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Referencing styles

Author-date citations (Harvard) Numbered notes Numbered reference citations (Vancouver) OSCOLA

Introduction

References to the works of other authors are important to acknowledge their contributions to the development of your work and advance scholarly discourse. Source references are vital to academic works (both print and digital) and so it is essential that they are clear, complete, and consistently formatted. Avoid print-specific terms and conventions (e.g. ‘op. cit.’) that don’t work for reference linking in digital versions. Online bibliographical material is hyperlinked to provide readers with instant access to relevant sources or additional information.

Reference styles vary greatly across disciplines. This section details the main reference styles supported by OUP (Harvard, Vancouver, and OSCOLA) and provides examples that you can follow. If you are in doubt, your OUP editorial contact will be able to advise you on the best citation system for your text.

Author-date citations (Harvard)

The author-date style is an efficient and clear method of providing citations to published sources, which appear in a reference list at the end of the chapter or book. No superscripts are used, which means that reordering of the text does not require renumbering of notes. Instead of superscript numbers, a parenthetical citation (consisting of author name and date of publication) appears in the text and leads the reader to a full entry in a reference list that appears at the end of the chapter or book.

The method works particularly well when most of your citations are to published books or journal articles. It works less well if you are citing a lot of unauthored material or untraditional sources. Unlike numbered notes, author-date citations cannot accommodate translations or commentary outside the main text, although it is possible to combine author-date citations (for bibliographic citations) with numbered notes (for explanatory text).

In-text citation

References are cited within the text by including the author’s last name and a date parenthetically. A page number can be added if needed. If the author’s name appears in the sentence containing the citation, you need only use the date. Complete bibliographical reference information is listed at the end of the chapter or text.

Up to two author names can be used in the in-text citation. When citing a work with three or more authors, use the first author’s last name plus ‘et al.’

If you cite multiple references by the same author that were published in the same year, distinguish between them by adding labels (e.g. ‘a’ and ‘b’) to the year, in both the citation and the reference list.

Structure of the reference list

The reference list appears at the end of the chapter or text in alphabetical order. The name of the first author is inverted. In science literature, initials are often used in place of author first names.

The bibliographic elements listed below are required for the most common types of reference citations. Additional elements are mentioned that may be optional or to be used in only certain instances (e.g. a page number or other locator that is required if you are quoting a precise part of a large work, but not if the reference is to the work as a whole). Consistency in application is important.

Do not use long dashes (“—") to substitute for the name of an author who is identified in the bibliography due to how that entry will be linked in digital versions. Because the entry may not appear immediately following the entry with the full name, repeat the name in full.

Examples of author-date references in British style

Authored book.

Required elements

Lastname, Firstname/initials. Year of Publication. Title of Work .

With optional elements

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname/initials Lastname. Year of Publication. Title of Work , 2nd ed. City of Publication: Publisher.

Chapter in an edited book

Lastname, Firstname/initials, Year of Publication. ‘Title of Chapter in an Edited Book’. In Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname.

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname/initials Lastname. Year of Publication. ‘Title of Chapter in an Edited Book’. In Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname, page number(s) [or alternative locator info]. 2nd ed. City of Publication: Publisher.

Journal article

Lastname, Firstname/initials,Year of Publication. ‘Title of Article’. Name of Journal vol. number: start page.

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname/initials Lastname. Year of Publication. ‘Title of Article’. Name of Journal vol. number (issue number) (Month or Season): start page–end page. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Magazine article

Lastname, Firstname/initials, Year of Publication. ‘Title of Article’. Day and Month of Pub. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname/initials Lastname. Year of Publication. ‘Title of Article’. Name of Magazine , Day and Month of Pub. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Required elements if a magazine article has no stated author

‘Title of Article’. Year of Publication. Name of Magazine , Month of Pub. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Website or other source

Include as much of the following as possible in your bibliographic entry: author; title or description of the content; owner/publisher; month and/or day of publication, most recent revision (or, failing that, date accessed); and URL. The year of publication should be the second element in the entry.

Some flexibility is acceptable to accommodate the wide variety of content available, particularly online.

Website names are usually set in roman type, but the names of online magazines and books are italicized (like their print counterparts).

As you write ...

Example: author–date citation with a reference list and further reading —british style.

Psychoanalytic studies, along with other literary and cultural texts, not only contribute to the new discourse of the jungle but also reflect the imperialist history that brings West Europeans and Americans into contact with the geographic jungles of India, Africa, and other parts of the world (Rogers et al. 2010, 1). This colonial context needs to be sketched here as well in order to reveal how the birth of the jungle eventually produces new constructions of sexuality in the United States. Billops (1999a) notes that the word ‘jungle’ comes from the Hindi and Marathi word jangal, meaning ‘desert’, ‘waste’, ‘forest’; as well as from the Sanskrit jangala, meaning ‘dry’, ‘dry ground’, or ‘desert’. Its first appearance in English is in 1776, with its meaning already shifted towards what might be more recognizable today: ‘Land overgrown with underwood, long grass, or tangled vegetation; also, the luxuriant and often almost impenetrable growth of vegetation covering such a tract’ (Dreft and Smithers 1978, 87). Brought into English as a result of an imperialist presence in India, ‘jungle’ is intimately related to the larger rise of Western imperialism around the world, particularly in the nineteenth century (Billops 1999b). Western powers such as Britain and France went from controlling 35 per cent of the earth’s surface in 1800 to, by 1914, ‘a grand total of roughly 85 per cent of the earth as colonies, protectorates, dependencies, dominions, and commonwealths’ (Said 1993, ch.2, ‘Colonial impacts’).

Reference list

Billops, Camille. 1999a. ‘Indo-European Loan Words’. Annals of Linguistics 21 (4): pp. 38–44.

Billops, Camille. 1999b. ‘Indo-European Vowel Shift: Evidence and Interpretation’. Annals of Linguistics 21 (4): p. 45.

Dreft, Edward, and Susan Smithers. 1978. ‘Words Working’. International Journal of American Linguistics 62 (3): pp. 227–263. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1978.tb25475.x.

Rogers, Jason, Millicent Eng, and Rene Woo. 2010. ‘English-Based African Creoles’. In Spreading the People: Colonizing Languages in the Raj , edited by Jason Rogers, pp. 310–330. 2nd ed. London: Verso.

Said, Eleanor. 1993. The European Dream of Africa . New York: Random House.

Examples of author-date references in US style

Lastname, Firstname/initials, Year of Publication. Title of Work .

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname Lastname/initials. Year of Publication. Title of Work , 2nd ed. City of Publication: Publisher.

Lastname, Firstname/initials, Year of Publication. “Title of Chapter in an Edited Book.” In Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname.

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname Lastname/initials. Year of Publication. “Title of Chapter in an Edited Book.” In Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname, page number(s) [or alternative locator info]. 2nd ed. City of Publication: Publisher.

Lastname, Firstname/initials,Year of Publication. “Title of Article.” Name of Journal vol. number, start page.

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname Lastname/initials. Year of Publication. “Title of Article.” Name of Journal vol. number (issue number) (Month or Season Year): start page–end page. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Lastname, Firstname/initials, Year of Publication. “Title of Article.” Name of Magazine , Month of Pub.

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname Lastname/initials. Year of Publication. “Title of Article.” Name of Magazine , Month and Day of Pub. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Required elements If a magazine article has no stated author:

“Title of Article.” Year of Publication. Name of Magazine , Month of Pub.

“Title of Article.” Year of Publication. Name of Magazine , Month and Day of Pub, doi: DOI [or stable URL].

The names of websites are usually set in roman type, but the names of online magazines and books are italicized (like their print counterparts).

Reference list vs. bibliography

Note that a reference list in the author-date system can contain only items that are actually cited in the work. The reference list must contain all of those items. This differs from a bibliography in the numbered-note system, which can contain both cited items and items of interest that have not been specifically cited. If there are uncited works that you would like to draw to the reader’s attention, these can be placed after the references in a separate listed titled ‘Further reading’.

Example: author–date citation with a reference list and further reading—US style

Psychoanalytic studies, along with other literary and cultural texts, not only contribute to the new discourse of the jungle but also reflect the imperialist history that brings West Europeans and Americans into contact with the geographic jungles of India, Africa, and other parts of the world (Rogers et al. 2010, 1). This colonial context needs to be sketched here as well in order to reveal how the birth of the jungle eventually produces new constructions of sexuality in the United States. Billops (1999a) notes that the word “jungle” comes from the Hindi and Marathi word jangal, meaning “desert,” “waste,” “forest”; as well as from the Sanskrit jangala, meaning “dry,” “dry ground,” or “desert.” Its first appearance in English is in 1776, with its meaning already shifted toward what might be more recognizable today: “Land overgrown with underwood, long grass, or tangled vegetation; also, the luxuriant and often almost impenetrable growth of vegetation covering such a tract” (Dreft and Smithers 1978, 87). Brought into English as a result of an imperialist presence in India, “jungle” is intimately related to the larger rise of Western imperialism around the world, particularly in the nineteenth century (Billops 1999b). Western powers such as Britain and France went from controlling 35 percent of the earth’s surface in 1800 to, by 1914, “a grand total of roughly 85 percent of the earth as colonies, protectorates, dependencies, dominions, and commonwealths” (Said 1993, ch.2, “Colonial impacts”).

Billops, Camille. 1999a. “Indo-European Loan Words.” Annals of Linguistics 21 (4): pp. 38–44.

Billops, Camille. 1999b. “Indo-European Vowel Shift: Evidence and Interpretation.” Annals of Linguistics 21 (4): p. 45.

Dreft, Edward, and Susan Smithers. 1978. “Words Working.” International Journal of American Linguistics 62 (3): pp. 227–263. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1978.tb25475.x.

Rogers, Jason, Millicent Eng, and Rene Woo. 2010. “English-Based African Creoles.” In Spreading the People: Colonizing Languages in the Raj , edited by Jason Rogers, pp. 310–330. 2nd ed. London: Verso.

“Evolutionary Linguistics.” 2012. Wikipedia. Updated November 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_linguistics.

Mfuti, Miriam. 2001. “Pidgin Town.” In The Oxford Handbook of Pidgins and Creoles , edited by Alain Smet, pp. 107–112. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rambow, John. 2007. “Will This Demon Fit in My Carry-On?” Bangalore Monkey blog. December 21. http://www.bangaloremonkey. com/2007/12/will-this-demon-fit-in-my-carry-on.html.

Numbered notes

Using numbered notes is a common method of citing sources, particularly in the humanities. Sequential superscript numbers appear in the text to direct the reader to bibliographic or explanatory information that appears in a note.

This is a flexible style that allows authors to combine bibliographic information with annotation, translation, or other commentary. Scholars who frequently cite unpublished material will find numbered notes more useful than author-date citations.

Endnotes or footnotes?

In print publishing, notes can be placed at the bottom of the page as footnotes or at the end of a chapter or book in a separate section as endnotes.

Footnotes are preferred in cases where the information in the note is important enough that readers need it to fully engage with the material. Please note that in a digital context, footnotes in the traditional sense are not possible. Depending on the format, footnotes can appear at the end of a section or chapter, or they may be viewed by clicking or hovering over the superscript numbers in the text to display individual footnotes.

Endnotes are a better choice in print if the material in the notes does not need immediate engagement by the reader. For digital publications where individual chapters may be made available to readers, the notes should appear with the chapter, rather than separately at the end of the work. This varies according to discipline, so please consult your OUP editorial contact if you are unsure.

The formatting of bibliographic information is identical for footnotes and endnotes.

Please use the following guidance:

Numbered notes appear sequentially in the text as superscripts, ideally at the end of a sentence, following the closing punctuation.
Use Arabic numerals.
Numbers should restart at 1 at the beginning of each chapter and run consecutively to the end of each chapter. Do not start renumbering within a chapter (e.g. per page or per double-page spread) or use asterisks, as this will cause confusion in a digital environment.
Do not number the notes continuously throughout a book, because a later change would necessitate extensive renumbering.

Note structure and format

Required bibliographic elements are given below for the most common types of reference citations, along with optional elements that if used, must be consistent.

Page numbers are useful locators when referencing in print publications.
Give page ranges using the fewest number of figures as possible (e.g. pp. 126–27, not pp. 126–127).
When referencing a digital publication, you may not have access to a print page number. Cite a specific locator (e.g. chapter titles and sub-headings). Do not use location numbers from a proprietary e-reader (e.g. Kindle location numbers).
Edition numbers are not required when citing a first edition but are necessary for subsequent editions.

Numbered notes in British style

Firstname Lastname, Title of Work (Year of Publication).

Firstname Lastname, Title of Work , 2nd ed. (City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication), page number(s) [or alternative locator info].

Michael Murray, Climate Change at the Poles (New York: Scribner, 2007), p. 9.
Darian Ibrahim and Carol Marche, Financing the Next Silicon Valley , 3rd ed. (San Francisco: Upbeat Press, 2010).

Edited book

Firstname Lastname, ed., Title of Work (Year of Publication).

Firstname Lastname, eds., Title of Work , 2nd ed. (City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication), page number(s) [or alternative locator info].

Anton Smirov, ed., Eastern Europe After the Iron Curtain (London: Chatto and Windus, 2012).

Firstname Lastname, ‘Title of Chapter in an Edited Volume’, in Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname (Year of Publication).

Firstname Lastname, ‘Title of Chapter in an Edited Volume’, in Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname (City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication), page number(s) [or alternative locator info].

Hanna Growiszc, ‘Far Right Ideologies in Czech Literature’, in Eastern Europe After the Iron Curtain , edited by Anton Smirov (London: Chatto and Windus, 2012), ch. 7.

Authored book with an editor or translator

Firstname Lastname, Title of Work , ed./trans. Firstname Lastname, (Year of Publication).

Firstname Lastname, Title of Work , ed./trans. Firstname Lastname, 2nd ed. (City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication), page number(s) [or alternative locator info].

Günter Grass, The Tin Drum , trans. Breon Mitchell (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2009).

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics , ed. and trans. Terence Irwin (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1999).

Multi-volume work

References to multi-volume book citations can take a variety of forms, depending on whether an individual volume or the entire work is being cited, and the authorship of the work.

Citing one volume of a multi-volume work

Robert Caro, The Path to Power , vol. 1, The Years of Lyndon Johnson (New York: Knopf, 1982), p. 267.

Citing a multi-volume work as a whole

Robert Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson , 4 vols (New York: Knopf, 1982–2012).

Allison Wyste, ed. Indian and Tibetan Cooking , vol. 6, Cuisines of Asia, ed. Robert Trautmann (London: Brill Books, 2007).

Multi-volume work with series editor and individual author/editors

Whenever possible, include a DOI (preferred) or a stable URL for citations to journal articles. However, a URL or DOI is not sufficient to stand alone as a reference.

