This page will help you get more out of your Library resources for your assignments, projects, dissertations, and theses in Criminology.

REMINDER: Download the University VPN system to access these resources while you're studying off campus.

Book an Appointment

If you would like to book a one-to-one online session with Mystery, please have a look at this calendar, find an appointment that works best for you, click on the time, and save this to your calendar. This will prevent anyone else from taking that appointment.

If you would like to book a one-to-one session with Sharon, please email sharon.bittner@port.ac.uk.

Getting Started: Researching and Referencing

If this is your first time referencing with OSCOLA, go through these resources in order:

Step 1 - Read Section 1 General notes of the official OSCOLA guide (this will introduce you to the very basics)

Step 2 - Watch the Referencing Tips & OSCOLA video (this provides more visual instruction) 

Step 3 - Watch all five of the OSCOLA videos (these are the most common resources you will be working with)

Step 4 - Look at the referencing examples (these show you how your assignments should be formatted)

Step 5 - Set up an appointment with the Academic Skills Tutors (they will help you improve your legal writing)

Step 6 - Book an appointment with your law librarians (they will answer all of your referencing and research questions!)

 

Warning: do NOT use reference generators as these are NOT OSCOLA compliant and you will lose marks.

If this is your first time referencing with APA 7, go through these resources in order:

Step 1 - Watch the Referencing Tips video (this will provide the foundation for a good referencing routine)

Step 2 - Go through the Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style interactive webpage (explains the fundamentals)

Step 3 - Look at the Sample APA 7 Essay (Annotated) (this demonstrates how your essays should be formatted)

Step 4 - Explore Ref@P (this is the official university-wide guidance for referencing)

Step 5 - Explore Gordon's SCCJ Learning Development Hub and set up an appointment with Gordon (he will help you improve your writing style and flow)

Step 6 - Book an appointment with your librarians (they will answer all of your referencing and research questions!)

 

Warning: do NOT use reference generators as these are NOT APA 7 compliant and you will lose marks.

 

Now that you are in university, your lecturers are expecting you to use academic/scholarly resources. This means that you will need to learn how to use the library resources effectively as relying on Google will not get you a decent grade. Work through the following steps to become acquainted with our resources:

Step 1 - Watch the Doing a Literature Search video (shows you how to break down your research question and teaches you advanced search techniques that can be applied in the legal databases and the Library's Discovery Service)

Step 2 - Watch the The New Discovery Service video (this is KEY for successful research at the university level)

Step 3 - Watch all four of the Finding Resources in Lexis and Westlaw videos (you will have to utilise both legal databases in for your work)

Step 4 - Book an appointment with your librarians so you can ask questions, gain clarity on certain resources, and receive feedback

PLEASE NOTE: These are assignment calculators offered by other universities. They may offer materials that are unavailable at UoP. Please get in touch with Mystery or Sharon for support.

Falmouth University & University of Exeter Assignment Calculator

Studiosity’s Assignment Calculator

University College Cork Assignment Calculator

University of Minnesota Libraries Assignment Calculator

OSCOLA Referencing (LAW ONLY)

The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is designed to help the author to achieve consistency and to make life easier for the reader.

Referencing Tips & OSCOLA (video)
This video will cover referencing tips for students at any level. It will also show students where to go to find more help with referencing.

OSCOLA FAQ
Includes updates for changes to citation of EU and retained EU Legislation following Brexit and other changes to citation of EU cases and legislation. Also provides examples for:

  • A source cited in a secondary source
  • A judgment citing another judgment
  • eBooks
  • Book reviews
  • Radio programmes
  • Speeches
  • Dictionaries
  • Podcasts, YouTube etc

Note: The suggestions on this page have not yet been discussed and approved by the OSCOLA editorial board.

Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
This database allows you to search for the meaning of abbreviations for English language legal publications, from the British Isles, the Commonwealth and the United States, including those covering international and comparative law.

(pdf file 268 kb)

 

Use this hierarchy to determine the best law report.

 

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Citing Primary Sources - Statutes (video)

Includes information about pinpointing certain sections, section abbreviations, and where to find this information in the document.

Citing Primary Sources - Cases (video)
Includes information about reported and unreported cases, the legal report hierarchy, the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations, cases with and without a neutral citation, when to use [square] or (round) brackets, how to find law reports in a legal database, and citing judges.

Citing Secondary Sources - Books (video)
Includes information about whole books, books with one author/editor, books with more than one author/editor, corporate authors, no authors, and book chapters.

Citing Secondary Sources - Journal Articles (video)
Includes information about articles with one or more author, using [square] or (round) brackets, using the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations to abbreviate journal titles (when necessary), and referencing online journal articles.

