OSCOLA Referencing Generator
Turn cases, Acts, books and articles into OSCOLA footnotes, and get your table of cases, table of legislation and bibliography at the same time. If the essay is the hard part, our law assignment experts write in OSCOLA as a matter of course.
What are you referencing?
For UK cases decided from 2001.
Copy it exactly as printed, with the year in its brackets.
A page number, or a paragraph number in square brackets.
Preview · OSCOLA
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Your bibliography
References you add appear here, sorted the way OSCOLA sorts them. They stay in this browser until you clear them.
Making OSCOLA footnotes and tables
- Pick Case, Legislation, Book, Journal article, Book chapter, Web page or Report.
- For a case, copy both the neutral citation and the law report citation exactly as printed, including brackets.
- Add a pinpoint for a particular paragraph, such as [27], or page, such as 890.
- Copy the footnote into your work and add the source to your list.
- Press Copy all for the table of cases, table of legislation and bibliography in OSCOLA order.
About OSCOLA
OSCOLA (the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities) is the style most UK law schools ask for. Citations go in footnotes, punctuation is kept to a minimum, abbreviations have no full stops, and every footnote finishes with a full stop.
The 5th edition appeared in March 2026. According to Oxford's summary of changes, the formats for UK cases, Acts, books and journal articles are unchanged, so the citations here are right for either edition. The main change is that ibid is dropped: a repeat citation now uses a short form plus the number of the footnote that holds the full citation.
Cases and legislation
Write the case name in italics, then any neutral citation, then the best report. For example, Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884. Neutral citations began in 2001, and OSCOLA 5 says not to use ones that were added later to older cases. If there is no neutral citation, put the court in brackets after the report: [1932] AC 562 (HL).
Cite an Act by its short title and year, not in italics and with no comma before the year: Human Rights Act 1998. Point to a section after a comma, as in Human Rights Act 1998, s 15(1)(b).
Tables and bibliography
Longer pieces usually open with a table of cases and a table of legislation, followed by the bibliography. Case names are not italicised in the table. The bibliography covers secondary sources like books and articles, with the surname first and initials written without full stops.
The generator sorts your sources into these sections for you. Check your module handbook as well, because some law schools want only a bibliography for short essays. Our guide to avoiding plagiarism covers paraphrasing judgments and commentary.
OSCOLA examples
Footnotes and list entries made with the generator. The case and statute examples follow the forms given in the OSCOLA guide.
Case with a neutral citation
Bibliography entry
Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884
Footnote
Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884 [27].
Case without a neutral citation
Bibliography entry
Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL)
Footnote
Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL).
UK Act of Parliament
Bibliography entry
Human Rights Act 1998
Footnote
Human Rights Act 1998, s 15(1)(b).
Book
Bibliography entry
Jackson LM, The Psychology of Prejudice: From Attitudes to Social Action (2nd edn, American Psychological Association 2019)
Footnote
Lynne M Jackson, The Psychology of Prejudice: From Attitudes to Social Action (2nd edn, American Psychological Association 2019) 45.
Journal article
Bibliography entry
Grady JS and others, ‘Emotions in Storybooks: A Comparison of Storybooks That Represent Ethnic and Racial Groups in the United States’ (2019) 8 Psychology of Popular Media Culture 207
Footnote
Jessica Stoltzfus Grady and others, ‘Emotions in Storybooks: A Comparison of Storybooks That Represent Ethnic and Racial Groups in the United States’ (2019) 8 Psychology of Popular Media Culture 207, 210.
Web page
Bibliography entry
Bologna C, ‘Why Some People with Anxiety Love Watching Horror Movies’ (HuffPost, 31 October 2019) <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e> accessed 27 October 2026
Footnote
Caroline Bologna, ‘Why Some People with Anxiety Love Watching Horror Movies’ (HuffPost, 31 October 2019) <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e> accessed 27 October 2026.
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