Firstname Lastname, ‘Title of Article’, Name of Journal vol. number, (Year): start page.

Firstname Lastname, ‘Title of Article’, Name of Journal vol. number, issue number (Month or Season Year): start page–end page, doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Barbara Eckstein, ‘The Body, the Word, and the State: J. M. Coetzee’s “Waiting for the Barbarians”’, Novel: A Forum on Fiction 22, no. 2 (Winter 1989): pp. 175–198, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1345802.

David Hyun-Su Kim, ‘The Brahmsian Hairpin’, 19th Century Music 36, no. 1 (Summer 2012): pp. 46–47, doi:10.1525/ncm.2012.36.1.046.

A DOI or URL can be included for articles that you consulted online. The citations for online-only magazines follow the same pattern as print-based magazines, with the addition of URLs. If an online journal or magazine has a stable home page that allows a user to search for articles by title or author, it is acceptable to include the URL for that page (rather than the longer, more specific URL).

‘Title of Article’, Name of Magazine , Month of Pub, Year.

Firstname Lastname, ‘Title of Article’, Name of Magazine , Month and Day of Pub, Year, doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Mary Rose Himler, ‘Religious Books as Best Sellers’, Publishers Weekly , 19 February 1927.

‘Amazon Best Books 2012 Revealed’, Publishers Weekly , 13 November 2012, http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/54738-amazon-best-books-2012-revealed.html.

Fritz Allhoff, ‘The Paradox of Nonlethal Weapons’, Slate , 13 November 2012, http://www.slate.com.

Law citation styles vary widely depending on jurisdiction. The following examples are for citing law cases in a non-specialist academic context. If you are writing specialist legal content, see ‘Citing of Legal Materials’ for detailed citation information.

Case Number Name of Case [Year] Report VolNo-FirstPageNo

Case C-34/89 P Smith v EC Commission [1993] ECR I-454

Name of Case [Year] VolNo Report, PageNo

Ridge v Baldwin [1964] AC 40, 78

Name of Case , VolNo Reporter SeriesNo (Year)

Name of Case , VolNo Reporter SeriesNo (Name of Court Year)

Bowers v Hardwick 478 US 186 (1986).

Unpublished or informally published content

The titles of unpublished works are set in quotation marks rather than italics. In place of a publisher, location or institutional information can be given.

Troy Thibodeaux, ‘Modernism in Greenwich Village, 1908–1929’ (PhD dissertation, New York University, 1999), p. 59.

Mary Koo, ‘Prakriti and Purusha: Dualism in the Yoga of Patanjali’ (lecture, Theosophical Society, Chennai, India, 17 May 2008).

To cite a website or other source that does not fall within those covered here, include as much of the following as possible (in this order) in your citation: author; title or description of the content; owner/publisher; date of publication or most recent revision (or, failing that, date accessed); and URL. Some flexibility is acceptable to accommodate the wide variety of content available, especially online.

The names of websites are usually set in roman type but the names of online magazines and books are italicized (like their print counterparts).

‘The Board of Directors of the Coca-Cola Company Authorizes New Share Repurchase Program’, Coca- Cola Company, 18 October 2012, http://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/press-releases/the-board-of-directors-of-the-coca-cola-company-authorizes-new-share-repurchase-program.
John Rambow, ‘Will This Demon Fit in My Carry-On?’, Bangalore Monkey blog, 21 December 2007, http://www.bangaloremonkey.com/2007/12/will-this-demon-fit-in-my-carry-on.html.
Wikimedia privacy policy, Wikimedia Foundation, accessed 26 November 2010, http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/ Privacy policy.

Numbered notes in US style

Firstname Lastname, Title of Work , (Year of Publication).

Firstname Lastname, eds., Title of Work , (Year of Publication).

Hanna Growiszc, “Far Right Ideologies in Czech Literature,” in Eastern Europe After the Iron Curtain , edited by Anton Smirov (London: Chatto and Windus, 2012), ch. 7.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics , ed. and trans. Terence Irwin (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1999).

Multi-volume book citations can take a variety of forms, depending on whether an individual volume or the work as a whole is being cited, and on how the multi-volume work was authored or edited.

Robert Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson , 4 vols. (New York: Knopf, 1982–2012).
Allison Wyste, Indian and Tibetan Cooking , vol. 6, Cuisines of Asia, ed. Robert Trautmann (London: Brill Books, 2007).

Firstname Lastname, “Title of Chapter in an Edited Volume,” in Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname (Year of Publication).

Firstname Lastname, “Title of Chapter in an Edited Volume,” in Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname (City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication), page number(s) [or alternative locator info].

Firstname Lastname, “Title of Article,” Name of Journal vol. number, (Year): start page.

Firstname Lastname, “Title of Article,” Name of Journal vol. number, issue number (Month or Season Year): start page–end page, doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Barbara Eckstein, “The Body, the Word, and the State: J. M. Coetzee’s ‘Waiting for the Barbarians,’” Novel: A Forum on Fiction 22, no. 2 (Winter 1989): pp. 175–198, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1345802.
David Hyun-Su Kim, “The Brahmsian Hairpin,” 19th Century Music 36, no. 1 (Summer 2012): pp. 46–47, doi:10.1525/ncm.2012.36.1.046.

A DOI or URL can be included for articles that you consulted online. Online-only magazines follow the same pattern as print-based magazines, with the addition of URLs. If an online journal or magazine has a stable home page that allows a user to search for articles by title or author, it is acceptable to cite that page rather than a longer, more specific URL.

“Title of Article,” Name of Magazine , Month of Pub, Year.

Firstname Lastname, “Title of Article,” Name of Magazine, Month and Day of Pub, Year, doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Mary Rose Himler, “Religious Books as Best Sellers,” Publishers Weekly , February 19, 1927.
“Amazon Best Books 2012 Revealed,” Publishers Weekly , November 13, 2012, http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/54738-amazon-best-books-2012-revealed.html.
Fritz Allhoff, “The Paradox of Nonlethal Weapons,” Slate , November 13, 2012, http://www.slate.com.

Law - case law

Law citation styles can vary widely depending on jurisdiction. These examples are for citing legal case law in a non-specialist academic context. If you are writing specialist legal content, see ‘Citing of legal materials’ for detailed information on law citation.

Name of Case [Year] VolNo Report PageNo

Ridge v. Baldwin [1964] AC 40, 78

Name of Case , Vol No. Reporter Series No. (Year)

Bowers v Hardwick , 478 U.S. 186 (1986)

Name of Case , Vol No. Reporter Series No. (Name of Court Year)

Bowers v. Hardwick 478 U.S. 186 (1986)

The titles of unpublished works are set in quotation marks rather than italics. Since there is no publisher, location or institutional information can be cited.

Troy Thibodeaux, “Modernism in Greenwich Village, 1908–1929” (PhD dissertation, New York University, 1999), p. 59.
Mary Koo, “Prakriti and Purusha: Dualism in the Yoga of Patanjali’ (lecture, Theosophical Society, Chennai, India, May 17, 2008).

If you need to cite a website or other source that does not fall within those covered here, include as much of the following as possible (in this order): author; title or description of the content; owner/publisher; date of publication or most recent revision (or, failing that, date accessed); and URL. Some flexibility is acceptable to accommodate the wide variety of content available, especially online.

“The Board of Directors of the Coca-Cola Company Authorizes New Share Repurchase Program,” Coca-Cola Company, October 18, 2012, http://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/press-releases/the-board-of-directors-of-the-coca-cola-company-authorizes-new-share-repurchase-program.
John Rambow, “Will This Demon Fit in My Carry-On?,” Bangalore Monkey blog, December 21, 2007, http://www.bangaloremonkey. com/2007/12/will-this-demon-fit-in-my-carry-on.html.
Wikimedia privacy policy, Wikimedia Foundation, accessed November 26, 2010, http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/ Privacy_policy.

Short citations

When a work is cited for the first time in a chapter, full bibliographic information should be given (for an alternative, see ‘Numbered notes in combination with a bibliography’). Subsequent citations should be shortened as in the following examples.

Legal short citations

Give the first mention of legal cases in full. Subsequent mentions within the same article or chapter can be shortened to the case name alone, given in italics (even if italics are not used in the original citation)

Case C–34/89 P Smith v EC Commission [1993] ECR I–454
P Smith v EC Commission.

Example: short citations in US style

See, for example, Alan Hess, Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1985) and Noah Sheldon, Ranch House (New York: Harry S. Abrams, 2004).
Sheldon, Ranch House , p. 207.
Ashraf Salama, “Evolutionary Paradigms in Mosque Architecture,” Faith & Form 40, no. 1 (2007): pp. 16–17.
Salama, “Evolutionary Paradigms.”
Hess, Googie , p. 21.
Wikimedia privacy policy, para. 16.

Numbered notes in combination with a bibliography

It is possible to combine notes and bibliography so that all the notes, including the first reference, are short citations that lead the reader to a full citation in the bibliography. This system results in shorter notes and less work for the reader, since complete information is easily available in the alphabetical bibliography and need not be hunted for through all the chapter notes. This requires that all cited sources appear in a bibliography, which can also contain works that are not cited but are germane to the topic.

Structure of a bibliography entry

Bibliographies are structured similarly to notes, but there are some important differences. The first author name (and only the first) is inverted for alphabetization. Punctuation format also varies slightly between notes and bibliographic entries.

Do not use long dashes (e.g. “—") to substitute for an author’s name if it is repeated in the bibliography. Repeat the name in full because in a digital version, the shortened entry may not follow the complete one immediately.

Bibliography entries in British Style

Lastname, Firstname, Title of Work , (Year of Publication).

Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. Title of Work , 2nd ed. (City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication).

Lastname, Firstname. ‘Title of Chapter in an Edited Book’. In Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname (Year of Publication).

Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. ‘Title of Chapter in an Edited Book’. In Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname (City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication), page number(s) [or alternative locator info].

Lastname, Firstname,‘Title of Article’. Name of Journal vol. number, no. X (Year): start page.

Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. ‘Title of Article’. Name of Journal vol. number, no. X (Month or Season Year): start page–end page. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

‘Title of Article’. Name of Magazine , Month Year of Pub.

Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. ‘Title of Article’. Name of Magazine , Day Month Year of Pub, doi: DOI [or stable URL].

If you need to cite a website or other source that does not fall within those covered here, include as much of the following as possible (in this order): author; title or description of the content; owner/publisher; date of publication, most recent revision (or, failing that, date accessed); and URL. Some flexibility is acceptable to accommodate the wide variety of content available, especially online.

Sample bibliography

Growiszc, Hanna. ‘Far Right Ideologies in Czech Literature’. In Eastern Europe After the Iron Curtain , edited by Anton Smirov (London: Chatto and Windus, 2012), ch. 7.

Himler, Mary Rose. ‘Religious Books as Best Sellers’. Publishers Weekly , 19 February 1927.

Khan, Imran, and Richard Collins. ‘True Belief: Hindu Metanarratives in Bollywood’. Journal of Cinema Studies 7, no. 4 (2009): pp. 104–115. doi:10.1086/jcs113.3.752.

Murray, Michael. ‘The Antarctic Summer Lengthens’. Journal of Climate Studies 20, no. 9 (2011): p. 203.

Murray, Michael. Climate Change at the Poles (New York: Scribner, 2007).

Rambow, John. ‘Will This Demon Fit in My Carry-On?’ Bangalore Monkey blog. 21 December 2007. http://www.bangaloremonkey.com/2007/12/will-this-demon-fit-in-my-carry-on.html.

Bibliography entries in US style

Lastname, Firstname, “Title of Chapter in an Edited Book.” In Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname (Year of Publication).

Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. “Title of Chapter in an Edited Book.” In Title of Edited Volume , edited by Firstname Lastname (City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication), page number(s) [or alternative locator info].

Lastname, Firstname,“Title of Article.” Name of Journal vol. number, no. X (Year): start page.

Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. “Title of Article.” Name of Journal vol. number, no. X (Month or Season Year): start page–end page. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

“Title of Article.” Name of Magazine , Month of Pub, Year.

Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. “Title of Article.” Name of Magazine , Month and Day of Pub, Year, doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Growiszc, Hanna. “Far Right Ideologies in Czech Literature.” In Eastern Europe After the Iron Curtain, edited by Anton Smirov (London: Chatto and Windus, 2012), ch. 7.

Himler, Mary Rose. “Religious Books as Best Sellers.” Publishers Weekly, February 19, 1927.

Khan, Imran, and Richard Collins. “True Belief: Hindu Metanarratives in Bollywood.” Journal of Cinema Studies 7, no. 4 (2009): pp. 104–115. doi:10.1086/jcs113.3.752.

Murray, Michael. “The Antarctic Summer Lengthens.” Journal of Climate Studies 20, no. 9 (2011): p. 203.

Rambow, John. “Will This Demon Fit in My Carry-On?” Bangalore Monkey blog. December 21, 2007. http://www.bangaloremonkey.com/2007/12/will-this-demon-fit-in-my-carry-on.html.

Numbered reference citations (Vancouver)

Numbered reference citations (also known as author–number or Vancouver references) are used in scientific and medical texts. In this system, each reference used is assigned a number. When that reference is cited in the text, its number appears, either in parentheses or brackets or as a superscript. All cited references appear in a numbered reference list at the end of the chapter or book.

An advantage of numbered references over the author–date style is that less space in the main text is required for in-text citations. The system also avoids ambiguity in the case of two works by the same author published the same year, an occasional issue in author–date citations. A disadvantage is that late addition or removal of references usually requires renumbering of both the reference list and the citations. Numbered reference citations cannot be used to provide commentary or other explanatory material to the text.

References are cited within the text by using a number in a superscript, in parentheses, or in square brackets. Although each of these variants is acceptable, only one can be used in a single text. The examples in this guide will enclose citation numbers in parentheses. Note that although citations are numbered in the order of their first appearance in the text, non-consecutive note numbers are possible, to allow references to be cited more than once. Citations can take the form of a range: for example (4–7) would cite references 4, 5, 6, and 7 simultaneously. If it is necessary to cite specific page numbers that are not present in the reference list, page numbers can be inserted into the citation: for example (4p6, 5pp1–11).

Please note the following:

Author first names are usually given as initials only, with no full stops (e.g. “AN” not “A.N.”) between initials. In the case of multiple authors, you can list up to six full names; for more than six authors, list the first three plus ‘et al’. All author names are inverted (i.e. last name, first name).
Names of journals can be abbreviated, as in the examples in this section, but must follow the standard abbreviations used by PubMed. Journal article titles are given without quotation marks and in sentence-style capitalization.
Do not use long dashes (e.g. “—") to substitute for the name of an author whose name is repeated in the bibliography. Repeat the name in full because linking in a digital publication may not immediately follow the entry with the full name.
Citations are numbered in the order in which they first appear in the text.

