Referencing the law

OSCOLA

OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities) is the citation style used by the Kent Law School.  It is a footnote citation system that covers how to cite cases, legislation and commentary.

The current edition of OSCOLA is the 4th edition.  For international materials use OSCOLA 2006: citing international law section.

Once you are familiar with OSCOLA there is also a quick reference guide.  If you are struggling with how to cite something the FAQs on the OSCOLA site can often provide help.

Watch these interactive tutorials from City Law School for a great overview:

Reference Management

When you are writing a longer piece of works such as your dissertation you may want to use a reference management tool to help keep track and organise your readings.

Our Reference Management Tools page gives lots of information about how these tools can help and how to use them.  OSCOLA is compatible with most reference management tools but the system that works best is Zotero.

This is a great introductory video on getting started with Zotero: