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Referencing and citations - OSCOLA: Websites

Referencing and citations - OSCOLA

In a nutshell

Try and follow the general principles for citing secondary sources ie

      · Give the author’s name exactly as it appears in the publication.

      ·  If no individual author is identified, but an organisation or institution claims editorial responsibility for the work, then cite it as the author.

      ·  If appropriate to cite an anonymous source (eg blog) start citation with the title.

      ·  All titles should be within single quotation marks and in roman. Capitalize the first letter in all major words in a title.

If information is missing (eg date of publication), construct a logical citation, following OSCOLA guidelines, with such information as is available.

The most important features of a citation to a website are the web address in <angled brackets> and the date on which you accessed it. These should come at the end of the citation. If you need to pinpoint within the website, the pinpoint should come before the URL.

  • Sarah Cole, ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’ (Naked Law, 1 May 2009) <http://www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.html> accessed 19 November 2009.

Important points to note

If you source a publication online which is also available in hard copy, cite the hard copy version. There is no need to cite an electronic source for such a publication.

You are responsible for the quality and accuracy of your sources. Try to authenticate the validity, accuracy and currency of any websites you wish to cite.