Print article footnote format:
Author, 'Title of article' (Year) Volume number (Issue number if applicable) Journal name or abbreviation First page of article, Page pinpoint.
Print article footnote example:
Amani Young, ‘Why Law Libraries Matter’ (2025) 72 MLR 365, 467.
Print article bibliography format:
Author surname Initial, ‘Title of article’ (Year) Volume number (Issue number if applicable) Journal name or abbreviation First page of article
Print article bibliography example:
Young A, ‘Why Law Libraries Matter’ (2025) 72 MLR 365
Sometimes journal articles are only available online, in which case you need to include the URL.
Note about brackets around years: use square brackets if there is no volume number; use round brackets if there is a separate volume number.
Author, 'Title of article' [Year] OR (Year) Volume number (Issue number if applicable) Journal name or abbreviation <Web address> accessed date.
Amani Young, ‘Why Law Libraries Matter’ (2025) 72(1) MLR <http://mlr.org/libraries_matter> accessed 4 April 2025.
Author surname Initial, 'Title of article' [Year] OR (Year) Volume number (Issue number if applicable) Journal name or abbreviation <Web address> accessed date
Young A, ‘Why Law Libraries Matter’ (2025) 72(1) MLR <http://mlr.org/libraries_matter> accessed 4 April 2025
Tips:
Only include an issue number if the page numbers begin again for each issue within a volume.
Note about brackets around years: use square brackets if there is no volume number; use round brackets if there is a separate volume number.
Example: Author, 'Title' [Year] Journal name or abbreviation First page of article
For footnotes, if there is a pinpoint, put a comma after the first page of the article, and then the pinpoint:
Example: Amani Young, ‘Why Law Libraries Matter’ (2025) 72 MLR 365, 467.
Use the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations to search abbreviations for English language legal publications, from the British Isles, the Commonwealth and the United States.
Be consistent about whether you are abbreviating journal names in your text and references.
At the start of your essay, you can include a list of your own unusual abbreviations for journals that are not included in the Cardiff Index, and this does not count towards your word count.