Required bibliographic elements are given below for the most common types of reference citations, along with optional elements (if used, be consistent). Other elements below are required if applicable (for example, you need a page number or other locator if you are quoting a precise part of a large work, but you can skip it if the reference is to the work as a whole).

Numbered reference citations in British style

Lastname FI, Title of Work , Year of Publication.

Lastname FI, Lastname FI, Lastname FI. Title of Work , 2nd ed. City of Publication: Publisher; Year of Publication: startpage–endpage [or alternative locator info].

Unauthored book (books published by committee, agency, or group)

Title of Work . Year of Publication.

Title of Work . 16th ed. City of Publication: Publisher; Year of Publication: startpage–endpage [or alternative locator info].

Lastname FI. Title of chapter in sentence case. In: Lastname FI, eds. Title of Work. Year of Publication.

Lastname FI, Lastname FI, Lastname FI. Title of chapter in sentence case. In: Lastname FI, Lastname FI, Lastname FI, eds. Title of Work . 2nd ed. City of Publication: Publisher; Year of Publication: startpage–endpage [or alternative locator info].

Lastname FI, Title of article in sentence case. Abbreviated Journal Title . Year of Publication; Volume No.

Lastname FI, Lastname FI, Lastname FI, et al. Title of article in sentence case. Abbreviated Journal Title . Year of Publication; Volume No. (Issue No.) (Supplement No.): startpage–endpage [or alternative locator info]. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Magazine or newspaper article

Lastname FI. Title of article in sentence case. Magazine or Newspaper Title . Month and Year of Publication.

Lastname FI. Title of article in sentence case. Magazine or Newspaper Title . Day Month and Year of Publication: startpage–endpage. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

If the article has no stated author:

Title of article in sentence case. Magazine or Newspaper Title . Month and Year of Publication.

Title of article in sentence case. Magazine or Newspaper Title . Day Month and Year of Publication: startpage–endpage. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Include of the following (in this order) in your bibliographic entry: author; title or description of the content; owner/publisher; date of publication or most recent revision (or, failing that, date accessed); and URL. Some flexibility is acceptable to accommodate the wide variety of content available online and in non-traditional formats. Follow the capitalization and italicization patterns of the examples here as much as possible.

If the nature of the material you are citing is not clear from the bibliographic information, you can provide a descriptor in brackets after the first element of the reference.

Example: Numbered reference citations and reference list—British style

Colorectal cancer (cRc) is one of the most common malignancies and the second leading cause of death from cancer in Europe and North America (1). While early stage cRc is associated with an excellent 5-year survival rate (90% for localized disease), approximately 20% of patients present with metastatic disease, and many patients diagnosed with stage ii or iii cancer will experience a recurrence and develop distant metastases (2). At present, established clinico-pathological criteria are used to estimate risks of recurrence in stage ii and iii disease, and this is routinely used in the selection of patients or adjuvant systemic therapy following surgical resection. The clinical outcome of patients who receive such adjuvant treatment can, however, vary widely, when additional molecular factors are taken into consideration. Identification of novel prognostic markers is, therefore, vital in improving the prognosis of this disease (3). One of the recently described substances important for angiogenesis is endoglin. Endoglin, also known as cD105, is a receptor for transforming growth factor-ÃƒÅ¸1 molecule, which binds preferentially to the activated endothelial cells that participate in tumour angiogenesis, with weak or negative expression in vascular endothelium of normal tissues. Endoglin is induced by hypoxia. Therefore, it is very useful for assessment of neo-angiogenesis of malignant neoplasms (4–6). Many reports indicate that endoglin assessed immunohistochemically in colorectal cancer correlates not only with tumour microvessel density, but also with survival. It has also been reported as a valuable parameter predicting patients having an increased risk of developing metastatic disease. Endoglin is expressed not only on cell surfaces since its soluble form (sol-end) can be detected also in blood (4–7). A few studies evaluated the clinical significance of elevated sol-end levels in colorectal cancer patients (7).

1. Ferlay J, Autier P, Boniol M, Heanue M, Colombet M, Boyle P. Estimates of the cancer incidence and mortality in Europe in 2006. Ann Oncol . 2007; 18: pp. 581–592.

2. Meyerhardt JA, Mayer RJ. Systemic therapy for colorectal cancer. In: Boniol M, Smith J, eds. Oncological Research Reviews . 16th ed. New York, NY: Dekker; 2005; pp. 476–487.

3. Allegra CJ, Paik S, Colangelo LH, et al. Prognostic value of thymidylate synthase, Ki-67, and p53 in patients with Dukes’ B and C colon cancer: a National Cancer Institute-National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project collaborative study. J Clin Oncol. 2003; 21: pp. 241–250.

4. Drug Topics Red Book . Montvale, NJ: Thomson Healthcare, 2009: p. 232.

5. FDA approves new treatment for advanced colorectal cancer. 2012. US Food and Drug Administration website. 27 September. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm321271.htm.

6. Stivarga [package insert]. Wayne, NJ: Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, 2012.

7. Mysliwiec P, Pawlak K, Kuklinski A, Kedra B. Combined perioperative plasma endoglin and vegF-a assessment in colorectal cancer patients. Folia Histochem Cytobiol . 2008; 46(2)(suppl. 1): pp. 487–49.

Numbered reference citations and reference list in US style

Lastname FI, Lastname FI, Lastname FI. Title of Work , 2nd ed. City of Publication: Publisher; Year of Publication.

Title of Work. Year of Publication.

Title of Work. 16th ed. City of Publication: Publisher; Year of Publication: startpage–endpage [or alternative locator info].

Lastname FI, Title of chapter in sentence case. In: Lastname FI, ed. Title of Work. Year of Publication.

Lastname FI, Lastname FI, Lastname FI. Title of chapter in sentence case. In: Lastname FI, Lastname FI, Lastname FI, eds. Title of Work. 2nd ed. City of Publication: Publisher; Year of Publication: startpage–endpage [or alternative locator info].

Lastname FI, Title of article in sentence case. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year of Publication; Volume No. (Issue No.)

Lastname FI, Lastname FI, Lastname FI, et al. Title of article in sentence case. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year of Publication; Volume No. (Issue No.)(SupplementNo): startpage–endpage [or alternative locator info]. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Lastname FI. Title of article in sentence case. Magazine or Newspaper Title. Month, Day, and Year of Publication.

Lastname FI. Title of article in sentence case. Magazine or Newspaper Title. Month, Day, and Year of Publication: startpage–endpage. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Title of article in sentence case. Magazine or Newspaper Title. Month, Day, and Year of Publication.

Title of article in sentence case. Magazine or Newspaper Title. Month, Day, and Year of Publication: startpage–endpage. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Include as much of the following as possible in your bibliographic entry (in this order): author; title or description of the content; owner/publisher; date of publication or most recent revision, or, failing that, date accessed; and URL if available. Some flexibility is acceptable to accommodate the wide variety of content available online and in non-traditional formats. Follow the capitalization and italicization patterns of these examples.

Example: Numbered reference citations and reference list—US style

Colorectal cancer (cRc) is one of the most common malignancies and the second leading cause of death from cancer in Europe and North America (1). While early stage cRc is associated with an excellent 5-year survival rate (90% for localized disease), approximately 20% of patients present with metastatic disease, and many patients diagnosed with stage ii or iii cancer will experience a recurrence and develop distant metastases (2). At present, established clinico-pathological criteria are used to estimate risks of recurrence in stage ii and iii disease, and this is routinely used in the selection of patients or adjuvant systemic therapy following surgical resection. The clinical outcome of patients who receive such adjuvant treatment can, however, vary widely, when additional molecular factors are taken into consideration. Identification of novel prognostic markers is, therefore, vital in improving the prognosis of this disease (3). One of the recently described substances important for angiogenesis is endoglin. Endoglin, also known as cD105, is a receptor for transforming growth factor-ÃƒÅ¸1 molecule, which binds preferentially to the activated endothelial cells that participate in tumor angiogenesis, with weak or negative expression in vascular endothelium of normal tissues. Endoglin is induced by hypoxia. Therefore it is very useful for assessment of neo-angiogenesis of malignant neoplasms (4–6). Many reports indicate that endoglin assessed immunohistochemically in colorectal cancer correlates not only with tumor microvessel density, but also with survival. It has also been reported as a valuable parameter predicting patients having an increased risk of developing metastatic disease. Endoglin is expressed not only on cell surfaces, since its soluble form (sol-end) can be detected also in blood (4–7). A few studies evaluated the clinical significance of elevated sol-end levels in colorectal cancer patients (7).

1. Ferlay J, Autier P, Boniol M, Heanue M, Colombet M, Boyle P. Estimates of the cancer incidence and mortality in Europe in 2006. Ann Oncol. 2007; 18: pp. 581–592.

2. Meyerhardt JA, Mayer RJ. Systemic therapy for colorectal cancer. In: Boniol M, Smith J, eds. Oncological Research Reviews. 16th ed. New York, NY: Dekker; 2005; pp. 476–487.

3. Allegra CJ, Paik S, Colangelo LH, et al. Prognostic value of thymidylate synthase, Ki-67, and p. 53 in patients with Dukes’ B and C colon cancer: a National Cancer Institute-National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project collaborative study. J Clin Oncol. 2003; 21: pp. 241–250.

4. Drug Topics Red Book. Montvale, NJ: Thomson Healthcare, 2009: p. 232.

5. FDA approves new treatment for advanced colorectal cancer. US Food and Drug Administration website. September 27, 2012. http://www.fda. gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm321271.htm.

For legal works, we recommend that you follow The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA). The fourth edition (published in 2012) covers International Law. The full set of guidance can be found at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/migrated/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012.pdf

Information on how to apply OSCOLA style in EndNote, Latex, Refworks and Zotero can be found at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/publications/oscola-styles-endnote-latek-refworks-and-zotero

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The 3 Popular Essay Formats: Which Should You Use?

General Education

Not sure which path your essay should follow? Formatting an essay may not be as interesting as choosing a topic to write about or carefully crafting elegant sentences, but it’s an extremely important part of creating a high-quality paper. In this article, we’ll explain essay formatting rules for three of the most popular essay styles: MLA, APA, and Chicago.

For each, we’ll do a high-level overview of what your essay’s structure and references should look like, then we include a comparison chart with nitty-gritty details for each style, such as which font you should use for each and whether they’re a proponent of the Oxford comma. We also include information on why essay formatting is important and what you should do if you’re not sure which style to use.

Why Is Your Essay Format Important?

Does it really matter which font size you use or exactly how you cite a source in your paper? It can! Style formats were developed as a way to standardize how pieces of writing and their works cited lists should look.

Why is this necessary? Imagine you’re a teacher, researcher, or publisher who reviews dozens of papers a week. If the papers didn’t follow the same formatting rules, you could waste a lot of time trying to figure out which sources were used, if certain information is a direct quote or paraphrased, even who the paper’s author is. Having essay formatting rules to follow makes things easier for everyone involved. Writers can follow a set of guidelines without trying to decide for themselves which formatting choices are best, and readers don’t need to go hunting for the information they’re trying to find.

Next, we’ll discuss the three most common style formats for essays.

MLA Essay Format

MLA style was designed by the Modern Language Association, and it has become the most popular college essay format for students writing papers for class. It was originally developed for students and researchers in the literature and language fields to have a standardized way of formatting their papers, but it is now used by people in all disciplines, particularly humanities. MLA is often the style teachers prefer their students to use because it has simple, clear rules to follow without extraneous inclusions often not needed for school papers. For example, unlike APA or Chicago styles, MLA doesn’t require a title page for a paper, only a header in the upper left-hand corner of the page.

MLA style doesn’t have any specific requirements for how to write your essay, but an MLA format essay will typically follow the standard essay format of an introduction (ending with a thesis statement), several body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

One of the nice things about creating your works cited for MLA is that all references are structured the same way, regardless of whether they’re a book, newspaper, etc. It’s the only essay format style that makes citing references this easy! Here is a guide on how to cite any source in MLA format. When typing up your works cited, here are a few MLA format essay rules to keep in mind:

The works cited page should be the last paper of your paper.
This page should still be double-spaced and include the running header of your last name and page number.
It should begin with “Works Cited” at the top of the page, centered.
Your works cited should be organized in alphabetical order, based on the first word of the citation.

APA Essay Format

APA stands for the American Psychological Association. This format type is most often used for research papers, specifically those in behavioral sciences (such as psychology and neuroscience) and social sciences (ranging from archeology to economics). Because APA is often used for more research-focused papers, they have a more specific format to follow compared to, say, MLA style.

All APA style papers begin with a title page, which contains the title of the paper (in capital letters), your name, and your institutional affiliation (if you’re a student, then this is simply the name of the school you attend). The APA recommends the title of your paper not be longer than 12 words.

After your title page, your paper begins with an abstract. The abstract is a single paragraph, typically between 150 to 250 words, that sums up your research. It should include the topic you’re researching, research questions, methods, results, analysis, and a conclusion that touches on the significance of the research. Many people find it easier to write the abstract last, after completing the paper.

After the abstract comes the paper itself. APA essay format recommends papers be short, direct, and make their point clearly and concisely. This isn’t the time to use flowery language or extraneous descriptions. Your paper should include all the sections mentioned in the abstract, each expanded upon.

Following the paper is the list of references used. Unlike MLA style, in APA essay format, every source type is referenced differently. So the rules for referencing a book are different from those for referencing a journal article are different from those referencing an interview. Here’s a guide for how to reference different source types in APA format . Your references should begin on a new page that says “REFERENCES” at the top, centered. The references should be listed in alphabetical order.

Chicago Essay Format

Chicago style (sometimes referred to as “Turabian style”) was developed by the University of Chicago Press and is typically the least-used by students of the three major essay style formats. The Chicago Manual of Style (currently on its 17th edition) contains within its 1000+ pages every rule you need to know for this style. This is a very comprehensive style, with a rule for everything. It’s most often used in history-related fields, although many people refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for help with a tricky citation or essay format question. Many book authors use this style as well.

Like APA, Chicago style begins with a title page, and it has very specific format rules for doing this which are laid out in the chart below. After the title page may come an abstract, depending on whether you’re writing a research paper or not. Then comes the essay itself. The essay can either follow the introduction → body → conclusion format of MLA or the different sections included in the APA section. Again, this depends on whether you’re writing a paper on research you conducted or not.

