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Referencing and Academic Integrity at Roehampton: Referencing Styles by Subject Area

Referencing Styles by School / Programme / Subject Area

The School uses several different referencing styles, depending on the subject area. Most use Cite Them Right Harvard, with the following exceptions: 

  • Computer Science programmes, including Cybersecurity, Data Science, Software Engineering, Web Development, all use IEEE
  • Children's Literature, English Literature & Creative Writing: MLA
  • History: Chicago
  • Classics; Theology; Religion; Philosophy: Cite Them Right Harvard plus additional guides for ancient texts if needed, see box below. 
  • Interdisciplinary Courses (BA Liberal Arts, MA Cultural Heritage): Please check with the convenor of each module for the relevant style.

Please note: As many programmes contain cross-listed modules taught by staff from other subject areas, students are advised to check with their module leader as to the preferred referencing style for module assessments.

There are two home referencing styles used in the Faculty of Business & Law:

  • Business: Cite Them Right Harvard (some modules may use Chicago – please check with your module convenor).
  • Law: OSCOLA (see further guidance below)

All programmes in the School of Education use Cite Them Right Harvard.

Please note that when referring to children's literature in your coursework, it should be cited and referenced as you would any book publication in the Cite Them Right Harvard style.

There are two home referencing styles used in the School of Health & Life Sciences:

  • BSc Sport Psychology & MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology: APA
  • All other programmes in the School: Cite Them Right Harvard 

Where modules may be cross-listed (taught in more than one programme), please check with your module tutor or convenor regarding which style to use.  

There are two home referencing styles used in the School of Psychology:

  • Therapies (Postgraduate level – Art Psychotherapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Dramatherapy, Music Therapy, Play Therapy): Cite Them Right Harvard
  • All other programmes in the School: APA 

All programmes in the School of Sustainable Engineering and Technology use Cite Them Right Harvard style of referencing.

See Cite Them Right > Harvard for examples of how to reference:

  • books,
  • journals articles
  • Maps
  • technical standards,
  • illustrations & diagrams
  • websites

and much more!

Additional Guides for Ancient Texts

Students in some subject areas, such as Classics, Ancient History, History, Philosophy and Religion, may require additional information in additional guidance to the information provided in Cite Them Right. This concerns the use of standard abbreviations for ancient texts.

Referencing Ancient Texts: General guidance

Referencing Ancient Texts: Advanced guidance

OSCOLA Referencing

The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is designed to facilitate accurate citation of authorities, legislation, and other legal materials. It is used by the Law School. 

OSCOLA is a footnote style. 

  1. Insert a superscript number after the full stop of a sentence or after the word or phrase.1
  2. Footnotes are at the bottom of the page for the source cited.
  3. You may also be asked to produce a bibliography at the end of your work with all the sources you have cited. Check your module handbook to see if you need to include a bibliography.

Every time you use a source you should reference it, whether it is a primary source or a secondary source.

Primary Sources: cases, statutes, EU legislation and cases and European Court of Human Rights decisions.

Secondary Sources: books, encyclopaedias, journal articles, command papers, law commission reports, blogs and newspapers. 

When to Reference

Every time you use a source you should reference it, whether it is a primary source or a secondary source.

Primary Sources: cases, statutes, EU legislation and cases and European Court of Human Rights decisions.

Secondary Sources: books, encyclopaedias, journal articles, command papers, law commission reports, blogs and newspapers. 

Guides to Referencing with OSCOLA

Case Citations

This is the full breakdown of what a case citation might typically include.

case name | [year] | court | number, | [year] OR (year) | volume | report abbreviation | first page
The vertical line | denotes the absence of punctuation.

 

Example:

Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208

Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208

 

Case citations may look quite different depending on several factors:

  • In 2001 neutral citations were introduced, citations before then will not have this element.
  • OSCOLA uses round brackets ( ) or square brackets [ ] depending on whether the year is needed to help you to locate a report.
  • Some reports need to differentiate between different divisions of a court, and this will involve extra information in the citation that you might not see in others.
  • Some cases are not reported (published) and elements may be 'missing'.

 

Use of italics

Case names are italicised if they are mentioned in text  or in the footnotes. They are not italicised in the bibliography or table of cases.

 

Referencing Cases From 2001 and onwards

A case reference is made up of several parts. There is also a difference between English cases before 2001, and from 2001 when neutral citations were introduced.

Full citation of English cases from 2001 include:

  1. Case name (or party names) 
  2. Neutral citation
  3. Law report citation

Example 1.

R v Barnes [2004] EWCA Crim 3246, [2005] 1 WLR 910

 

1. R v Barnes 2. [2004] EWCA Crim 3246, 3. [2005] 1 WLR 910

Example 2.

R v Rogers [2007] UKHL 8, [2007] AC 62

 

1. R v Rogers  2. [2007] UKHL 8, 3. [2007] AC 62

The court abbreviation in a neutral citation always starts with UK (for United Kingdom) or EW (for England and Wales). This will help you to identify which part is the neutral citation.

Referencing Cases - Before 2001

Official neutral citations do not exist for cases before 2001.

Note: if you have used BAILII, you will see neutral citations for older cases which BAILII have assigned retrospectively, but these are unofficial neutral citations and would not be used in OSCOLA referencing.

Full citation of English cases from 2001 typically includes:

  1. Case name (or party names) 
  2. Law report citation
  3. The name of the court where the case was heard, put in brackets

 

Example  1.

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL)

 

1. Donoghue v Stevenson 2. [1932] AC 562  3. (HL)

Example 2.