Citing Secondary Sources – Webpages and Blogs (video)
Includes information about citing websites with different types of authors or no authors and citing blogs with authors or no authors.

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Academic Skills Tutors

Our Academic Skills Tutors can help you in any area related to your academic writing and study skills.
Business and Law students only

 

The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (SCCJ) students please get in touch with the Learning Support Tutors.

APA 7 Referencing (LAW WITH BUS, CRIM, OR IR)

If you are taking modules from the Business School or the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, you will need to use APA 7 and NOT OSCOLA. Please confirm with your tutor which citation style you need to follow BEFORE you start writing. APA 7 and OSCOLA are two, very different referencing styles and it is very easy to become confused with both. Please contact Mystery or Sharon early on to get help before you start researching/writing.

Referencing Tips (video)
This video will cover referencing tips for students at any level. It will also show students where to go to find more help with referencing.

Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style (interactive webpage)
By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to understand and implement the following basic elements of APA Style: paper elements, format, and organization academic writing style grammar and usage bias-free language guidelines mechanics of style tables and figures in-text citations, paraphrasing, and quotations reference list format and order.

(pdf file 1.22 mb)

The annotations draw attention to relevant content and formatting. All references to specific sections of the APA 7 guide can be found for free on Ref@P.

Abbreviations Guide

Avoiding Plagiarism
There are two common types of plagiarism: (a) improper use of someone else’s words and (b) improper use of someone else’s ideas. Both forms of plagiarism involve using someone else’s words or ideas without appropriately acknowledging the author or source.

Creating an APA Style Reference List Guide
The reference list contains all the works you cited in the text of your paper. Use this checklist to make sure you have all the required information and necessary formatting.

In-Text Citations
Complete the following checklist for each sentence in your paper that relies on another source. Remember to cite all ideas, findings, results, or other information that is not your own and is not common knowledge.

Numbers and Statistics Guide

Six Steps to Proper Citation Infographic
Use this infographic to follow steps to developing good citations for your essay.

Introductory Library Videos

The New Discovery Interface
Get ready to uncover how to use the new Discovery Service from the Library. Here you’ll see a brief overview of how the new interface looks and how you can use it for your research.

Doing a Literature Search
This video covers the five steps of the literature search process. The video also covers some search techniques and recommends other videos for further viewing.

Commercial Awareness
A quick video going over the basics of how to stay relevant in your chosen sector.

Effective Reading
When and how you should skim, scan, and read in depth. Useful techniques for research and weekly readings.

Introduction to Librarians, Library Website, and Law Subject Pages 
Introduces the subject librarians, the key features of the library's website, as well as how to find the subject pages.

Reading Lists 
Covers everything related to your reading list, including how to access lists via Moodle and the library website and what to do if you're using the VPN or not using the VPN.

Referencing Tips & OSCOLA
This in depth video provides information on OSCOLA referencing. Topics include: referencing tips, recommended reading, OSCOLA tools, footnotes, bibliographies, pinpointing, and repeating citations.

Please see the OSCOLA Videos section of the Law Subject Page for additional videos.

How to Find Cases in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find UK cases using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find Commentary in Lexis and Westlaw
Mentions the different kinds of commentary, demonstrates how to find commentary using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find Journals and Journal Articles in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find journals and journal articles using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find UK Statutes in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find UK statutes using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

Databases

Introduction to Legal Databases (video)
This quick video will describe what legal databases are available from the library and where to access the legal databases. The video will also discuss why it's important to become familiar with and utilise all of the legal databases.

  • HeinOnline

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    A collection of various legal sources. Useful for law, international relations, political and historical studies but with strong American bias although it does include the English Reports, covering important cases reported before the Official Law Reports started in 1865 and Statutes of the Realm 1235-1713

  • Lexis+ UK

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Primary and secondary legal resources, plus UK newspapers.

    Additional access instructions:

    For use in the UK only

  • Westlaw

    Primary and secondary legal resources plus EU materials.

  • Business Source Complete

    Fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Academic peer-reviewed journal articles, professional publications and more across all business topics. 

    Advanced options in Business Source Complete video

  • Mintel Reports and Mintel Trends

    Detailed market research reports on a range of UK sectors including: automotive; beauty and personal care; lifestyles; drink, food and foodservice; health and wellbeing; leisure; media; technology; and travel. Also includes access to Mintel Trends which provides evidence-backed insights on how today's consumer thinks, feels and acts.