Unlike MLA or APA, Chicago style typically uses footnotes or endnotes instead of in-text or parenthetical citations. You’ll place the superscript number at the end of the sentence (for a footnote) or end of the page (for an endnote), then have an abbreviated source reference at the bottom of the page. The sources will then be fully referenced at the end of the paper, in the order of their footnote/endnote numbers. The reference page should be titled “Bibliography” if you used footnotes/endnotes or “References” if you used parenthetical author/date in-text citations.

Comparison Chart

Below is a chart comparing different formatting rules for APA, Chicago, and MLA styles.








			or ).


		including the title page.

How Should You Format Your Essay If Your Teacher Hasn’t Specified a Format?

What if your teacher hasn’t specified which essay format they want you to use? The easiest way to solve this problem is simply to ask your teacher which essay format they prefer. However, if you can’t get ahold of them or they don’t have a preference, we recommend following MLA format. It’s the most commonly-used essay style for students writing papers that aren’t based on their own research, and its formatting rules are general enough that a teacher of any subject shouldn’t have a problem with an MLA format essay. The fact that this style has one of the simplest sets of rules for citing sources is an added bonus!

What's Next?

Thinking about taking an AP English class? Read our guide on AP English classes to learn whether you should take AP English Language or AP English Literature (or both!)

Compound sentences are an importance sentence type to know. Read our guide on compound sentences for everything you need to know about compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.

Need ideas for a research paper topic? Our guide to research paper topics has over 100 topics in ten categories so you can be sure to find the perfect topic for you.

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The Oxford Essay Format: How to Write in This Style

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This guide explains how to apply the Oxford essay format in a piece of writing. Also referred to as the documentary-note system, the Oxford writing style is commonly used in subjects related to the humanities e.g. in subjects such as philosophy and history. This style prescribes the use of standard-type citations in a text’s main body with corresponding footnotes at end of pages. Additionally, annotated bibliographies are often found at the end of Oxford style papers. These pages include information about all the sources used in the main body of an essay or paper. There are three main components to the Oxford citation style i.e. source citations, endnotes and footnotes, and the paper’s bibliography.

Simplified Formatting an Essay in Oxford Style

When citing sources according to the Oxford guide to style, writers should use superscripted numbers when referring to ideas or information taken from external sources. These numbers should then correspond with footnotes at the end of the page where the source was mentioned. It is necessary to acknowledge every source that is used in the text of an essay – e.g., sources from books, journals, the Internet, and other media – and again in more detailed footnotes.

It is important to also reference any other sources and information. Any superscripted numbers you use for reference purpose are placed at the end of the sentence where the source is mentioned and not directly after the actual reference itself. When direct quotations are used, it is recommended that a superscript number is added immediately after them (where possible).

When using Oxford referencing in text it is recommended that quotes should not be more than thirty (30) words in length. If, however, a quote is longer than this, quotation marks should not be used. Instead, the quotation should start on a new line and it should be indented approximately 1cm from the page’s left-hand margin. The Oxford referencing style differs from other styles in that it allows the writer to paraphrase or summarize any content they are referencing. Where a writer paraphrases or summarizes a piece of text, they should use a superscript number to indicate the fact that the content is borrowed.

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The Oxford essay writing style usually implies the use of endnotes and footnotes. When using footnotes (supplementary notes with superscript numbers at the end of a page) it is usual practice to separate these from the main body text with a line near the end of the page. When you refer to a source for the first time, you should provide more detailed bibliographic information in the corresponding footnote. When that source is subsequently used, there is no need to include all this information again. Instead, you can just use a shortened version. Footnotes are usually numbered in consecutive order and it is not usual to present them in the form of tables.

Oxford Style Bibliographies

You will see from the Oxford style referencing guide that bibliographies are generally required at the end of papers written in this style. The size of a bibliography depends on the amount of source information to be recorded. In any case, it should contain information about every data source that has been used in a paper as well as any sources the writer consulted or found useful in the course of researching and preparing their paper. When creating references in this system, the order of any source information that involves using capitalization and punctuation is similar to that used in footnotes.

Most importantly, the surnames of authors should appear before their initials and entries should be arranged in alphabetic order according to surname. Bibliography entries should not be numbered. In the event a reference is repeatedly used (or appears more than at least once), there is no need to repeat the entire reference information. All that is needed is the surname of the author and any page numbers that differ from those in the first entry.

In the event you still find the Oxford style manual difficult to understand or need help writing papers in this style, Great-Writings.com can assist you. We will complete each assignment according to your specific instructions and preferences and we will make sure you receive a perfectly written and well-presented text ready for you to submit. If you have any essays or term papers that are urgent, you need not worry about meeting deadlines. This is because we will make sure you do since we offer a special “urgent order” service, which is available upon request.

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How to Write the Perfect Essay

06 Feb, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles

Student sitting at a desk writing in a notebook

You can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you won’t have time to make a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful to draft a brief one, including a few key words, so that you don’t panic and go off topic when writing your essay.

If you don’t like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.

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Thanks for signing up, step 2: have a clear structure.

Think about this while you’re planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question.

Start with the basics! It’s best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you’ll be under time pressure.

If you agree with the question overall, it can be helpful to organise your points in the following pattern:

YES (agreement with the question)
AND (another YES point)
BUT (disagreement or complication)

If you disagree with the question overall, try:

AND (another BUT point)

For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question, “To what extent is Curley’s wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men ?”, as follows:

YES (descriptions of her appearance)
AND (other people’s attitudes towards her)
BUT (her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to her advantage)

If you wanted to write a longer essay, you could include additional paragraphs under the YES/AND categories, perhaps discussing the ways in which Curley’s wife reveals her vulnerability and insecurities, and shares her dreams with the other characters. Alternatively, you could also lengthen your essay by including another BUT paragraph about her cruel and manipulative streak.

Of course, this is not necessarily the only right way to answer this essay question – as long as you back up your points with evidence from the text, you can take any standpoint that makes sense.

Step 3: Back up your points with well-analysed quotations

You wouldn’t write a scientific report without including evidence to support your findings, so why should it be any different with an essay? Even though you aren’t strictly required to substantiate every single point you make with a quotation, there’s no harm in trying.

A close reading of your quotations can enrich your appreciation of the question and will be sure to impress examiners. When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques. For example, you could highlight Curley’s wife’s use of a rhetorical question when she says, a”n’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs.” This might look like:

The rhetorical question “an’ what am I doin’?” signifies that Curley’s wife is very insecure; she seems to be questioning her own life choices. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to respond to her question, highlighting her loneliness and isolation on the ranch.

Other literary techniques to look out for include:

Tricolon – a group of three words or phrases placed close together for emphasis
Tautology – using different words that mean the same thing: e.g. “frightening” and “terrifying”
Parallelism – ABAB structure, often signifying movement from one concept to another
Chiasmus – ABBA structure, drawing attention to a phrase
Polysyndeton – many conjunctions in a sentence
Asyndeton – lack of conjunctions, which can speed up the pace of a sentence
Polyptoton – using the same word in different forms for emphasis: e.g. “done” and “doing”
Alliteration – repetition of the same sound, including assonance (similar vowel sounds), plosive alliteration (“b”, “d” and “p” sounds) and sibilance (“s” sounds)
Anaphora – repetition of words, often used to emphasise a particular point

Don’t worry if you can’t locate all of these literary devices in the work you’re analysing. You can also discuss more obvious techniques, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. It’s not a problem if you can’t remember all the long names; it’s far more important to be able to confidently explain the effects of each technique and highlight its relevance to the question.

Step 4: Be creative and original throughout

Anyone can write an essay using the tips above, but the thing that really makes it “perfect” is your own unique take on the topic. If you’ve noticed something intriguing or unusual in your reading, point it out – if you find it interesting, chances are the examiner will too!

Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine. Keep the idea that you’re writing a speech or argument in mind, and you’re guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention.

It’s important to set out your line of argument in your introduction, introducing your main points and the general direction your essay will take, but don’t forget to keep something back for the conclusion, too. Yes, you need to summarise your main points, but if you’re just repeating the things you said in your introduction, the body of the essay is rendered pointless.

Think of your conclusion as the climax of your speech, the bit everything else has been leading up to, rather than the boring plenary at the end of the interesting stuff.

To return to Of Mice and Men once more, here’s an example of the ideal difference between an introduction and a conclusion:

Introduction

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , Curley’s wife is portrayed as an ambiguous character. She could be viewed either as a cruel, seductive temptress or a lonely woman who is a victim of her society’s attitudes. Though she does seem to wield a form of sexual power, it is clear that Curley’s wife is largely a victim. This interpretation is supported by Steinbeck’s description of her appearance, other people’s attitudes, her dreams, and her evident loneliness and insecurity.

Overall, it is clear that Curley’s wife is a victim and is portrayed as such throughout the novel in the descriptions of her appearance, her dreams, other people’s judgemental attitudes, and her loneliness and insecurities. However, a character who was a victim and nothing else would be one-dimensional and Curley’s wife is not. Although she suffers in many ways, she is shown to assert herself through the manipulation of her femininity – a small rebellion against the victimisation she experiences.

Both refer back consistently to the question and summarise the essay’s main points. However, the conclusion adds something new which has been established in the main body of the essay and complicates the simple summary which is found in the introduction.

Hannah is an undergraduate English student at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and has a particular interest in postcolonial literature and the Gothic. She thinks literature is a crucial way of developing empathy and learning about the wider world. When she isn’t writing about 17th-century court masques, she enjoys acting, travelling and creative writing.

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How to Reference in Oxford Style

Last Updated: July 25, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 98,870 times.

Oxford style is a way of referencing sources used in a text by incorporating footnotes into the text. To use Oxford style, a writer cites their sources using footnotes that direct the reader to a list of citations at the bottom of the page for more details about the reference source. [1] X Research source While Oxford style might seem confusing, it can make reading a text a lot easier. Once you get used to using this reference style, you'll be able to easily use it in your papers.

Creating Your Footnotes

Journal or print article with author: 1 T. Rock. This Smells Delicious. Journal of Cooking, vol. 40, no. 6, 2005: pp. 272-273.
Journal or print article without author: 1 Cooking Makes People Happy. Journal of Cooking, vol. 40, no. 6, 2005: pp. 250-254.
Book with one author: 2 T. Rock. Cooking is Fun, New York: Great Books Press, 2008, p. 22.
Book with multiple authors: 2 T. Rock, J. Cena, and R. Flair. This is Cooking, New York: Great Books Press, 2009, p. 55.
Book with no authors: 2 They Keep Cooking, New York: Great Books Press, 2008, pp. 46-47.
Chapter in a book: 3 T. Rock. Get a Spatula. In Cooking is Fun, 46-58. New York: Great Books Press, 2008.
Internet article: 4 T. Rock. I Love to Cook. Fun Cooking. 08-24-08. http:www.funcookingmag.com/I-love-to-cook/2008 (Accessed 2009-08-24). [3] X Research source

Step 2 Include the superscript numbers on that page.

For example, the superscript number is bold: 1 T. Rock. This smells delicious. Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6, 2005, pp. 272-273.
Put a space after the superscript number.

Step 3 Start with the author's first initial and last name.

If there is no author name, begin the entry with the title, starting with the first word that is not an article, meaning not “A,” “An,” or “The.” [4] X Research source
If there are more than two authors, list them all in the same manner. If there are two authors, use "and" between them. If there are more than two authors, separate the names using commas, with "and" before the last author.
For example, the author's name is bold: 1 T. Rock . This smells delicious. Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6, 2005, pp. 272-273.

For example, the title of the article is bold: 1 T. Rock. This smells delicious . Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6, 2005, pp. 272-273.
For example, the title of the journal is bold: 1 T. Rock. This smells delicious. Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6, 2005, pp. 272-273.

Step 5 Add the volume and issue number if you have one.

For example, the volume and issue number are bold: 1 T. Rock. This smells delicious. Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6 , 2005, pp. 272-273.

Step 6 Use the publishing city and publisher if it's a book.

For example, the city and publisher are bold: 2 T. Rock. Cooking is Fun , New York: Great Books Press , 2008, p. 22.

For example, the year in a journal article is bold: 1 T. Rock. This smells delicious. Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6, 2005 , pp. 272-273.

For example, the page number for a journal article is bold: 1 T. Rock. This smells delicious. Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6, 2005, pp. 272-273 .
For example, the page number for a book is bold: 2 T. Rock. Cooking is Fun , New York: Great Books Press, 2008, p. 22 .

Making Your Reference Page

Step 1 Create a separate page at the end of your document.

Title your page "Reference List." [6] X Research source
On your reference page, you will list author surname first, rather than the author's first name.

Step 2 List all of your references in alphabetical order by surname.

If there is no author, use the first word in the title. [8] X Research source
A typical journal entry will look like this: Rock, T. This smells delicious. Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6, 2005, pp. 272-273.
A typical book footnote will look like this: Rock, T. Cooking is Fun , New York: Great Books Press, 2008, p. 22.
A book chapter entry will look like this: Rock, T. Get a Spatula. In Cooking is Fun , New York: Great Books Press, 2008, pp. 46-58.
An internet article looks like this: Rock, T. I love to cook. Fun Cooking . 08-24-08. http:www.funcookingmag.com/I-love-to-cook/2008 (Accessed 2009-08-24). [9] X Research source
If there are two authors, alphabetize it by the first author's last name, then list the remaining authors. [10] X Research source

Step 3 Arrange pieces by the same author according to date.

For example, the page range is in bold: Rock, T. This smells delicious. Journal of Cooking , vol. 40, no. 6, 2005, pp. 272-273 .
Use a p. for one page or a pp. for multiple pages.

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Oxford style writing guide

Frequently, students are assigned papers that require using Oxford style of writing. For this reason, one has to be aware of all details and pitfalls, which can be hidden within the frames of this peculiar style. Forewarned is forearmed! With this in mind, it will be quite useful for you to find out more about Oxford style in the sphere of academic writing.

Where to Start?

The very first thing you have to do before composing an academic paper is to consider the topic you are going to work on. After you have understood the main arguments on the topic, gather those facts that will back up your reasoning. Your essay topic should include terms, which will define the way of arguing. For instance, the topic, “Compare and Contrast Chevrolet and Nissan” suggests offering some observations targeted at showing differences and similarities between the given automobile brands. The above-mentioned example shows the presence of keywords you need to pay attention to when processing topics for your Oxford student paper. Consequently, first, it is worthy to learn how you have to define keywords, which will then produce the arguments' general line.

The topic can evaluate, argue, analyze, compare, and apply key terms in order to set up arguments required by the paper. In case the topic comprises keywords to compare, you will be required to present arguments, which distinctly demonstrate differences and similarities between the items required. Therefore, when you are engaged in writing paper Oxford style, it is important to refer to facts concerning the items at issue.

