Looking for something specific? Use this search box to explore our referencing guidance.

 

Includes whole books, book chapters, republished books, translated books, and entries in reference books such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

Books

  • Any source with an ISBN is treated as a paper book even if read in digital format. Published books that predate the use of ISBNs should be treated as a paper book even if read in digital format.
  • Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press are abbreviated to CUP and OUP.

 

Book with single author

 

Footnote

n Author name as it appears on the source, Title (Edition, Publisher Year) pinpoint if required.

4 Timothy Endicott, Administrative Law (4th edn, OUP 2019) 59.

5 Bob Tricker, Corporate Governance: Principles, Policies and Practices (5th edn, OUP 2025) 244.

 

Bibliography

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography.

Author Initials, Title (Edition, Publisher Year)

Endicott T, Administrative Law (4th edn, OUP 2019)

Tricker B, Corporate Governance: Principles, Policies and Practices (5th edn, OUP 2025)

 

Book with multiple authors

 

Footnote

If there are more than three authors, give the first author's name followed by 'and others'. 

n Author name as it appears on the source, Author name as it appears on the source, and Author name as it appears on the source, Title (Edition, Publisher Year) pinpoint if required.

6 Paul L Davies, Sarah Worthington and Chris Hare, Gower’s Principles of Modern Company Law (11th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2021) 25.

 

Bibliography

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography.

Author Initials, Author Initials and Author Initials, Title (Edition, Publisher Year)

Davies PL, Worthington S and Hare C, Gower’s Principles of Modern Company Law (11th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2021)

 

  • Ebooks should be treated as physical (paper) sources if they have an ISBN and page numbers that are fixed, like a printed copy.
  • If the ebook does not have fixed page or paragraph numbers (such as epub), pinpoint to chapter or section name or number.
  • If the title is only available as an ebook, provide the ebook type and edition before the publisher.
  • On some ebook platforms, it may be necessary to download the entire ebook in order to see the fixed page numbers.

 

 

Ebook with single author

 

Footnote

n Author name as it appears on the source, Title (Platform and/or Edition, Publisher Year) pinpoint if required.

1 William Lucy, Philosophy of Private Law (Kindle edn, OUP 2007) ch 1, text to n 16.

 

Bibliography

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography.

Author Initials,Title (Platform and/or Edition, Publisher Year)

Lucy W, Philosophy of Private Law (Kindle edn, OUP 2007)

 

 

Ebook with multiple authors

 

Footnote

If there are more than three authors, give the first author's name followed by 'and others'. 

n Author name as it appears on the source, Author name as it appears on the source, and Author name as it appears on the source, Title (Platform and/or Edition, Publisher Year) pinpoint if required.

 

Bibliography

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography.

Author Initials, Author Initials and Author Initials, Title (Platform and/or Edition, Publisher Year)

 

  • For books with more than one editor, use (eds) in place of (ed) and connect the names with the word 'and'.

 

Footnote

n Author name as it appears on the source, 'Title of Chapter' in Editor name as it appears on the source (ed), Title (Edition, Publisher Year) pinpoint if required.

2 Justine Pila, ‘The Value of Authorship in the Digital Environment’ in William H Dutton and Paul W Jeffreys (eds), World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities in the Century of Information (MIT Press 2010) 102.

 

Bibliography

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography. 

Author Initials, 'Title of Chapter' in Editor Initials (ed), Title (Platform and/or Edition, Publisher Year)

Pila J, ‘The Value of Authorship in the Digital Environment’ in Dutton WH and Jeffreys PW (eds), World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities in the Century of Information (MIT Press 2010)

In Westlaw and Lexis there are some authoritative ebooks known as practitioner texts. These are large legal guidance texts which are used by lawyers and are often cited in court. Some examples include the White Book, Archbold Criminal Pleading and Chitty on Contracts.

  • You can find out the details of the author/editor/edition using the source information option on the databases.
  • Many of these texts have editors (ed) rather than an individual author, as the original authors (such as Chitty or Archbold) are no longer alive.
  • Some of these texts have paragraph numbers rather than page numbers. When pinpointing to these, use para (this is different to judgment pinpoints where you use square brackets). Whilst they may also have chapters and sections, use the paragraph number, as these are usually cumulative (e.g. the first part of the paragraph number is usually also the chapter number).

 

Footnote

n Author (ed), Title (Edition, Publisher Year) pinpoint if needed.

4 Hugh Beale (ed), Chitty on Contracts (36th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2025) para 44.002.

5  Charles Prest (ed), The Family Court Practice (LexisNexis 2026) para 6.80.

 

Bibliography

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography.

Author Initials (ed), Title (Edition, Publisher Year)

Beale H (ed), Chitty on Contracts (36th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2025)

Prest C (ed), The Family Court Practice (LexisNexis 2026)

 

  • Do not include editor or publisher details for encyclopaedias.

 

Encyclopaedia entry with a named author

 

Footnote

n Author name as it appears on the source, 'Title of Entry', Title of Encyclopedia (Year) pinpoint.

21 CJ Friedrich, ‘Constitutions and Constitutionalism’, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences III (1968) 319.

 

Bibliography

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography.

Author Initials, 'Title of Entry', Title of Encyclopedia (Year)

Friedrich CJ, ‘Constitutions and Constitutionalism’, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences III (1968)

 

 

Encyclopaedia entry with no named author

 

Footnote

n Title of Encyclopedia (Edition, Year) pinpoint.

8 Halsbury’s Laws (5th edn, 2010) vol 57, para 53.


Bibliography

Put the source in alphabetical order based on the title of the encyclopaedia in the bibliography.

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography.

Halsbury’s Laws (5th edn, 2010)

 

 

Dictionary entry

 

  • If the dictionary is online, include the DOI. If there is no DOI, treat the entry as a webpage.
  • If the dictionary is online, there may not be a publication year.
  • No pinpoint is required.

 

Footnote

n 'title of entry', Title of Dictionary (Edition, Publisher Year).

16 ‘barrister’, Oxford English Dictionary (OED Online) DOI: 10.1093/OED/9750898931.

17 ‘no-fault compensation’, Oxford Dictionary of Law (10th edn, OUP 2022).

 

Bibliography

No full stop is needed at the end of the reference in the bibliography.

'title of entry', Title of Dictionary (Edition, Publisher Year)

‘barrister’, Oxford English Dictionary (OED Online) DOI: 10.1093/OED/9750898931

‘no-fault compensation’, Oxford Dictionary of Law (10th edn, OUP 2022)

 

Book FAQs

If there are more than three named authors or editors, give the first author's name followed by 'and others'. 

Give the authors name exactly as it appears on the source, but do not include titles and postnominals (e.g. 'KC'). 

If a source has no specific named author, but an institution or organisation claims responsibility for it, then they can be used as the author.