Learn how the OSCOLA rules work.
Short, plain-English guides to the rules behind every kind of source — so you understand the citation, not just copy it.
Showing all 15 guides
Foundations
5- Getting Started with OSCOLAWhat OSCOLA is, how footnotes work, and the conventions that apply to every citation you write.
- Subsequent Citations and Short FormsOSCOLA has no ibid. How to cite a source the second time: short names, (n 5) cross-citations, and defined short forms.
- Pinpoints and RangesPages, square-bracketed paragraphs, and the OSCOLA way with ranges: elide pages, never paragraphs.
- QuotationsSingle quotation marks, the three-line threshold, indented blocks, and where the punctuation goes.
- Tables and BibliographiesThe table of cases, the table of legislation, and the r 1.7 bibliography with its surname-first authors and double em-dashes.
Cases
2- Cases: England and WalesNeutral citations, the best report, court identifiers, unreported cases and the pre-1865 nominate reports.
- Cases: Scotland, Northern Ireland and ElsewhereSession Cases and the bare-year Scottish convention, Northern Ireland reports, and citing foreign cases in their own style.
Legislation
2Secondary Sources
4- Books, Chapters and EncyclopediasAuthored and edited books, chapters, older works, books of authority, encyclopedias and dictionaries.
- Journal ArticlesArticles, the square-versus-round year, case notes, book reviews, forthcoming pieces and working papers.
- Websites, Media and Personal SourcesWebsites and blogs, social media, video timestamps, podcasts, speeches, interviews, theses, newspapers, emails and generative AI.
- Hansard and Official PublicationsThe three Hansard series, select committee reports, command papers and the Law Commissions.