At the same time, the topic may suggest evaluating data, results, and a set of arguments. When this occurs, you should clearly comprehend the procedures, which build up the good reason behind the observation. In such a way, the paper needs to cover your viewpoints of whether the current results demonstrate a particular trend.

After you have clarified all details on the topic, it is high time to decide upon a type of writing. The different effects Oxford essay writers would like to have on their future readers (to entertain, to persuade, to inform, etc.) lead to creating different types of papers. In general, the most widespread ones are known as the narration, description, or exposition.

The sense of narration lies in the depiction of a story – a series of related events. Its task is to reveal the significance of events arranged in a sequence of time. Description has to deal with visual perceptions. Here, the task is to organize everything we perceive visually in a clear and understandable way so that it can be put on the paper and make sense.

When working on your Oxford research proposal, keep in mind that exposition tends to explain everything: History – why William the Conqueror conquered England; everyday life facts – how many people get married; ideas – a theory of politics; how things work – GPS in a car. However, despite its subject, the phenomenon of exposition discovers what a particular person believes in, knows, or thinks is true. Therefore, exposition is organized in a logical way. It is centered on the denial/assertion, particular/general, negative/positive, more/less, false/true, and effect/cause. At that, the way one explanation flows into another one is marked by such words and phrases as “for example”, “more importantly”, “in fact”, “not only”, “but”, “besides”, “and so”, “however”, and “therefore”.

Seeking for a good Oxford University essay prompt, remember that persuasion is aimed at altering how readers think and what they believe in. Hence, it is crucial to back up the claims and statements with solid evidence taken from reliable sources of information. Satire is one more form of persuasion, which laughs at evil or folly, sometimes coarsely and crudely, and sometimes subtly. Lastly, persuasion may be depicted by means of eloquence, turning to noble sentiments and ideas.

Essay Writing Tips: Oxford Style

Find several topics you will be able to turn into a brief essay. Consider those topics that deal with your beliefs and opinions, but not much with how-to-do projects, places, or things. Try to choose themes within your experience and interest, and keep in mind that they should be challenging to a certain extent. You need to be specific even when being engaged in Oxford University creative writing: write “what I do not like most about my position” instead of “I do not like my position.”
Pick one of the topics and then write a few sentences about your potential readers. Consider their biases, attitudes, values, general knowledge, and whether they come from a different or similar background. Also, determine whether they are younger or older than you are, and how you want them to look upon you.

Oxford Writing Standards

Writing, apart from putting words and sentences on a piece of paper, includes the process of thinking. According to Oxford study guide, the first "thinking" step supposes picking a topic, examining possibilities of elaborating it and coming up with the strategy of presenting the information on it. The second step is mainly known as "drafting," and the third "one should always be "revising." Nevertheless, despite the information mentioned above, it is important to understand that these are not the steps in the usual sense. Nobody writes Oxford research paper by means of thinking, completing a rough copy, and making a revision. Basically, you accomplish these things simultaneously.

In case it seems strange to you, think about the fact that writing is not an easy work. When you simply consider a topic you already start choosing words and building up sentences, making a draft either in your head or in the notes. During the processes of drafting and revising, the thinking process takes place – you develop new ideas, realize you have come to the deadlock with some of them, and detect implications you have not noticed before.

More often than not, it is quite useful to perceive writing as the combination of these three steps. Despite this fact, try to comprehend that the whole process never moves from one step to another in the steady and smooth way. It is always about going back and forth. During the working process, one way or another, you will focus on one writing phase.

Oxford Paper Format Guidelines

An academic paper has to demonstrate arguments in a well-defined structure. The given structure will make it easy for your readers and yourself to know the place where to look for separate parts of your arguments. Pay a close heed to the formatting of your paper not to seek for Oxford paper for sale later.

As a rule, a well-formatted academic paper consists of introductory part, which contains a clear thesis statement, the body that introduces your arguments in accordance with the thesis statement, and a conclusion part that summarizes your viewpoint and contemplates arguments regarding the main topic. If you are not completely sure how to format your paper properly, you can always look for Oxford style sample paper on the Internet.

Formatting an academic paper requires the observations of pre-defined requirements concerning margins, font style, and indentations. You can find the necessary formatting info in the Oxford University essay writing guide, and seek the professor’s assistance in case you have hard times understanding certain rules. By meeting the set requirements, you can gain credibility in the eyes of the readers. Assure yourself that the assignment criteria are clear and easy to understand.

Quite often, apart from the fact that you have a pre-established format to consider (for instance, it may be Oxford University dissertation format) your scientific supervisor can also have his/her own criteria for the paper, which are crucial to consider while working on the paper. One of the secrets of efficient academic paper writing is meeting all the assignment requirements, as well as the demands of the supervisor, and answering all possible questions readers may want to ask concerning the chosen topic.

You need to keep in mind that academic paper is a kind of work that gives you a possibility to introduce your arguments in a comprehensible manner. If you polish the formatting skill, you can provide readers with a chance to establish your line of reasoning without obstacles caused by a chaotic analysis or unclear format. In addition, you can even save your money because there will be no need to address such organizations as dissertation writing services Oxford.

When working on your paper, an important condition is to cite all sources you have used. It is important that you make sure to do it according to the Oxford University essay format for citing. To perform this task correctly, pay attention to the following information and facts.

Oxford Style Referencing Guide

Oxford referencing style is applied mainly in research papers in certain philosophy and history departments. In addition, the style can be used when dealing with law courses.

Papers written in Oxford style require indicating page numbers, but they can be put according to the writer’s judgment. Usually, all margins are one inch on every side, except the top where margin should be two inches. The paper itself has to be double-spaced along with the reference page.

A title page needs to be formatted very specifically according to the Oxford student guide. The paper’s title is placed at the top of the page; the elements that follow are the type of paper (coursework, essay, dissertation, etc.), the date, word count, author’s name, and the name of the institution. For example:

World War I History

Capstone Project

May 12, 2017

Penelope Woodbridge

Johns Hopkins University

Oxford referencing format can be characterized as a documentary-note style, which includes two parts: footnote citation and reference list.

Footnote Citation Guidelines

As a rule, a superscript number is included in the text where the source is cited. After you have done it, put the superscript number at the page’s bottom where the footnote details are recorded.
State initials or the given name of the author before the family name (for instance, Peter Oldridge).
Do not forget to cite a separate page (e.g. p. 34) or several pages at once (pp. 44-48).
Short title/family name: In case you cite the same source more than once in footnotes of your Oxford economic paper, apply only the page number and the family name of the author for all subsequent references. Otherwise, when your references are not successive, mention the page number, the short title of the work, and the author’s family name for subsequent references. Avoid putting the publication date, publisher, and place of publication. Along the same line, when you cite several works by one author, you may apply the short title and family name in all subsequent references to differentiate these works.
According to Oxford style citation guide, indirect and direct paraphrasing should be acknowledged. At the same time, footnotes are used to find informational sources, interpretations, or ideas even when they are less paraphrased than described. Failure to format sources properly may result in the high level of plagiarism in your paper.
Direct quotations have to be put in single quotation marks. In case the quotation is too long and contains more than 40 words, single out the whole quote from the body of text indenting it. Remember that the given indentation has to be single-spaced, whether or not the rest of the text has the same spacing. Check any sample Oxford paper to see how cited and quoted info looks in the text.

Example of Footnote:

In 1950, Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswick, Levinson and Sanford proposed the concept of the authoritarian personality – a type of person who is prejudiced by virtue of specific personality traits which predispose him or her to be hostile towards ethnic, racial, and other minority groups. 1

1 R. D. Gross, Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour , London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1989, p.286

Subsequent Footnotes

According to Oxford University paper reference form, all subsequent references do not have to be too detailed in comparison with the very first footnote. Such references require a minimum information to point out which source is being cited.

With One Author

Introduce all important details in the first footnote. In case you would like to cite the same source several times, a simple way out is to provide a page number, year of publication, and the name of the author. For instance:

1 A Bryman, Social research method , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008, p.147.
3 Bryman, p.98.

As follows from Oxford style guide online, if you refer to more than two works by the same author in the text, simply add the title of work:

1 J M Gibson and R L Green, The Unknown Conan Doyle: Essays on Photography , Secker & Warburg, London, 1982, p. 142.
2 J M Gibson and R L Green, Letters to Press , Secker & Warburg, London, 1986, p.57.
3 Gibson and Green, The Unknown Conan Doyle: Essays on Photography, p.230.

One more way to reduce subsequent references is to use Latin abbreviations, such as ibid (same as last entry) and op.cit. (as cited previously). You can apply ibid when two references at a stretch originate from the same source. Concerning op.cit. , it may be applied in case you have already provided all details regarding the particular source in an earlier footnote. While applying op.cit. , introduce such details as the name of the author in order to make the source more recognizable. Oxford citation format requires the given abbreviations to be put in the lowercase.

For example:

15 A Bryman, Social research method , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008, p.147.
16 ibid., p.78.
17 Gibson and Green, The Unknown Conan Doyle: Essays on Photography, p.230.
18 Bryman, op. cit., p.62.

Oxford Style Paper Format: Reference List Guidelines

Your list of references has to be titled as "Reference List" and put on a separate page at the end of your work. Such list includes all details regarding footnotes, which are arranged in alphabetical order by author's family name. Two notions "Reference List" and "Bibliography" are used interchangeably in the majority of cases, however, a Bibliography, in accordance with Oxford University bibliography format, contains all sources applied to fulfill your assignment whereas a Reference List comprises only those sources you have referred to in your paper. Taking this into account, do not forget to check with your instructor on the format required.

Other points to consider:

The given name of the author always precedes the family name (A. Parker) in your footnotes, while in the list of references the family name goes first (Parker, A.,).
Apply the first substantive title’s word (except articles a and the , according to Oxford grammar guide) if the work has no author(s) to add to the list of references in alphabetical order.
In case you have referred to several works by the same author, arrange them by date. The earliest one should come first. When dates are identical, insert a lower case letter after the date in order to be able to differentiate between the given works, e.g. 1982a, 1982b.
Bibliography format Oxford style may demand your list of references be divided into primary and secondary informational sources.

Now, it is high time to learn how to indicate references for different kinds of sources. Below, you will find the examples of the most widespread documents used when dealing with paper writing.

Books with a single author:

Add (if any): last and first names of an author; the title of work; edition; publisher and place of publication, publication year.

Flannery, T., Now or Never: A Sustainable Future for Australia? , Melbourne, VIC, Black Inc., 2008.

Books (two or more authors):

FitzSimons, T., Laughren, P., and Williamson, D., Australian Documentary: History, Practices and Genres , 2nd edn., Port Melbourne, VIC, Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Edited Books:

In accordance with Oxford bibliography format, put editor (s) in brackets right after editor’s name (s).

Murray, J. (ed.), Our Great Game: The Photographic History of Australian Football , Docklands, VIC, Slattery Media Group, 2010.

When the book has more than one editor, you need to observe multiple authors format, putting eds . in brackets.

References for e-books will be the same as for printed publications. For those books that have been downloaded or read on a bookshop or library websites, it is necessary to include details about the e-book.

De Munek, B., Gated Communities?: Regulating Migration in Early Modern Cities , Farnham, UK, Ashgate Publishing, 2012. E-book.

Sometimes, some books with expired copyright can be available online. When this occurs, you have to include the full URL together with the access date. In case URL is too long, it is possible to apply website URL e.g. http://www.arthur-conan-doyle-books-online.com/

Orwell, Gregory. Marketing Planning for Services . Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004. http://www.treesandplantsmemoriesinsummer (Accessed 2015-07-18).

Journal Articles:

To make a reference when dealing with Oxford writing articles example, you need to add: author’s first and last names; article’s title; issue and volume; publication year; numbers of pages.

Mintz, S., ‘Food Enigmas, Colonial and Postcolonial,’ Gastronomica , vol.10, no.1, 2010, pp. 134-141.

Addo, P., and Besnier, N., ‘When Gifts Become Commodities: Pawnshops, Valuables, and Shame in Tonga and the Tongan Diaspora,’ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute , vol. 14, no.1, 2008, pp. 32-34.

Articles from Electronic Journals:

Often, in order to define an electronic article, DOI is used. Such DOIs are permanent, which is why it is quite easy to find the article when the article's URL has been changed. As usual, major academic publishers assign DOI-numbers to articles. As stated in Oxford college guide for citing works, in case there is no DOI, you have to provide the article’s URL and access date.

Moore, K. R., ‘Was Pythagoras Ever Really in Sparta?’, Rosetta , no.6, Spring 2009, pp. 1-12, http://www.rosetta.bnam.ac.uk, (accessed 12 July 2011).

Newspaper Article:

Article’s author; article’s title; magazine and date.

Boyd, R., ‘The City of Sordid Splendour,’ Australian , 26 August 1964.

Internet Sources (Web Pages):

Author, organization, company or authority; (year); title of page or document; website’s name; webpage’s last update; date of access and full URL.

Ciolek, M., Aboriginal Studies WWW Virtual Library , Olympia, WA, Centre for World Indigenous Studies, https://www.ciolek.org/WWW-VL-Aboriginal.html, (accessed 11 December 2011).

Encyclopedias:

For online encyclopedias’ entries, when being engaged in Oxford creative writing online, add: article’s author, article’s title, encyclopedia name, publication year; full URL together with the access date.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Encyclopedia Britannica . 2010. http://www.britannica.org/EBchecked/topic/142824/Creutzfeldt-Jakob-disease (Accessed 2010-10-30).

When you have received your Master’s creative writing Oxford Style assignment to complete, but cannot find a particular example of reference in our short list, it is better to address the official Oxford style guide.

Oxford University CV Writing Guidelines

Imagine that you have already graduated from university and are now looking for a decent job. The first thing you know you need to do is to write your CV. For instance, the most commonly used type of CV is a reverse chronological one. Often, it covers information about your work experience, additional activities, and education. Traditional CV sections are as follows:

work experience;
personal information;
additional skills;
references (‘Available on Request’).

The given Oxford CV format makes it possible for employers to notice important details quickly and provides clear info about the candidate for a job position.

Another type of CV that can be used while applying is the skills-based one. In such document, all details are organized to demonstrate relevant skills. In order to provide context, you have to put a concise summary of your work history before or after the section with relevant skills.

Usually, the given CV type is applied to show the adaptability of your skills in case you are going to apply to a position without relevant experience. Taking it into account, this CV is used by people who are targeted at changing their career direction or transitioning to other sectors. When you have chosen a correct CV format, be sure to organize all information in an appropriate order. In any way, it will be useful to look for Oxford University CV template on the Internet. At the same time, remember to attach a well thought-out cover letter, which will back up your application.

