Skip to Main Content

OSCOLA referencing guide (Online)

Mae'r dudalen hon hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg

Journals articles

To cite a print journal use the following format:

Author, │’title’ │[year] │journal name or abbreviation │first page of article

                                                                     [OR]

Author, │’title’ │(year) │volume │journal name or abbreviation │first page of article

Use [ ]  if the date of publication is needed to find the article eg. there is no volume number.

Use ( ) if the date of publication is NOT needed to find the article eg. there is a volume number.

The bibliography is the same format as the footnote except that the author is now listed surname first followed by their initials, page numbers are not included and there is no full stop at the end of the reference. 

Examples of citations in a footnote:

Paul Craig, 'Theory, "Pure Theory" and Values in Public Law'  [2005] PL 440.

Alison L Young, 'In Defense of Due Deference' (2009) 72 MLR 554.

Example of citations in a bibliography:

Craig P,  'Theory, "Pure Theory" and Values in Public Law'  [2005] PL 440

Young AL, 'In Defense of Due Deference' (2009) 72 MLR 554

Pinpointing in a journal article

When pinpointing (referring to a specific page in an article) put the first page of the article followed by a comma, a space and the page of the pinpoint.

JAG Griffith, 'The Common Law and the Political Constitution' (2001) 117 LQR 42, 64.

Pinpointing is not used in the bibliography.

  • If an article/pdf/ebook is available anywhere in print format, you should cite it as you would a printed piece of work (even if you have read it online).
  • However if the article is only available online, use the same format as for print journals but at the end of the citation add the web address within < > marks and the date you most recently accessed the article.
  • In general only include the web address when the document is only available online, when the web address ia especially helpful for finding the document and when the web address is static (eg. not a result of a search in a database).

An example of a footnote for an online article:

James Gobert, 'The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007: Thirteen Years in the Making but was it Worth the Wait?' (2008) 71 MRL 413 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25151209> accessed 15 Jan 2014.

The bibliography is the same format as the footnote except that the author's last name comes first, only the author's initial(s) are used and there is no full stop at the end of the citation.

An example of the bibliography for an online article:

Gobert J, 'The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007: Thirteen Years in the Making but was it Worth the Wait?' (2008) 71 MRL 413 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25151209> accessed 15 Jan 2014

Square brackets or round brackets

Square brackets [ ] are used when the year is crucial to identify the relevant volume of the journal (e.g. when there is no volume number).

Round brackets ( ) are used when the year is not necessary to identify the relevant volume of the journal (e.g. if there is a volume number in addition to the year). 

In most cases journal titles have both a volume number and a year so round brackets will normally be used.