R v Bailey (1983) 77 Cr App R 76 (CA)

 

1. R v Bailey 2. (1983) 77 Cr App R 76  3.(CA)

Square Brackets vs Round Brackets

The year of publication will be in square brackets [ ] if this information is essential for helping you to find the volume. The year of publication will be in round brackets ( ) if there is a separate volume number which helps you to locate the report.

Since many reports are now accessed online, this differentiation may not be as important as it might once have been. If you are accessing reports online through a database, check the database version of the citation to see whether it uses square or round brackets for the year. Note: the layout of the full citation in databases may not necessarily follow the required format for OSCOLA.

In-text Citations and Footnotes: Cases

Example of footnote superscript numbering in text:

The sum is a reasonable royalty paid in exchange for the "use" made of the rights and the relevant principles to be applied were articulated by H.H. Judge Hacon in Henderson v All Around the World.44 This method derives from Wrotham Park v Parkside Estates,45 ...

 

Example of related footnote entries:

44 Henderson v All Around the World Recordings Ltd [2014] EWHC 3087 (IPEC) at [18]–[19].

45Wrotham Park Estate Co Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd [1974] 1 WLR 798 Ch D.

 

Note: According to OSCOLA 4th Edition, it is not necessary to include the case name if it has already been included in the body of the text. So it could also look like this:

44 [2014] EWHC 3087 (IPEC) at [18]–[19].

45 [1974] 1 WLR 798 Ch D.

Informtion adapted from:

Marshall J, 'Account of profit for infringement of intellectual property rights' (2018) EIPR 40(4) 260.

First reference and subsequent references

When referering to a publication for the first time, you should provide a full reference. After this, you can use the abbreviated form of the source title. If a second footnote to the same source follows directly, you can use 'ibid' instead with any additional information if needed, such as information about which paragraph is being referred to.

If the footnote does not directly follow a previous citation of the same source, then write the short form of the name and a cross-citation to the full citation.

For example, in the below, footnote 49 is a cross-refereence to footnote 44, indicates by the "(n 44)"

44 Henderson v All Around the World Recordings Ltd [2014] EWHC 3087 (IPEC) at [18]–[19].

45 ibid [20].

---

49 Henderson (n 44).

Pinpointing

  • A pinpoint is a reference to a particular paragraph of a judgment or page of a report or source, or a paragraph number.
  • If you quote or paraphrase a source, you should include the page number or paragraph number.
  • If you are referring to separate paragraphs, separate them with a comma (see example 1 below.).
  • If you are citing spans of paragraph, insert a dash between the two paragraph numbers (see example 2).
  • The same apply to page numbers, but you would not use brackets (see example 3).

 

Pinpointing examples in footnotes

1. Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208 [42],[44]. 
2. Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208 [42]-[44].
3. Joelle Grogan, ‘Rights and Remedies at Risk: Implications of the Brexit Process on the Future of Rights in the UK’ [2019] PL 683, 686-687.​

 

When to use pinpointing

Footnotes should include the pinpoint reference to identify the exact page, paragraph number (for cases), section, regulation or article (for legislation) which contain the ideas you are quoting or paraphrasing. If you are referring to a general argument, you may choose to refer to a journal article or book, rather than to a precise page. The same applied to cases: if you are using a case as an authority on a point of law or an application of law on a scenario, a general reference is enough.

 

Finding page numbers

Databases such as WestLaw and Lexis Library will give an indicator of the page numbers. Lexis Library displays this information in grey text; WestLaw will display an  half green icon with an asterisk (*) and the page number .

Example from Westlaw:

Westlaw will show an icon half colour in green with an asterisk and page number.

 

Footnotes vs Bibliography

There are differences between the format for the footnote reference and the biblography.

Case example

Footnote: 

Murray v Express Newspapers Plc [2008] EWCA Civ 446, [2009] Ch 481.

The case name is in italics. There is a fullstop at the end.

Bibliography:

Murray v Express Newspapers Plc [2008] EWCA Civ 446, [2009] Ch 481

There is no full stop at the end in the bibliography.

Legislation example

Footnote: 

Human Rights Act 1998, s 3(2)(a).

Include the section, subsection and paragraph if your are referring to specific part of the act. There is a full stop at the end.

Bibliography:

Human Rights Act 1998 (UK)

There is no full stop at the end. Include the country in brackets if you are citing legislation from more than one country.

Note: If an act has been referred to in full in your work, you do not need to include a footnote.

Secondary source - book example

Footnote:

Alan Dignam and John Lowry, Company Law (10th edn, OUP 2018).

First name and surname written out in full. There is a full stop at the end.

Bibliography:

Dignam A and Lowry J, Company Law (10th edn, OUP 2018)

Write the surname first and then the initials of the first name. There is no full stop at the end.

Secondary source - journal article example

Footnote:

Joelle Grogan, ‘Rights and Remedies at Risk: Implications of the Brexit Process on the Future of Rights in the UK’ [2019] PL 683.

First name and surname written out in full. There is a full stop at the end.

Bibliography:

Grogan J, ‘Rights and Remedies at Risk: Implications of the Brexit Process on the Future of Rights in the UK’ [2019] PL 683

Write the surname first and then the initials of the first name. There is no full stop at the end.

If there is no volume for a journal, use square brackets around the year: [2019]. 

If there is volume information for a journal, use round brackets around the year: (2019).

Bibliography Format

Check your Module Guide but the general format is:​

  • List all the cases in alphabetical order by case name under the heading “Cases”. ​

  • List all the legislation in alphabetical order by title under the heading “Legislation”. ​

  • List all the other sources you used (including books, journal articles, and web-sites) in alphabetical order by author surname under the heading “Other sources”. 

This guidance is taken from Roehampton's Law School. For long pieces of work you may be required to put a table of cases and a table of legislations at the start of the document. Always check your module guide to find out which layout you are expected to use.