Roach on OSCOLA
Lee Roach: Card & James' Business Law for Business, Accounting, and Finance Students
THE IMPORTANCE OF REFERENCING
Whenever you engage in a piece of assessed work, be it a piece of coursework, an exam or a presentation, you will be expected to back up any contentions, opinions or statements of law you make with appropriate authority. This authority could take the form of a textbook, an article in a journal or newspaper, a website, a case or a section of legislation. The reasons why we reference authority are several: 1. It backs up the validity of your arguments and statements of law
2. It allows the reader to determine the validity of the statement made by locating and assessing the authority that is referenced, and
3. Passing off other people’s work as your own constitutes plagiarism. Correct referencing will avoid the commission of plagiarism.
It is therefore important that in pieces of coursework1 sources used are referenced fully, clearly and accurately. Your university lecturers will inform you as to how to reference sources, but there are several different referencing methods. Most business, finance and accounting degrees will use a referencing system called Harvard APA, but the dominant referencing system in law is called OSCOLA
(the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities) and courseworks submitted for law units must be referenced using OSCOLA. What follows is a brief guide on how to cite sources using OSCOLA, which is now in its 4th edition (2010). Students should obtain the full OSCOLA guide for full details. The full guide can be found at http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/publications/oscola.php.
WHEN TO REFERENCE SOURCES
Certain situations are obvious. Many students would understand that the following sources should be referenced: 1. Statements of law – you should always cite the relevant case or legislation (not the textbook where you got it from)
2. Direct quotations – cite the source of the quote, be it from a book, journal, newspaper or
other
THE IMPORTANCE OF REFERENCING
Whenever you engage in a piece of assessed work, be it a piece of coursework, an exam or a presentation, you will be expected to back up any contentions, opinions or statements of law you make with appropriate authority. This authority could take the form of a textbook, an article in a journal or newspaper, a website, a case or a section of legislation. The reasons why we reference authority are several: 1. It backs up the validity of your arguments and statements of law
2. It allows the reader to determine the validity of the statement made by locating and assessing the authority that is referenced, and
3. Passing off other people’s work as your own constitutes plagiarism. Correct referencing will avoid the commission of plagiarism.
It is therefore important that in pieces of coursework1 sources used are referenced fully, clearly and accurately. Your university lecturers will inform you as to how to reference sources, but there are several different referencing methods. Most business, finance and accounting degrees will use a referencing system called Harvard APA, but the dominant referencing system in law is called OSCOLA
(the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities) and courseworks submitted for law units must be referenced using OSCOLA. What follows is a brief guide on how to cite sources using OSCOLA, which is now in its 4th edition (2010). Students should obtain the full OSCOLA guide for full details. The full guide can be found at http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/publications/oscola.php.
WHEN TO REFERENCE SOURCES
Certain situations are obvious. Many students would understand that the following sources should be referenced: 1. Statements of law – you should always cite the relevant case or legislation (not the textbook where you got it from)
2. Direct quotations – cite the source of the quote, be it from a book, journal, newspaper or
other