For your convenience, Pro-Papers has prepared some main guidelines for business letter writing Oxford style:

A couple of pages is the maximum – demonstrate your ability to prioritize.
You should sound professional and confident because your letter is a piece of formal writing.
Be sure to indicate the purpose clearly when writing a cover letter Oxford style.
Show your insight into those matters, which are important for the potential employer.

Did the guide leave you with more questions than answers? Have you lost all the patience trying to get right into the nuts and bolts of the given formatting style? Do not be upset because you still have a chance to receive a professional support regarding your academic writing assignment at Pro-Papers. We are the company that can provide every client with a wide spectrum of Oxford essay writing service , starting from free consultations and finishing with original papers composed by our writers. By the way, if you are not satisfied with the final version of the paper, you may send it for revision, which is also free of charge. Therefore, if you go through tough times when composing papers, leave this writing nightmare to Pro-Papers specialists who will cope with the task perfectly.

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Library Guides

Oxford Referencing

Reference formats & examples

Oxford Referencing: Reference formats & examples

Getting started with Oxford referencing
Books & e-books
Journal articles
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Sample Reference List

References by format: Oxford Style

This guide divides references into different formats for ease of use. Hover your cursor over the Reference Formats tab to select the format you want, or select from the links below.

The overarching principle in referencing or citing is that readers should be able to follow your sources if they are interested in finding out more about a topic and that you should acknowledge other authors whose ideas or information you have used.

Books & e-books
Journal Articles
Internet / Websites
Conference Proceedings
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Oxford - writing a reference list

A reference list gathers all sources that have been used in an academic text. Here you will find examples of how to write references for different types of sources according to the Oxford style.

The examples on this page are based on Umeå University Library's version of the Oxford style.

Collect all sources in a reference list

According to the Oxford style, references to sources in the text are marked with footnotes. At the end of your document, you should have a reference list in which you collect all the sources you have used and referred to in your text. The reference list should be sorted alphabetically by the first author's surname or equivalent.

How to write references in footnotes

When writing references in the footnotes, you can also use the examples below, but remember to change the order of the authors' names. In the footnotes, the author's first name initials should precede the surname.

Read more about how to use Oxford-style footnotes:

Oxford - references in text

Examples for different types of sources

The reference list should include detailed information about the sources so that a reader can find the exact source you have referred to. Here you can see examples of how to write references for different types of sources in the Oxford style.

For each source type, we first show a template of how to write the reference and what information to include. Then we show a real example. Note that not all the information in the template is always available and, therefore, can’t be included.

Books and reports

Books with one author

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title . Edition (if not 1st). (Publisher, year of publication).

Bryman, A. Social research methods . 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Books with two or more authors

Author’s last name, initial(s)., Author’s last name, initial(s). & Author’s last name, initial(s). Title . Edition (if not 1st). (Publisher, year of publication).

Blocher, E., Stout, D.E., Juras, P.E. & Cokins, G. Cost management: a strategic emphasis . 6th ed. (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2013).

Books which are edited (anthologies)

Editor’s last name, initial(s). (ed.). Title . Edition (if not 1st). (Publisher, year of publication).

Allen, J. & Young, I.M. (eds.). The thinking muse: feminism and modern French philosophy . (Indiana University Press, 1989).

More information

For edited books, include (ed.) or (eds.) if multiple editors between the name of the editor/editors and the title of the publication.

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title . Edition (if not 1st). (Publisher, Year of publication). Complete permanent link or URL (Access date).

Example – book with a permanent link (DOI, URN, Handle or equivalent)

Swinnen, J.F.M. & Rozelle, S. From Marx and Mao to the market: the economics and politics of agricultural transition . (Oxford University Press, 2006). https://doi.org/10.1093/0199288917.001.0001

Example – book with a complete URL and access date

Strindberg, A. Three plays: Countess Julie; The Outlaw; The Stronger . (International pocket library, 1912). https://archive.org/details/threeplayscounte00striuoft (Accessed 2012-05-21).

The same information should be provided as for printed books. Provide the complete permanent link (DOI, Handle, URN or equivalent) if available, without a full stop at the end.
For books that are (legally and) freely available on the internet, include the same information as for printed books (see example above). In those cases, you should add the complete URL (http://....) or the link provided by the publisher, and the date you downloaded/read the book. Include a full stop at the end.

Book chapters

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title of the book chapter. In Editor(s) last name, initial(s). (eds.). Title of book . Edition (if not 1:st). (Publisher, year of publication), page numbers of chapter.

Malmberg, A. Beyond the cluster: local milieus and global connections. In Peck, J. & Wai-chung Yeung, H. (eds.). Remaking the Global Economy . (Sage Publications, 2003), pp. 145-162.

Organisation or author. Title of report . (Publisher, year of publication). Complete permanent link or URL (Access date).

Example – report with a permanent link (DOI, URN, Handle or equivalent)

Aronsson, T. & Blomquist, S. Uncertain length of life, retirement age, and optimal pension design . (Department of Economics, Umeå University, 2018). http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-145736

Example – report with a complete URL and access date

Transparency International. Corruption perceptions index 2019 . (2020). https://images.transparencycdn.org/images/2019_CPI_Report_EN.pdf (Accessed 2020-10-19).

The publisher can be excluded if it is the same as the organisation writing the report.

Journal articles (scholarly articles)

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title of article. Journal name Volume: Issue (Year of publication): Page numbers of article. Complete permanent link or URL (Access date).

Example – article with a permanent link (DOI, URN, Handle or equivalent)

Lundmark, L. Economic restructuring into tourism in the Swedish mountain range. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 5: 1 (2005): pp. 23–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250510014273

Example – article with a complete URL and access date

Larsen, J.E. & Blair, J.P. The importance of police performance as a determinant of satisfaction with police. American Journal of Economics and Business Administration 1: 1 (2009): pp. 1-10. http://scipub.org/ajeba/article/view/5217/5214 (Accessed 2019-12-10).

Example – article with an article number

Abramowicz, K., Sjöstedt de Luna, S. & Strandberg, J. Nonparametric bagging clustering methods to identify latent structures from a sequence of dependent categorical data. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis 177 (2022): 107583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csda.2022.107583

Articles in scholarly journals often have a permanent link (DOI, URN, Handle or equivalent) that you should use. You can use the URL if there is no permanent link.
For articles without a permanent link and articles freely available on the web, the access date should also be specified.

Newspaper articles

Template – article with a complete URL and access date

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title of article. Title of newspaper. (Day month and year of the article). Complete URL (Access date).

Jowit, J. Corporate lobbying is blocking food reforms, senior UN official warns. Guardian . (22 September 2010). http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/22/food-firms-lobbying-samuel-jutzi (Accessed 2019-09-30).

Template – article in a printed newspaper or a database (such as PressReader)

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title of article. Title of newspaper . (Day month and year of the article), page number(s).

Example – article in a printed newspaper or a database (such as PressReader)

Jowit, J. Corporate lobbying is blocking food reforms, senior UN official warns. Guardian . (22 September 2010), pp. 8-9.

Internet sources

Author, organisation, authority or company. Title of document or page . (Year of web page update). Complete URL (Access date).

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Health: OECD says governments must fight fat . (2010). http://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,3343,en_21571361_44315115_46064099_1_1_1_1,00.html (Accessed 2010-10-10).

Use the web pages category only if no other reference category fits (e.g. book or journal article).
If you can’t find information on when the webpage was updated, you can write (n.d.). N.d. means no date.

Author, organisation, authority, or company. Title of blog post. Name of the blog. [Blog]. (Day, month and year of the blog post update). Complete URL (Access date).

Enever, J. A tentative view on primary language education policy in India. Forskarbloggen . [Blog]. (7 March 2015). http://blogg.umu.se/forskarbloggen/2015/03/a-tentative-view-on-primary-language-education-policy-in-india/ (Accessed 2015-08-14).

Author, organisation, authority or company. Title of tweet . [Twitter]. (Day, month and year of the tweet). Complete URL (Access date).

Fällström, A. Fewer topics in greater depth. #mathematics #Math Singapore math skills add up in the West http://cnb.cx/1M3BgPX . [Twitter]. (15 July 2015). https://twitter.com/hyperconvex/status/621212215006392320 (Accessed 2015-08-14).

Encyclopaedias, dictionaries or Wikipedia

Author of article. Title of article. Name of encyclopaedia . (Year of publication). Complete permanent link or URL (Access date).

Lovari, S. Chamois. Encyclopaedia Britannica . (2008). https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/chamois/22341 (Accessed 2023-07-25).

Example – no personal author

Encyclopaedia Britannica . Sestina. (2020) https://www.britannica.com/art/sestina-poetic-form (Accessed 2023-06-28).

Example – Wikipedia

Wikipedia . Zadie Smith. (2020). https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zadie_Smith&oldid=981120030 (Accessed 2020-10-20).

If you can’t find the year of publication, you can write (n.d.). N.d. means no date.
If there is no personal author, write the name of the encyclopaedia as author.
Use Wikipedia's permanent link as URL, which is available under tools.

Organisation or creator. Title of dataset [Dataset]. (Organisation/database, Year of publication). Complete permanent link or URL (Access date).

Eurostat. Healthy life years at birth by sex [Dataset]. (2023). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/TPS00150/default/table?lang=en (Accessed 2023-07-25).

Edlund, J. & Svallfors, S. ISSP 2004 - Citizenship I: Sweden (1.1) [Dataset, documentation:ISSP2004_questions]. (Umeå University, 2009). https://doi.org/10.5878/001613

If the organisation/creator is the same as the organisation/database, the latter can be excluded.
A dataset is often statistical data compiled by an authority or statistical provider.
Datasets can contain many files that you do not use. You can then add in square brackets the name of the specific folder and file that you have used. Separate the folder name from the file name with a comma.

Theses and conference proceedings

Doctoral thesis

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title of thesis . Doctoral thesis. (University of graduation, year of publication). Complete permanent link (URN, Handle or DOI)

Abramowicz, K. Numerical analysis for random processes and fields and related design problems . Doctoral thesis. (Umeå University, 2011). http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-46156

Licentiate thesis

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title of thesis . Licentiate thesis. (University of graduation, year of publication). Complete permanent link (URN, Handle or DOI)

Landström, M. Two essays on Central Bank independence reforms . Licentiate thesis. (Umeå University, 2009).

Conference proceedings

Author’s last name, initial(s). Title of conference paper. In: Title of conference publication (proceeding): name of the conference . City of conference, country. (Day, month and year of the conference), page numbers of the conference paper. Complete permanent link (DOI, URN or Handle) or URL (Access date).

Witkowski, E., Hutchins, B. & Carter, M. E-sports on the rise?: Critical considerations on the growth and erosion of organized digital gaming competitions. In: IE´13: Proceedings of The 9th Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment: Matters of Life and Death . Melbourne, Australia. (30 September -1 October 2013), pp. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1145/2513002.2513008

Papers from a conference can be published in a type of publication called conference proceedings (also known as symposiums or meetings).
If conference papers are published as journal articles or book chapters, use the corresponding reference category in this guide.

Sounds and images

Illustrations (photographs, figures, diagrams, tables etc.)

Last name and initial(s) of the creator. Title of illustration [Format, for instance, Photography]. (Year). Complete URL (Access date).

Lennver, A. Night against procrastination [Photography]. (2012). http://www.ub.umu.se/nightagainstprocrastion/ (Accessed 2016-04-05).

Example – photography in a book

State the illustrator's name if different from the book's author.

Hazel, E. Prague by day [Photography]. In Johnson, S. Czech photography in the twenty-first century . (Autumn Publishing, 2015).

Example – work of art on the internet

If you use an image of a work of art online, you should reference it as an online image, regardless of the original medium. If possible, state the name of the artist and the collection:

Turner, J. The Fighting Temeraire [Photography]. The National Gallery [online]. (1839). www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/josephmallord-william-turner-the-fightingtemeraire (Accessed 2016-04-05).

Illustrations created by others are often protected by copyright. In those cases, you will need permission from the copyright owner before using the illustrations in your text.

Podcasts, radio and TV programmes

Name of series . Title of episode [Podcast/Radio programme/TV programme]. Transmitting organisation/channel. (Day, month and year of transmission). Complete URL (Access date).

Example – podcast

Soul Music. Purple rain [Podcast]. BBC. (21 May 2022). https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017k0j (Accessed 2023-07-24).

Example – radio programmes

Living planet . The world on fire: how to deal with wildfires [Radio programme]. Deutsche Welle. (29 May 2023). https://www.dw.com/en/the-world-on-fire-how-to-deal-with-wildfires/audio-66072858 (Accessed 2023-07-24).

Example – TV programmes

Blue lights . The code [TV programme]. BBC Player. (1 July 2023) https://player.bbc.com/en/brand/blue-lights/blue-lights-s1 (Accessed 2023-07-25).

For older programs, still accessible, some information (such as the date of transmission) might not be found. If so, there is no need to search for it. Create the reference with the help of the available information where you found the program.

Recorded lectures, presentations, speeches and interviews

Name of the speaker/equivalent. Title of lecture/speech . [Format]. Publisher/organisation. (Year). Complete URL (Access date).

Satyarthi, K. How to make peace? Get angry . [Video]. TED talks. (2015). http://www.ted.com/talks/kailash_satyarthi_how_to_make_peace_get_angry (Accessed 2015-05-03).

If the speaker/equivalent is the same as the publisher/organisation, exclude the latter.

Other sources

Personal communication

A reference to personal communication should include as much information as possible: Name, profession/position, (year), details of personal communication, and date.

Personal communication is sometimes not included in the reference list as the sources are usually untraceable. In those cases, information about personal communication is provided only in the footnotes. Check with your teacher/supervisor if you are uncertain.

Svensson, A., student at Umeå University. [Interview]. (11 May 2024).

Informant 1: Grammar school, Umeå. [Interview]. (9 May 2024)

Smith, V., Professor at the Department of Physics, Umeå University. Northern Lights, [Lecture]. (12 March 2024).

Lee, O. [E-mail to Geraldine Ford]. (13 May 2024).

Personal communication includes information received through, for example, emails, phone calls, interviews, or lectures. You should always get permission from the person in question before referring to them, and if anonymity has been promised, you must keep that promise. If possible, keep a copy of the communication. More information on ethical rules for research can be found at CODEX – the collection of rules and guidelines for research.

Secondary sources

To cite a source from a secondary source is generally to be avoided since you are expected to have read the works you cite. If a primary source (original source) is unavailable, you may use secondary sources. Only information about the secondary source should be included in the reference list.

If you are writing about Bob Smith's book "Democracy" (published in 1981), where he on page 72 cites Tom Small's book "Civil Rights" published in 1832, you should only include Smith’s book in the reference list:

Smith, B. Democracy . (Herbst Verlag, 1981).

See examples and explanations on writing references with Oxford-style footnotes.

Writing references

Are you up to speed on references? Find tips on guides and features that simplify your reference management.

Avoiding plagiarism

Make sure that it is clear which words and ideas are your own.

Software for writing references

A reference management program helps you to manage your references throughout the whole research process.

Questions about writing references?

Do you have questions about how to write a reference list or cite sources? Visit our drop-in sessions or schedule a tutoring appointment if you need help from a librarian. You can also submit short questions via chat and the contact form or ask the staff at the information desk.

Drop-in and lectures for students

Visit our drop-in sessions and ask your questions about references and citations.

Searching and writing tutoring

Schedule a tutoring appointment with a librarian if you need more help with referencing.

Contact the library

Submit short questions about referencing via chat or the contact form.

Oxford Referencing Generator

Select style:
Archive material
Chapter of an edited book
Conference proceedings
Dictionary entry
Dissertation
DVD, video, or film
E-book or PDF
Edited book
Encyclopedia article
Government publication
Music or recording
Online image or video
Presentation
Press release
Religious text

What is Oxford referencing?

The Oxford referencing style is a note citation system developed by the prestigious University of Oxford. It is also sometimes referred to as the documentary-note style. It consists of two elements; footnote citations and a reference list at the end of the document.

If you’ve been asked to make citations in the Oxford referencing style then make sure you follow the guidelines exactly as it can directly impact on the grades you get. Good referencing is a basis for good marks.

How to Oxford reference

To create the footnotes, you need to indicate a reference by putting a superscript number directly following the source material – this number is called the note identifier. You follow this up with a footnote citation at the bottom of the page. The note identifier – often known as an in-text citation – and the footnote should have the same number, thus ensuring the reader knows which source the note identifier is referring to. The footnotes and note identifiers should be in numerical and chronological order. The same number should be attached to the beginning of the citation and should be listed in chronological order.

For the reference list, you need to include the names of the authors, title and date of publication, the name of the publisher and place of publication. Remember to list all the sources you’ve referenced in the footnotes, as well as any other sources that informed your work which you didn’t necessarily quote or paraphrase.

Alternatively, let Cite This For Me do the whole lot for you simply and accurately using our mobile app or free web tool. Zero hassle, zero mistakes.

Oxford referencing example

In-text example:

The sky is blue. 1

Footnote example:

1 Stella Cottrell, The Study Skills Handbook (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Reference list example:

Cottrell, Stella, The Study Skills Handbook (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)

UniSQ Oxford Referencing Guide

About UniSQ Oxford
Bibliography
Short references, ibid, opcit
How to use quotes
Abbreviations
Sample bibliography
Inclusive language
Translated book
Edited book, chapter in edited book
Online books
Journal articles, newspapers
Websites, webpages
Audiovisual
Images, Artwork
Royal Commissions, legislation
Personal communications
Archival manuscript
UniSQ teaching materials

Basic principles of Oxford style

Basic principles.

Oxford referencing style consists of:

A superscript (raised) number in the body of the text that refers to a footnote at the bottom of the page.
Footnotes provide the bibliographic details of a source and are numbered consecutively throughout a paper or chapter.
A bibliography which consists of bibliographic citations and lists all of the sources referenced in footnotes. The list is ordered alphabetically.

When to cite

Sources need to be cited in a footnote wherever ideas, words, statistics or images from those sources are discussed, summarised, paraphrased or quoted. Repeat mentions of a source can be cited using ibid or op. cit. See the section on Footnotes for examples.

Differences between footnotes and bibliographic citations

Referencing sources within an assignment requires both footnotes (at the base of each page) and a bibliography (at the end of the assignment).The order of elements and punctuation differs between the two.


Author format: First name Surname	Author format: Surname, First name
Uses commas between each of the details	Uses commas but also full-stops and colons (:) between some of the details
Adds specific page number(s) for articles, chapters in edited books and books	Adds the page range for journal articles and chapters in edited books

Use the full author name, first and last, in footnotes. Use the full author name, last and first, in the bibliography.

The author's name should be cited as it appears on the resource or the copyright page (inside page of books). Where only author initials are provided use those instead.

Multiple works by the same author(s)

If you use more than one reference by the same author (or the same group of authors listed in the same order) published in the same year, list them in the bibliography first by the author’s surname, then alphabetically by the title of the book, article, etc.

For works by the same author with a different year, list by the author’s name and then by year of publication with the earliest year first. Only write the author’s name on the first entry; for subsequent items use an em-dash to indicate that it is the same author as the book above.

For example, two works by Richard Broome in a bibliography would look like this:

Broome, Richard, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800. Crows Nest: NSW, Allen & Unwin, 2005. — Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788. 4th edn., Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2010.

To create an em-dash in Microsoft Word hold down <Ctrl> <Alt> <minus key on numeric pad> or for Mac users <Shift> <Option> <minus key>.

Corporate author

An author can be also be an organisation. In those cases, use the name of the organisation or government department as author. List alphabetically in the bibliography using the first word including occasions when the first word is 'The'.

Use Anonymous where the author is unknown.

Footnotes and bibliographic citations italicise the titles of books, journals, works of art, websites and films/documentaries. All other details are non-italicised.

All words in the title have capital letters (title case) with the exception of articles such as 'a', 'the', 'and'.

Place of publication

Cite the first city listed in the publication details. If not a capital city, add the state details using an acronym (abbreviated version). For example, Crows Nest, NSW.

No place of publication

Place of publication can be found in the copyright page of most books and ebooks. On the rare occasion the resource has no place noted use use n.p. (for no place of publication).

For all book publications there is a difference between publishing houses (which are referenced) and what can be called umbrella or parent publishing companies.

The publisher’s name is usually found on the book cover but also in the copyright pages (between the book cover and the preface or table of contents), which also provides the city and year of publication. This includes eBooks.

Please note this information is not always correct in Library catalogue records or citation tools.

Many publishing houses are no longer independent and therefore the publishing company’s name will also be mentioned. Typical examples are:

Publishing house (should be referenced)	Publishing company (parent company, do not reference)
Routledge	Taylor & Francis
Palgrave Macmillan	Springer

Dates are formatted depending on what they refer to. For example year of publication (2024) or date of access [Accessed March 14 2024].

If no date can be found use n.d. (for no date).

Footnotes require a page number that corresponds to where the information cited was retrieved from. For example:

Craig Lockard, Societies, Networks and Transitions, Volume 1: To 1500: A Global History , 4th edn, Boston, MA, Wadsworth/Cengage, 2020, p. 20.

The bibliographic citation entries for journal articles and book chapters require a page range. For example:

Bennison, Amira K. ‘Universalism and Western Globalization’, in A. G. Hopkins (ed.), Globalization in World History . London: Pimlico, 2002, pp. 74–97.

Footnotes for information from webpages where no PDF is available should use para. (for paragraph) instead of page. For example:

Christine Drewe, 45 Years on: Mervyn Moriarty and the Flying Arts School in Queensland, State Library Queensland, 2016, para. 5, <https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/45-years-mervyn-moriarty-and-flying-arts-school-queensland> [Accessed 24 March 2024].

URLs and DOIs

URLs are web addresses, for example, https://www.unisq.edu.au/library.

The Oxford referencing style does not use URLs for books or journal articles from library databases, library catalogues or online sites where items otherwise available in print are stored.

Where URLs are appropriate include an access date within square brackets, for example, [14 March 2024].

DOIs (digital object identifiers) are not used as part of Oxford referencing style.

Figures and Tables

Images reproduced in your work should be accompanied by a figure number and footnote number, corresponding to a footnote that outlines the source, for example, the book or website the image where the image is located. A full list of figures should be placed at the end of your work including figure number, artist name, artwork title, year, and medium.

Tables reproduced in your work or created by you should be accompanied by a table number and footnote number, corresponding to a footnote that outlines the source or sources of the information in the table.

Generative AI

T he use of artificial intelligence tools is strictly limited to circumstances that have been approved by your course coordinator. Unapproved use of AI tools in your assessment can result in a penalty for serious academic misconduct. Please check with your course coordinator for course specific guidelines regarding generative AI.

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Citation Styles

Oxford Referencing

How to Cite in Oxford Referencing Style - Complete Guide

24 min read

What Is Oxford Referencing?

The Oxford referencing style, initially designed for law students, includes specific rules that shape how you format your paper. It's sometimes called the documentary-note style.

It's composed of two parts: footnotes at the bottom of the page and a reference list at the end of the paper.

While it shares similarities with the Chicago style due to the use of footnotes, it has its unique style and format for various source types.

In the sections below, we'll delve into the key aspects of Oxford referencing.

How to do Oxford Referencing Style?

Oxford referencing style provides a structured and organized way to give proper credit to the sources you use in your research and academic papers.

If you're new to Oxford referencing, don't worry. We'll walk you through the key components and steps to follow:

Understanding the Two Parts

Oxford referencing comprises two main components: footnotes and a reference list.

Footnotes: In the text of your paper, use superscript numbers (like this^1) to indicate when you've used information from a source. These superscript numbers correspond to footnotes placed at the bottom of the same page or at the end of each chapter. In the footnote, you provide full details of the source, including the author's name, title, publication details, and page numbers.
Reference List: At the end of your document or paper, compile a list of all the sources you've cited. This list should follow a specific format and include all the necessary details for each source.
Citing Books

When citing a book using Oxford referencing, note the following format:

Author's First Name
Title (Publication Place: Publisher, Year)
page number.
Citing Journal Articles

When citing a journal article, use the following format:

Author's First Name
Last Name,
"Title of the Article,"
Journal Name volume,
no. (Year): page number.
Citing Websites

Citing websites is slightly different. You need to include the author (if available), the title of the web page, the full URL, and the access date. The format is:

"Title of the Web Page,"
Website Name,
publication date or access date,
Consistency is Key

Maintain consistency throughout your paper. Make sure your footnotes and reference list entries follow the same format and style.

Use Citation Software

To simplify the process, consider using citation management software such as EndNote or Zotero . These tools can help you automatically format your citations in the Oxford style.

Oxford Citation Style Rules and Guidelines

The Oxford citation style, developed by the University of Oxford, is precise and structured. Here are the essential rules:

Use superscript numbers in the text for footnotes, indicating sources.
Footnotes contain full details, including author, title, publication info, and page numbers.
Compile a reference list at the document's end, following a specific format.
For website citations, include author, web page title, website name, publication date or access date, and URL.
Maintain a uniform citation style throughout your work.
Verify all details for accuracy, including authors' names and publication years.
Utilize oxford referencing generators like EndNote or Zotero for automated, error-free citations.

Oxford In-Text Referencing

Instead of in-text citations, footnotes are used in an Oxford-style paper. While typing, a superscript number is added with the word or phrase you are picking from any other source. This number is added in a footnote at the bottom of the page the phrase is mentioned on.

"In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the impact of climate change on global agriculture ."

The sentence "In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the impact of climate change on global agriculture^3" showcases the Oxford in-text citation style, where the superscript number "3" is appropriately positioned after the statement. This in-text citation is typically followed by a corresponding entry in the footnote or endnote section of the paper, providing more detailed source information.

Oxford Referencing Website

The Oxford referencing style is not limited to books and articles; it also extends to citing online sources, including websites.

Here's how to correctly cite websites in the Oxford referencing style:

Author's Name: If available, provide the author's first name and last name.
Title of the Web Page: Enclose the title in single quotation marks or apostrophes.
Website Name: Mention the name of the website where the web page is located.
Publication Date or Access Date: If there's a publication date on the web page, include it. If not, use the date you accessed the website.
URL: Include the full web address (URL) of the page.

Check out the footnote oxford referencing style example website pattern:

"A. Author, 'Title of web section/article/document', [medium], day month year, page/paragraph/section name, , accessed day month year."

9. S.Black, 'Kevin Andrews prods the Sudanese in the woodpile', Crikey [website], 9 June 2007, para. 4,<http://www.crikey.com.au>, accessed 3 May 2014."

10. M. Specter, 'The dangerous philosopher', The graduate forum NYU [website], 2 Apr. 2001, para. 8,

<http://www.cns.nyu.edu/~pillow/gradforum/materials/DangerousPhilosopher.pdf>, accessed 3 Feb. 2014."

After adding the footnote, you will need to add its bibliographic reference in the bibliography list. However, the pattern is different from the footnote.

"Author, A, 'Title of web section/article/document', [medium], day month year, <URL>, accessed day month year."

"Black, S., 'Kevin Andrews prods the Sudanese in the woodpile', [ ], 9 June 2007,<http://www.crikey.com.au>, accessed 3 May 2014."

"Specter, M., 'The dangerous philosopher', , 2 Apr. 2001,<http>//www.cns.nyu.edu/~pillow/gradforum/materials/DangerousPhilosopher.pdf>, accessed 3 Feb. 2014."

In Case of Two to Three Writers

These works usually include research works and research articles. When citing works from two or three writers, the last name is separated with an ampersand. In case of adding a footnote, follow the below pattern:

F.S. Kleiner, C.J. Mamiya & R.G. Tansey, 11th edn, Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth, 2001, p. 38.'

When formatting a bibliography entry, follow the below pattern:

'Kleiner, F.S., Mamiya, C.J. & Tansey, R.G., 11th edn, Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth, 2001.'

In Case of More than Three Authors

In the case of multiple writers, add the last name of the first writer and add ‘et al’ after it. In such a case, format the footnote in the following style:

E. Arnau et al., 'The extended cognition thesis: its significance for the philosophy of (cognitive) science', P , vol. 27, no. 1, Feb. 2014, p. 14, Academic Search Complete [online database], accessed 16 June 2014'

When making the bibliography of the footnote entries, use the following format:

'Arnau, E. et al., 'The extended cognition thesis: its significance for the philosophy of (cognitive) science', vol. 27, no. 1, Feb. 2014, pp. 1-18, Academic Search Complete [online database], accessed 16 June 2014.'

Organizations or Group Authors

Besides independent and individual writers, various organizations and government agencies also publish their various publications. The elements added in the footnotes and bibliography are the same. The difference is that the footnote includes the page number of the book or the journal and the superscripted number.

For example:

" Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, , Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 52.'

For the bibliography:

'Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, , Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2002.'

When there is No Writer

The footnote starts with the title of the work and moves forward with the publisher. It also includes the date on which the source is accessed and whether it is printed or online.

When making the footnote, follow the below style:

, Chadwyck-Healey, Cambridge, UK, 1995, EnglishPoetry Full-text [online database], accessed 15 Dec. 2013.'

When making the bibliography entry of such an in-text, mention the writer as ‘Anon’ or ‘Anonymous’.

'Anon., , Chadwyck-Healey, Cambridge, UK, 1995, English Poetry Full-text [online database], accessed 15 Dec. 2013.'

