About the Bibliography

Separate the bibliography into sections by type of source:  Books, Journal articles, Websites, and Other secondary sources.  Then order the items into alphabetical order by title or author(s) surnames.  There is a sample bibliography here:  https://library.port.ac.uk/subfiles/file2499.pdf

If a work does not have an identified personal or corporate author(s), use a double em dash for the author’s position.  List these unattributed items in alphabetical order by the first word in the title at the beginning of the bibliography.  List named author(s) works afterwards in alphabetical order by the first author’s surname/corporate name. 

If there are multiple items by the exact same author(s) in the same order, use a double em dash for the author(s) position when listing the subsequent items.  List items in chronological order. 

• Keep a careful note of all sources used as you prepare your assignments.  Make sure to capture permalinks or doi numbers for electronic resources.
• Record all the details for library books (including page numbers for quotations) before returning it as the book may be unavailable later.
• Write down the source details on any photocopies you make and that the copies are properly aligned so page numbers and headings are clearly visible.
• Print or save details of any webpage you want to refer to (your tutor may ask to see this) and record the date when you accessed it.

For details pertaining to particular types of sources, see below.

Primary Sources

• Legal databases such as Westlaw and Lexis Library will usually list a number of citations. Use the most authoritative citations listed. Include any neutral citation (which will start either UK or EW) if given.  
• Remove any full stops in an abbreviation.
• Use the Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations to decipher journal abbreviations or to find the abbreviation for a particular journal.

Books

• Bibliographic details for a book are found on the front and back of the title page. Ignore reprint dates. Use the copyright date for whichever edition you are using. Do not include previous edition copyright dates.
• Use only the publisher name, not the printer or typesetter.
• The place of publication should be a town or a city, not a county or country. If in the UK, use just the town or city. If in the USA, add the two letter state code if confusion could arise e.g. Cambridge MA for Harvard University Press. If more than one place of publication is listed, use the first one.
• The library catalogue gives the place of publication and publisher's name.
• If you no longer have the book, try and retrace your search. If you borrowed the book via the library, look at your loan history under My Account in the library catalogue and check basic details. If it is something you read in the library check the catalogue for details. If you obtained the book from another source, Library Hub Discover https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk is good for verifying bibliographical details.

Journal articles

• Bibliographic details for journal articles are usually found on pages which contain the article, but you can also check the contents list or front cover of the journal issue. Legal databases such Lexis Library and Westlaw usually give you the correct abbreviation for a journal title. Use the Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations to identify the preferred abbreviation for journals. Remove full stops used to indicate abbreviations.

Electronic sources

• Record all details (including any urls, permalinks or doi numbers) at the time of viewing. 
• Access electronic sources again directly by using urls, permalinks, or doi numbers; retrace your research steps through the relevant database, e-book collection, etc.

Films/Videos/DVD

• Bibliographic details can be more difficult to identify, but examine the original item for creator information.
• Information on feature films and television programmes can be found on IMDB (Internet Movie Database).
• If you are tracking a specific DVD edition of a film to identify extras you may find the merchandising link useful.

Television and Radio programmes or recordings

• Bibliographic details can be more difficult to identify, so try and capture as much information as possible at the time of viewing.
• Television and radio channels may publish some information on their websites.
• Finding details of these after the broadcast can be difficult. The best source of information is TRILT (Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching) which gives details of television and radio programmes schedules from 2001 onwards for over 330 different channels plus a substantial selection of terrestrial television programmes back to 1995. However, this may not give you responsibility data.
• A general web search with what details you do have, may help track down a source for details.

Capitalise significant words in the title, as on the title page of the original. For legislation, capitalise all the significant words in the title of the bill, act, or statutory instrument.  Minor words such as the, for, and, or, etc. do not have capitals unless they appear at the start of the title or subtitle.

List the works chronological order.

If there are multiple works by the same author for the same year, alphabetise the titles by the first main word of the title (excluding the word The).
The second and subsequent works are listed beneath the first with a double em dash instead of the author's name.

There are multiple ways of creating a double em dash:

• Use the Symbol options. While no symbol directly matches what is shown in the OSCOLA manual, insert two of the symbols with a space in between them.
• The em dash can be created on the PC or laptop by holding down the ALT key and typing 0151 on the numeric keypad with Number Lock turned on. Only the numbers on the right hand keypad do this, not the numbers above the letters. 
• Type the following: 2e3a then without pressing the space bar, simultaneously press the ALT key and the X key.  Then hit the space bar.
• On Mac operating systems, press Shift-Option and the minus key to make en em-dash.

Footnotes

Author names in footnotes are given with initials or first names, followed by the surname. For example:

TA Baker

1-3 authors
For up to three authors, separate the names with commas, and add the word and before the last author’s name. For example:

TA Baker, John Hart and AFK Davis

4 and more authors
For four or more authors, give the first author’s name followed by and others. For example:

TA Baker and others

No author

If no personal author is given, check to see if any corporate body has acted as publisher or claimed editorial responsibility, and use that as an author, e.g. Ministry of Justice, Department for Constitutional Affairs, etc. If you can find no person or body acting as author, and you are convinced your source is an authoritative one for your purposes, begin the footnote with the title.

Bibliography
 

In the bibliography, only initials should be used, no forenames/given names. The author's surname/family name should precede the initial(s), with no comma separating them, but a comma after the initial(s).

Footnote

⁸ Doreen J McBarnet, Conviction: Law, the State and the Construction of Justice (Oxford socio-legal studies, Macmillan 1981) 67.

Bibliography

McBarnet DJ, Conviction: Law, the State and the Construction of Justice (Oxford socio-legal studies, Macmillan 1981)

If you are citing several works by the same author in your bibliography, list the author's works in chronological order (starting with the oldest), and if from the same year alphabetise on the first major word of the title. After the citation of the first work, replace the author's name with two joined em dashes --. 

Example

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)

There are multiple ways of creating a double em dash:

• Use the Symbol options. While no symbol directly matches what is shown in the OSCOLA manual, insert two of the symbols with a space in between them.
• The em dash can be created on the PC or laptop by holding down the ALT key and typing 0151 on the numeric keypad with Number Lock turned on. Only the numbers on the right hand keypad do this, not the numbers above the letters. 
• Type the following: 2e3a then without pressing the space bar, simultaneously press the ALT key and the X key.  Then hit the space bar.
• On Mac operating systems, press Shift-Option and the minus key to make en em-dash.