What if a case has multiple law report citations on Westlaw?
Westlaw usually lists law report citations in order of hierarchy, with more authoritative citations at the top of the list. There is a hierarchy of law reports and you should choose the most authoritative one. More information is in the 'Cases' sub-page of the 'OSCOLA Referencing' page in this LibGuide.
What punctuation does OSCOLA require? (section 1.3 in OSCOLA Guide)
OSCOLA has rules for punctuation. Look at the formatting examples throughout this LibGuide for punctuation guidance for particular kinds of sources – don’t try to guess!
OSCOLA uses as little punctuation as possible.
No full stops after abbreviations and initials in authors’ names (e.g. Appeal Cases is ‘AC’, John Smith in a bibliography is ‘Smith J’).
Use commas to separate runs of numbers, authors, or titles, to avoid confusion.
Quotations:
use single quotation marks (‘…’).
Punctuation follows the closing quotation mark, unless it is an essential part of the quotation.
The footnote marker comes last, after both the closing quotation mark and the punctuation:
Example: The librarian said 'referencing is important'.⁶
What if my bibliography includes multiple works by the same author?
OSCOLA 1.7 Bibliographies (pp.11-12) says, 'If citing several works by the same author in a bibliography, list the author’s works in chronological order (starting with the oldest), and in alphabetical order of first major word of the title within a single year. After the citation of the first work, replace the 12 author’s name with a double em-dash. Alphabetize works by more than one author under the first author’s name, but place them after that author’s sole-authored works. If a first author has more than one co-author, arrange the co-authored works in alphabetical order of co-author surname, and if you are citing more than one work by the same first author and co-author, arrange the works in chronological order, repeating the co-author’s name each time.
Hart HLA, Law, Liberty and Morality (OUP 1963)
— — ‘Varieties of Responsibility’ (1967) 83 LQR 346
— — Punishment and Responsibility (OUP 1968)
— — and Honoré AM, ‘Causation in the Law’ (1956) 72 LQR 58, 260, 398
— — and Honoré AM, Causation in the Law (2nd edn, OUP 1985)'
Can I use AI or other referencing tools to help me?
Referencing tools online are not always 100% accurate. You cannot trust ChatGPT to give you accurate OSCOLA references. In fact, AI tools including ChatGPT often create fake references that do not exist!
If you intend to re-produce a reference provided by an AI tool in your own work, you MUST check it exists and that the reference is accurate.
If you're unsure how to cite something, then try looking through this LibGuide, the general OSCOLA guide, OSCOLA international law supplement, or ask your subject librarian (Naomi Hart, nh64@soas.ac.uk)
In its AI guidance, SOAS says: 'Used in the right way, generative AI can support students’ learning and development. At its worst, if abused, AI has the potential to devalue our degrees and detract students from the learning gained through their assessments.' The University’s guidance presents students with a list of dos and don’ts, covering good practice for using AI in learning and preparing for written assessments.
Please click here for a PDF of the SOAS guide: SOAS recommendations for students on use of Generative AI (e.g., Open AI’s ‘Chat GPT’)
Click here for SOAS Guidance on Acknowledging and Referencing Generative AI (Artificial Intelligence)
I’m stuck, please help!
Contact your Subject Librarian with any questions, Naomi Hart: nh64@soas.ac.uk
There are no silly questions and no question is too small or too big.