Source without the Date of Publication

Is no date available with the source? Citing sources without publication dates becomes troublesome, but there is a way of doing it.

If the source is without a publication date, then use the copyright date. If no date is available, then add n.d. instead of it.

When preparing the footnote of such a source, follow the below method:

P. Jones, , Metzger & Son, New York, n.d., p. 14.'

To prepare the bibliography of the source, use the following format:

'Jones, P. , Metzger & Son, New York, n.d.'

Citing the Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are those sources that the student has not read himself but are rather cited by another author. It is like the student is referring to someone who has been referred by another author.

To make the footnote of this kind of source, please follow the below format:

A. Smith, , Penguin, Melbourne, 2000, cited in D. Brown, Faber and Faber, London, 2002, p. 45.'

When making the footnote, mention both the writers. Mention the writer of the secondary source first, followed by the primary author, whose work has been cited.

When creating the full bibliographic entry of the footnote, mention the secondary work that you have read-only, for example:

'Brown, D., , Faber and Faber, London, 2002.'

Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author

It is not uncommon for students to find multiple works by the same author while working on a research paper. However, this does not mean that these sources cannot be cited.

When trying to cite these types of sources, simply add ‘ibid’, ‘op. Cit.,’ or ‘loc. cit.,’ followed by the author's name in the footnotes when citing multiple works by one writer. This shows that the source being cited is from the same author as the previously cited source.

S. Žižek :

London, 2001, pp. 23-4.'

…

S. Žižek, On belief, Routledge, London, 2001, p. 57.

…

S. Žižek, Enjoy your symptom!, loc. Cit.'

However, if you are citing multiple works by the same author that were published in different years, then you will need to include the year of publication for each work being cited. For example:

Smith, John. The Importance of Being Earnest. 1892.

Smith, John. Pygmalion. 1913.

Oxford Style Referencing Bibliography

In Oxford referencing, the bibliography is a list of all sources consulted, whether directly cited or not. It covers books, articles, reports, and more.

A reference list, on the other hand, includes only the sources explicitly cited in your work.

Entries are alphabetically arranged by the author's last name, followed by initials, and indented for clarity.

Usually, a bibliography is not divided into subsections. But sometimes, teachers may ask you to do it and divide it into primary and secondary sources.

Like the APA and MLA style, all the bibliography entries are arranged alphabetically.

'Goldthwaite, R.A., 'The Florentine palace as domestic architecture', vol. 77, no. 4, 1972, pp. 977-1012.'

'Gombrich, E.H., 'The early Medicis as patrons of art', in ed. E.F. Jacob, , Faber and Faber, London, 1960, pp. 279-311.'

'Kleiner, F.S., Mamiya, C.J. & Tansey, R.G., Gardner's art through the ages, 11th edn, Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth, 2001.'

'Lobo, J., 'Latin American construction at a glance', , vol. 41, no. 1, 1995, pp. iv-vi, Expanded Academic ASAP [online database], accessed 5 Nov. 2004.

Oxford Referencing Book

Besides online sources, students and teachers prefer using print books as they are considered more credible than online sources. When adding or citing a print book, remember the below points:

All the editions numbers will be added in the footnotes and bibliography, except the first edition
If possible and relevant to the work, you will need to add the names of the editors and translators also

When making the oxford referencing footnotes for a print book:

'A. Author, B. Author & C. Author, Title of book, edition number, volume number, tr./ed. A. Translator/Editor, Publisher, Place, year, page.'

. F.S. Kleiner, C.J. Mamiya & R.G. Tansey, Gardner's art through the ages, 11th edn, Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth, 2001, p. 26.'

J. Hocking, Gough Whitlam: a moment in history: the biography, vol. 1, Melbourne University Publishing, 2008, pp. 211–2.'

E. Galeano, Open veins of Latin America: five centuries of the pillage of a continent, tr. C. Belfrage, Monthly Review Press, New York, 1973, p.

38.'

When creating the bibliography, follow the following format or pattern:

Author, A., Author, B. & Author, C., , edition number, volume number, tr./ed. A. Translator/Editor, Publisher, Place, year.

'Kleiner, F.S., Mamiya C.J. & Tansey, R.G., , 11th edn, Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth, 2001.'

'Hocking, J., , vol. 1, Melbourne University Publishing, 2008.'

'Galeano, E., tr. C. Belfrage, Monthly Review Press, New York, 1973.'

For eBooks

These eBooks are used by students of all academic levels when they are working on their research papers.

While on making the footnotes and bibliography of the eBooks, take care of the following things:

Add the information like the source of the book, online eBook in this case, after the title of the book
Rather than adding lengthy URLs, add the URL of the homepage
Avoid adding the URL of the source if it is accessed through an online electronic database
Add the name of the online database along with the medium
In case the book does not have the page numbers, add other reference material like the paragraph or the title.

When preparing footnotes for ebooks, follow this format:

'A. Author, Publisher, Place, Year, Database/,<URL>, page/paragraph reference, accessed day month year.'

E. Rutten, J. Fedor & V. Zvereva, Taylor & Francis, 2013, p. 31, Ebook Library [online database], accessed 15 Dec. 2013.'

J. Maritain, [online facsimile], tr. E.I. Watkin, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1937, digitized by the Internet Archive 2010, p. 170,<https://archive.org/>, accessed 20 June 2014.'

When making the bibliography for an ebook, make it like this:

'Author, A., , Publisher, Place, Year, Database/<URL>, page/paragraph reference, accessed day month year'.

'Rutten, E., Fedor, J. & Zvereva, V., Taylor & Francis, 2013, Ebook Library [online database], accessed 15 Dec. 2013.'

'Maritain, J., [online facsimile], tr. E.I. Watkin, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1937, digitized by the Internet Archive 2010,<https://archive.org/> , accessed 20 June 2014.'

Citing a Chapter in an Edited Book:

Citing a chapter in an edited book is different from citing a chapter in the first edition book. When making the citation, the number of the edition is also added after the main title of the book and its author. This is followed by the date of publication.

When making the footnote of such a source, follow the following format:

'A. Author, 'Title of the chapter', in A. Editor ed., Publisher, Place, year, page.'

. E.H. Gombrich, 'The Early Medicis as patrons of art', in E.F. Jacob ed., , Faber and Faber, London, 1960, p. 280.'

When making the bibliography of the footnote, make sure that you have added all the details as per the following pattern:

'Author, A., 'Title of Chapter', in A. Editor ed., , Publisher, Place, year, page range'

'Gombrich, E.H., 'The Early Medicis as patrons of art', in E.F. Jacob ed., Faber and Faber, London, 1960, pp.

279-311.'

A rticle in a Print Journal

Citing print journals is different from citing the ones that are available online. Follow a pattern like the one below when you’re adding a footnote using oxford referencing - journal article:

'A. Author, 'Title of article', Title of Journal, volume, issue, year, page.'

R.A. Goldthwaite, 'The Florentine palace as domestic architecture', vol. 77, no. 4, 1972, p. 999.'

'A. Author, 'Title of article', , volume, issue, year, page range.'

'Goldthwaite, R.A., 'The Florentine palace as domestic architecture',

vol. 77, no. 4, 1972, pp. 977-1012.'

The page range is added in the citation so that the reader knows which pages were used in the research work.

Article Available Online or on an Online Database

When citing an article that is available online or on an online database, you must consider the following things:

Mention the journal’s volume and issue number, and the date of publication
Add the medium of the article in brackets like so (online)
Citing the main homepage URL instead of any lengthy URLs

When making the footnote for an online article source in oxford referencing system, follow the below pattern:

'A. Author, 'Title of article', [online journal], volume, issue, year, page/paragraph reference, <URL> accessed day month year.'

S.K. Martin, 'Tracking reading in nineteenth-century Melbourne diaries', [online journal], no. 56, May 2014, para. 6,<https://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org>, accessed 20 June 2014.'

When creating the bibliography of the online source, follow the below pattern:

'Author, A., 'Title of article', [online journal], volume, issue, year, page range, <URL> accessed day month year.'

'Martin, S.K., 'Tracking reading in nineteenth-century Melbourne diaries', [online journal], no. 56, May 2014,<https://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org>, accessed 20 June 2014.'

Besides online articles from websites, articles from official databases are also used in professional and academic research work. When citing an article available on a database, remember the following things:

Place the online database in brackets in front of the name of the database
Including the URL of even a well-known site is necessary

To make the footnote for an online source in oxford referencing style, use this pattern:

'A. Author, 'Title of article', , volume, issue, year, page/paragraph reference, Database [online database], accessed day month year.'

J. Lobo, 'Latin American construction at a glance', , vol. 41, no. 1, 1995, p. vi, Expanded Academic ASAP [online database], accessed 5 Nov. 2004.'

To make the bibliography for an online source in oxford referencing style, check out this pattern:

'Author, A., 'Title of article', volume, issue, year, page

range, Database [online database], accessed day month year.'

'Lobo, J., 'Latin American construction at a glance', vol. 41, no. 1, pp. iv-vi, Expanded Academic ASAP [online database], accessed 5 Nov. 2004.'

For an Online Newspaper Article

Online databases contain hundreds of newspapers that you can skim through and use in your academic work. These newspaper articles are credible sources that can be used for multiple purposes, including studies and research.

Making the footnotes of the an online newspaper source follows this oxford footnote style:

'A. Author, 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper, Title of Section, day month year, paragraph reference, <URL> accessed day month year.'

J. Jones, 'British folk art review - welcome to the old weird Britain', The Guardian UK, Art & Design, 9 June 2014, para. 3,<http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/09/british-folk-art-review-tate-britian>, accessed 16 June 2014.'

After making the footnote, use the format shown below to create a bibliography entry for an online newspaper article in oxford referencing style:

'Author, A., 'Title of article', Title of Section, day month year,<URL> accessed day month year.'

'Jones, J., 'British folk art review - welcome to the old weird Britain', , Art & Design, 9 June 2014,<http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/09/british-folk-art-review-tate-britian>, accessed 16 June 2014.'

Other than the newspaper articles available on websites, news articles are available in online databases as well. When trying to cite an article from an online database, make its footnote as per the below pattern:

'A. Author, 'Title of article', , day month year, page,

Database [online database], accessed day month year.'

'The unfairness of the advocates of the plebiscite', , 10 Jan. 1880, p. 9, Trove [online database], accessed 23 June 2014.'

To make its bibliography entry, format the details in the following way:

'Author, A., 'Title of article', day month year, page range, Database [online database], accessed day month year.'

'The unfairness of the advocates of the plebiscite', 10 Jan. 1880, p. 9, Trove [online database], accessed 23 June 2014.'

Oxford Style Footnotes

In Oxford style, footnotes are essential for acknowledging sources and elaborating on content without disrupting the flow of the main text.

Here's how to create Oxford-style footnotes:

Format for Footnotes

Placement: Place footnotes at the bottom of the page where the citation or additional information is needed or at the end of each chapter.
Numbering: Use sequential numbers in superscript format (e.g., ¹, ², ³) within your text to signal the presence of a corresponding footnote.
Content: In the footnote, include the following information, generally in this order:
Author's first name and last name (if available).
Title of the source in single quotation marks or italics.
Place of publication.
Publication year.
Page number(s) where the information is found.

Example: A typical Oxford-style footnote might look like this:

¹ John Smith, 'The History of Oxford Referencing' (London: Oxford Press, 2020), 45.

Use Cases for Footnotes

Footnotes serve various purposes in academic writing:

Citing sources to give proper credit.
Providing additional context, explanations, or elaborations.
Clarifying points that might confuse readers.
Offering translations or citing foreign terms.
Noting copyright permissions or acknowledgments.

How to do Oxford Referencing on Microsoft Word

If you want to know how to use Oxford style citations in microsoft word follow these simple steps:

Open Microsoft Word.
In the top menu, select "Tools" and then "References."
A new window will open with a list of available referencing styles.
Scroll down to the "Oxford" style and double-click on it.
A new window will open with instructions on how to use Oxford referencing in word. Follow the instructions to add citations and a reference list to your document.

Oxford Referencing Example

The Oxford citation style sample added below will help and guide you to write your respective style paper in less time.

Oxford Citaion Example

Oxford Referencing Format

Oxford Referencing Guide Pdf

Oxford Referencing Example Essay

Oscola Oxford Referencing Example

Deakin Oxford Referencing Example

In summary, learning Oxford Referencing is important for students and researchers. This guide has given you the guidelines and examples to make accurate citations.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between harvard and oxford referencing.

The main difference between these two methods is the placement of references. The Oxford referencing method uses footnotes, while Harvard referencing includes certain information within the text as parenthetical citations or endnotes.

Where Is Oxford Referencing Used?

Oxford referencing is most commonly used in the humanities, particularly in history and philosophy. It is also used in some sciences, such as psychology. Oxford referencing may also be required for certain legal documents.

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PDF University of Oxford Style Guide
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1 Introduction Introduction The University of Oxford Style Guide aims to provide a guide to writing and formatting documents written by staff on behalf of the University (or one of its constituent departments etc).
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What is a Reference List in Oxford? Your Reference List should be located on a separate page at the end of your essay and titled: Reference List. It should include the details of all your footnotes, arranged alphabetically A-Z by author surname, see Sample Reference List below.
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PDF Microsoft Word
The chapter or essay title, which is generally enclosed in quotation marks and conforms to the surrounding capitalization style, is followed by a comma, the word "in", and the details of the book.
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reference guideThe general ruleIf there are multiple (correct) ways of doing something, choose the one which uses t. e least space. close up spaces and don't use full stops in abbreviations (eg 6pm) se lower case wherever possibleonly write out numbers up to te. and use figures for 11 onwards.Universit.

Referencing styles

Introduction

Author-date citations (Harvard)

In-text citation

Structure of the reference list

Examples of author-date references in British style

Chapter in an edited book

Journal article

Magazine article

Website or other source

As you write ...

Reference list

Further reading

Examples of author-date references in US style

Reference list vs. bibliography

Example: author–date citation with a reference list and further reading—US style

Numbered notes

Endnotes or footnotes?

Note structure and format

Numbered notes in British style

Edited book

Authored book with an editor or translator

Multi-volume work

Unpublished or informally published content

Numbered notes in US style

Law - case law

Short citations

Legal short citations

Example: short citations in US style

Numbered notes in combination with a bibliography

Structure of a bibliography entry

Bibliography entries in British Style

Sample bibliography

Bibliography entries in US style

Numbered reference citations (Vancouver)

Numbered reference citations in British style

Unauthored book (books published by committee, agency, or group)

Magazine or newspaper article

If the article has no stated author:

Example: Numbered reference citations and reference list—British style

Numbered reference citations and reference list in US style

Example: Numbered reference citations and reference list—US style

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