Law students use the OSCOLA system of referencing rather than the standard university Harvard style.
OSCOLA is the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities and is edited by the Oxford Law Faculty.
OSCOLA enables you to quickly and easily cite legal resources such as cases and legislation. It is a numeric style which use footnotes (as opposed to Harvard which is a Name and Date style).
You need to reference all the sources that you use in your assignments - this includes citing them in the main body of your assignment by adding a superscript number and then putting full details in the corresponding footnote at the bottom of your page.
You can also include a bibliography at the end of your work which contains all of the works cited in your footnotes as well as any other sources you have consulted.
Microsoft Word allows you to insert and format your footnotes quickly and easily.
For further help, try some of these online materials from other universities:
OSCOLA video from the University of South Wales
Citing references using OSCOLA from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library (select login as guest)
Please ensure you log into SOL in order to view these videos: log into SOL
How and why to reference - talking you through our OSCOLA Factsheet:
More on citations within legal databases and how they relate to OSCOLA:
Guided Learning Activity
The Library offers additional help with referencing queries via referencing.support@solent.ac.uk.
Queries will be dealt with as quickly as possible but please allow up to 72 hours for a response from the Information team.
Ensure that your query is clearly marked as OSCOLA referencing and not Harvard.
Please note that this service does not include proof reading or checking of references.
This resource does not work well with Lexis+ UK and Westlaw and the OSCOLA style is not completely accurate. Library advice for those using OSCOLA is to cite their references manually.
RefWorks is bibliographic software that allows you to store and use references you have found during your research. Use it to:
