Writing Guidance

Footnotes are NOT normally included in the word count of a piece of work at the University of Portsmouth. However, footnotes are used primarily to give details of sources you have referenced. If you feel it necessary to add clarification or further information in a footnote, you may do so but your lecturer may ignore additional information included in a footnote if they think the added information belongs in the main body of the text and is being used to reduce your word count.

Italics are

• used for the titles of cases in the text of your essay and in footnotes, but NOT in a table of cases or in the case list in the bibliography.
• always used for the titles of books and similar publications (i.e. those with ISBNs) in the text of your essay, footnotes, and the bibliography.
• used for journal titles and serial publications (e.g. law report series (i.e. those with ISSNs)) if they are written in full in the text of your essay, footnotes, and the bibliography, but not if they are abbreviated.
• used for the titles of overarching websites (e.g. blog titles, company websites, etc.) but not for individual webpages.
• used for foreign words or phrases in the text of your essay, but NOT for ibid.
• ARE NOT used for the titles of statutes, statutory instruments, less formal publications with no commercial publisher or ISBN, or for individual web pages.  In the latter two cases, the title is indicated by enclosing it in single quotation marks.

Punctuation in footnotes and the bibliography is used only to avoid confusion.

A full stop is used at the end of each footnote. A question mark or exclamation mark may also occasionally be used at the end of a footnote.

Do not use full stops in abbreviations (QB not Q.B. for Queen's Bench), after the author's initials (DB Smith not D.B. smith) or after the "v" between two parties in a case.

Single inverted commas are used to frame the title of a journal article or report.

A comma is used to separate items that might otherwise run together such as between the author and title, between the publisher and place of publication, between the neutral citation and next best case citation, and between page numbers.

A colon separates a title from the subtitle.

A semi-colon is used between several citations in a single footnote.

Footnote example:
Secretary of State for the Home Department v E [2007] UKHL 47, [2008] 1 All ER 699 (HL) 702; SJ Fredman, 'Equality: A New Generation?' [2001] ILJ 145, 158.

Bibliography example:
Secretary of State for the Home Department v E [2007] UKHL 47, [2008] 1 All ER 699 (HL) 702

Fredman SJ, 'Equality: A New Generation?' [2001] ILJ 145

For the footnote, consult the guidance for the style which applies to the original source of the quotation.

The quotation itself must be an exact copy of the original source material unless you need to adjust the use of quotation marks within the extract for clarity. Do not change errors in the original or use [sic]. Comments on the quotation can be made in text or in the footnote as appropriate.

Short quotations (three lines or less)

Quotations of three lines or less are incorporated in the text and should be enclosed within single quotation marks. Quotes within short quotations take double quotation marks, e.g.

Lord Goff suggested 'Power cannot provide an independent justification for transferring shares into the names of the representatives of the creditors. It is exercisable when "the name of any person is, without sufficient cause, entered in or omitted from the register'''.

Incorporate the quotation in the main text of your work within single quotation marks. Any quotation within the extract should then be included in double quotation marks. Punctuation within the extract remains as in the original but you should add your own punctuation if required at the end of the extract outside of the quotation marks. The footnote marker comes last, after both the closing quotation mark and the punctuation. If a quotation is incorporated into the text, then no more than a comma (at most) is needed to introduce it.

Long quotations (more than three lines)

Longer quotations are indented from both the left and right and are single-spaced without quotation marks. Quotes within long quotations take single quotation marks. Generally, use a colon to introduce a long quotation. However, when the lead-in moves seamlessly into the quoted material a comma or no punctuation may be preferable. Begin with an ellipsis (three dots) when a quotation starts mid-sentence, and to indicate anything you have left out, e.g.

Swift J commented on this when dealing with

…well established exceptions to the general rule that an act likely or intended to cause bodily harm is an unlawful act. One of them is dealt with by Sir Michael Foster in the chapter just cited [i.e. Foster's Crown Cases, 3rd ed., p.259]…The learned author at p.260 emphasises two points about such contests: (1) that bodily harm is not the motive on either side, and (2) that they are ‘manly diversions, they intend to give strength, skill and activity, and may fit people for defence, public as well as personal, in time of need.’ For these reasons, he says that he cannot call these exercises unlawful.

Long quotations should be indented as a single spaced paragraph within your text with no further indention of the first line. Do not use quotation marks except for single quotation marks around quotations within the extract. Leave a line space either side of the indented quotation.

When the quotation begins at the start of a sentence, the first letter should be capitalised, and square brackets placed around it if it was not capitalised in the original text. When the quotation starts mid-sentence, the first letter of the quotation should only be captitalised if the quotation itself is a complete sentence. Indicate any omissions of text in the quotation with an ellipsis (...) Leave a space between an ellipsis and any text or punctuation, except quotation marks. A colon can be used to introduce an indented quotation.

If you want to cite a secondary source in your quotation, omit the footnote marker from the original text in your quotation and give the original author's citation in your footnote. If it is not necessary to attribute such a quotation to the original source because it is implicit or irrelevant, omit the footnote marker and add (footnote omitted) after the footnote. If you want to add emphasis to a quotation put (emphasis added) after the footnote.

Punctuation follows the closing quotation mark, unless it is part of the quotation. The footnote marker comes last, after the punctuation.

Depending on the source of the quotation, either list as a primary source under Cases or Legislation, or list as a secondary source under Secondary Sources alphabetically, by author's last name.

Reference: Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, OSCOLA: Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (4th edn Oxford University 2010) 8-9.

Suggestion re sources cited in a secondary source on this page are modelled on the FAQs on the OSCOLA website but have not yet been discussed and approved by the OSCOLA editorial board.

Academic best practice dictates you should always try to read any source in the original rather than someone else's interpretation.  Never cite the original if you did not use the original source.

If it is not possible to read the original, link the source you have not read to the source you have read by using "as cited in".  The pinpoint page at the end refers to the page you have read, not the pinpoint page in the original source.

For examples, see below.

Cases

You should make every effort to locate and read primary sources by using Justis One, Lexis, Westlaw, or other legal database/resource such as Worldlii.  If a case is citing another case, cite the first case followed by 'citing' and then cite the second case.

Case footnote example:

¹ SG&R Valuation Service Co LLC v Boudrais et al [2008] EWHC 1340, [2008] IRLR 770 [22] citing Miles v Wakefield Metropolitan Borough Council [1987] AC 539.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources footnote examples (footnote format will depend upon the type of source used):

² Art. 14(1) and (2) Harvard Draft Convention on Piracy (as cited in A Petrig and R Geiss, Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea: The Legal Framework for Counter-Piracy Operations in Somalia and the Gulf of Aden (OUP 2011) 140).

³ Quoted in WL Clay, The Prison Chaplain: A Memoir of the Reverend John Clay (London 1861) 554 (as cited in M Wiener, Reconstructing the Criminal Culture, Law and Policy in England 1830–1914 (CUP 1990) 79).

Reference: Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, OSCOLA: Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (4th edn Oxford University 2010) 35.
 

You must reference anything you use which is not your own work in order to avoid being accused of plagiarism. However, you will find that many departments at the University of Portsmouth do not allow you to use lecture notes as a source for your essays. When writing your essay, you should use the reading list and any slides, notes, etc. which your lecturer has given you and turn to the sources listed in these. If your lecturer has not indicated where they obtained the information you want to use, ask your lecturer for the source details.

Referencing your own coursework in a reflective essay is not covered as such in OSCOLA. The closest parallel is the citation of personal communications which are unpublished and non-recoverable, unless supplied as appendices to the document submitted.

When citing personal communications such as written work, feedback, emails or letters, name the author and the recipient and include the date. If you are the author or recipient of the communication, use "from or to author".

For example 

• Letter from Gordon Brown to Lady Ashton (20 November 2009)
• Email from Amazon.co.uk to author (16 December 2008)
• Written feedback on first level 1 assignment  received by author from Cheryl Buck (16 February 2016)
• Second level 1 assignment by author (15 April 2016)

Personal communication which is non-recoverable may be added as an appendix. Appendices can include survey results, transcripts of interviews or the text of unpublished correspondence. Give your appendix a title and if you have a large number of appendices you might also label them with a number or letter to clarify the order. A lengthy appendix may have sequenced pagination to allow pinpoint referencing. It is then possible to footnote to a precise place in the appendix.

This is a specific courtesy to your reader in providing adequate evidence for the subject matter of your reflection. In the case of a reflective essay you are asked to provide a list of appendices referred to in your bibliography, omitting any pinpoint reference. 

Reviewed and approved by the University of Portsmouth School of Law, May 2021.