    Video support:
    1. Using Mintel Reports
    2. Using the Interactive Databook
  • OECD Economic Outlook

  • S&P Capital IQ Pro

    The new interface for S&P (previously known as Market Intelligence/SNL Unlimited) includes most Capital IQ (standard) financial data, as well as banking information, news and analytics and information on millions of private companies. 

    To access:
    1. Ensure third party cookies are enabled in your browser and sign in with your university username and password.
    2. If you cannot see the login screen and get an error message, please check this FAQ.
  • Statista: the portal for statistics

    Access to more than a million statistics from many different sources. Useful for finding industrial, economic and consumer market statistical trends.

  • British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material.

  • CanLII

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Canadian Legal Information Institute. What will you find on CanLII: legal cases, legislation, and commentary.

  • EUR-Lex

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The online gateway to EU Law. It provides the official and most comprehensive access to EU legal documents including treaties, legal acts from EU institutions, preparatory documents related to EU legislation, EU case-law, international agreements, and EFTA documents.

  • Find Case Law

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The National Archives service provides public access to Court Judgments and Tribunal decisions.

  • HUDOC

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    European Court of Human Rights Case Law.

  • ICLR

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Cover cases decided by the following courts and tribunals: The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, The Court of Justice of the European Union, The Court of Appeal (Civil Division), The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), The Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court (including the Divisional Court), The Chancery Division of the High Court, The Family Division of the High Court, The Court of Protection, The Employment Appeal Tribunal, The Upper Tribunal, The Court Martial Appeal Court, The Consistory Court, The Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved, The Chancery Court of York

  • UK Parliament Hansard

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The official report of all parliamentary debates.

  • World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Cases and journal articles from international jurisdictions.

  • ZETOC

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Zetoc is a database of the tables of contents from journals held by the British Library. It has a search function or you can select any journal held by the BL and have the table of contents emailed to you as soon as a new issue is published.

How to Find Cases in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find UK cases using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find Commentary in Lexis and Westlaw
Mentions the different kinds of commentary, demonstrates how to find commentary using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find Journals and Journal Articles in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find journals and journal articles using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

How to Find UK Statutes in Lexis and Westlaw
Demonstrates how to find UK statutes using the two legal databases, how to locate permalinks, and also provides some referencing information.

You can maximise your legal research by becoming certified with the top legal databases (see below). Having these credentials always looks good on a resume!

Lexis

Westlaw UK

Reliable Legal Resources

  • Transcripts of Judicial Proceedings in England and Wales: A Guide to Sources

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

  • UK Parliament Hansard

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The official report of all parliamentary debates.

When researching newspapers, use the Media Bias/Fact Check website to ensure you are consulting factual and credible sources.

  • PressReader

    PressReader lets you access UK and international newspapers, plus a wide range of magazine content. Everything is full colour with archives varying in length depending on the publication.

    Login guidance

  • Gov.uk - Official Documents

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Command and act papers from the UK Government.

  • Law Commission

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The statutory independent body to keep the law of England and Wales under review and to recommend reform where it is needed.

  • UK Parliament

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The supreme legislative body for the UK, British Crown Dependiencies, and British Overseas Territories.

  • UK Parliament Hansard

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The official report of all parliamentary debates.

  • UK Parliament Committee Reports

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Committees consider policy issues, scrutinise government work, expenditure, and examine proposals for primary and secondary legislation.

  • Office for National Statistics

    The UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics. Responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional, and local levels.

  • British Crime Survey Datasets

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Data from a number of years which you can download and manipulate into graphs etc.

  • Crime Survey for England and Wales

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The latest incarnation of the above

  • UK National Statistics: Publication Hub

    Fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Official statistics from the UK Government.

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Australia’s national statistical agency. An official source of independent, reliable information.

  • Data.Gov

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The home of the U.S. Government’s open data.

  • Bureau of Justice Statistics

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The United States' primary source for criminal justice statistics. The mission of BJS is to collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.

  • Central Statistics Office

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Ireland's national statistical office and our purpose is to impartially collect, analyse and make available statistics about Ireland’s people, society and economy.

  • Statistics Canada 

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The agency ensures Canadians have the key information on Canada's economy, society and environment that they require to function effectively as citizens and decision makers.

  • Crown Prosecution Service

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    non-ministerial body responsible for criminal prosecutions.

  • Home Office

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    ministerial department responsible for immigration, security, and law and order.

  • Joint Committee on Human Rights

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    a Parliamentary Select Committee with remit to consider human rights issues in the UK.

  • Ministry of Justice

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    ministerial department responsible for areas of constitutional policy, human rights law and information rights law.

  • UK Parliament

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The supreme legislative body for the UK, British Crown Dependiencies, and British Overseas Territories.

