. Standard method for citing legal materials
Standard method for citing legal materials. Elements of the citation are given in a particular order and format, separated by specific punctuation
Must use latest edition
(4th ed, 2011)
OSCOLA
If the resource has an ISBN, treat it as a book or electronic book
Minimum punctuation

8. OSCOLA
Examples of journals that use OSCOLA in stock accessible at UWE are Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and Current Legal Problems
OSCOLA is used by the Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal , Current Legal Problems

9. OSCOLA
3 golden rules:
Consider your reader – make sure that someone reading your work would be able to find the works you are citing
Follow general OSCOLA principles and always be consistent
Adapt if exact format not available (3.4 of OSCOLA):

10. OSCOLA Footnotes are used rather than in-text citations
You must always include a reference list or bibliography as well as footnotes
Every reference you include in your footnotes must be also be in your reference list or bibliography
There may be additional sources in your bibliography which do not appear in your footnotes (sources you have used in the preparation of your work but have not referred to directly)
Example of footnotes from Oxford Journal of Legal Studies:

11. OSCOLA footnotes
There is guidance on p.5-7 regarding subsequent citations
You provide a full citation when you first reference a source
On a subsequent citation you can abbreviate – you need to refer back to full citation using following convention:
1 Robert Stevens, Torts and Rights (OUP 2007) 36. …
26 Stevens (n1) 110.
27 ibid

12. Now have a go!

13. Answers Education Act 2011, s 444.
Isle of Wight Council v Platt [2017] UKSC 28, [2017] 1 WLR 1441.
Vera G McEwan, Education Law (Birmingham CLT Professional Publishing 1996).
Sarah Woosey, ‘Case comment: Non-attendance Proceedings’ (2017) 18 (2) Ed. Law.
Hampshire County Council, ‘Possible penalties for non-attendance’ (Hantsweb, 3 October 2016) < attendance/attendance-guidance-for-parents/possible-penalties.htm> accessed 29 September 2017.

14. OSCOLA Bibliography
Three key differences between citation format of bibliography and footnotes:
You leave out page numbers pinpointing a quotation;
The first / given name of the author comes first in the footnotes (e.g. Joe Bloggs) but the bibliography is organised A-Z by author’s family name e.g. Bloggs, Joe.
Footnote citations end in full-stops; bibliographic citations do not

15. Now have a go! Work through the OSCOLA workbook and try the quiz!
ola/16228/oscola-workbook
Look at the OSCOLA referencing information on BLIS
lis_58I.htm

16. Video link - https://vimeo.com/181766346
Video link -

17. Help Yourself… Ask for Help…
Online tutorials to help you in your studies. These include Introduction to Business Information Skills (IBIS) and the Business Induction Workbook
Or go to the HelpDesk on Level 2 of the Library
In the Atrium of the FBL Building
Visit the library webpages for information and online tutorials e.g. referencing
Or go to the ITS HelpDesk on Level 3 of the Library