Council of Europe

  • Council of Europe

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The Council of Europe is the continent's leading human rights organisation. It includes 47 member states, 27 of which are members of the European Union.

  • Council of Europe - Treaties

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Complete list of the Council of Europe's treaties.

Part of the Council of Europe, which is a different legal system to that of European Union.

Part of the Council of Europe, which is a different legal system to that of European Union.

  • European Court of Human Rights

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Official website.

  • European Court of Human Rights (via BAILII)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    European Court of Human Rights Case Law.

  • HUDOC

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    European Court of Human Rights Case Law.

  • Lexis+ UK

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Primary and secondary legal resources, plus UK newspapers.

    Additional access instructions:

    For use in the UK only

  • Westlaw

    Primary and secondary legal resources plus EU materials.

European Union

Not part of the Council of Europe.

  • British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material.

  • Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Official website. Includes case law.

  • EUR-Lex

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The online gateway to EU Law. It provides the official and most comprehensive access to EU legal documents including treaties, legal acts from EU institutions, preparatory documents related to EU legislation, EU case-law, international agreements, and EFTA documents.

  • Lexis+ UK

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Primary and secondary legal resources, plus UK newspapers.

    Additional access instructions:

    For use in the UK only

  • Westlaw

    Primary and secondary legal resources plus EU materials.

Dissertations and Theses

  • British Library EthOS

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    A database of digitised UK doctoral theses offering free online access to theses of participating Higher Education institutions.

  • DART

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Europe E-theses Portal.

  • Portsmouth Law School Theses

    Fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

  • Student Theses

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    PhD level theses, including Prof Docs and MPhils, written by Portsmouth students, printed copies - 2013 and earlier.

  • Theses Canada

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Library and Archives Canada database.

  • Trove

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    National Library of Australia’s Trove database.

Open Access Legal Resources

  • CORE

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The world’s largest aggregator of open access research papers from repositories and journals.

  • Digital Commons Network

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Brings together free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide.

  • Directory of Open Access Books

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    A community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers.

  • Directory of Open Access Journals

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The Directory of Open Access Journals covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals, covering all subjects and languages

  • The Open Library of Humanities

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Publishes some of the most dynamic research in humanities disciplines today: from classics, modern languages and cultures, philosophy, theology and history, to political theory, sociology, anthropology, film and new media studies, and digital humanities.

  • OpenDOAR

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Browse through thousands of registered repositories based on a range of features.

  • Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Australia's online free-access resource for Australian legal information. AustLII maintains its own collections of primary materials: legislation and court judgments ("case law") and secondary materials: commentaries and summaries on the law.

  • The Federal Register of Legislation (the Legislation Register)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The authorised whole-of-government website for Commonwealth legislation and related documents. It contains the full text and details of the lifecycle of individual laws and the relationships between them.

  • Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Provides access to court judgments from all Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, federal courts, and the courts in all Canada’s provinces and territories.

  • Justice Laws

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The online source of the consolidated Acts and regulations of Canada.

  • CURIA

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Transcripts of case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union and General Court of the European Union.

  • EUR-Lex

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The online gateway to EU Law. It provides the official and most comprehensive access to EU legal documents including treaties, legal acts from EU institutions, preparatory documents related to EU legislation, EU case-law, international agreements, and EFTA documents.

  • HUDOC

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    European Court of Human Rights Case Law.

  • British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material.

  • Find Case Law

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    The National Archives service provides public access to Court Judgments and Tribunal decisions.

  • ICLR

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Cover cases decided by the following courts and tribunals: The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, The Court of Justice of the European Union, The Court of Appeal (Civil Division), The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), The Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court (including the Divisional Court), The Chancery Division of the High Court, The Family Division of the High Court, The Court of Protection, The Employment Appeal Tribunal, The Upper Tribunal, The Court Martial Appeal Court, The Consistory Court, The Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved, The Chancery Court of York

  • Legislation.gov.uk

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Carries most (but not all) types of UK legislation and their accompanying explanatory documents.

  • Scottish Courts and Tribunals

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Use the searches to find written opinions for individual cases from: High Court, Court of Session, Fatal Accident Inquiries, Sheriff Court, Sheriff Appeal Court - Criminal, Sheriff Appeal Court - Civil, All-Scotland Personal Injury Court.

  • GovInfo

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Provides public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

  • Justia

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Includes an extensive database of federal cases.

  • Legal Information Institute (LII)

    Not fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

    Provides open access to legal materials. Resources include: annotated version of the constitution, federal statutes, Supreme Court decisions, CFR, and more.