OSCOLA Citation for Books

Don’t forget to include the exact page number(s) in the footnote. Also, remember that the order of constituents is a bit different in the bibliography. In our citation examples, we use the following color coding:

  • Red – Author
  • Blue – Title of book/article/charter/webpage
  • Pink – Date
  • Violet – Editor/Translator
  • Orange – Website/Publisher
  • Turquoise – Place of publication
  • Sienna – Pages
  • Gray – URL/database/website where the source is retrieved

One author

Structure:

Author, Title (additional information, edition, publisher, year).

Example:

Footnote citation:

Joanna Bloom, Management of Public Relations (5th edn, Routledge 2023) 44.

Bibliography entry:

Bloom J, Management of Public Relations (5th edn, Routledge 2023).

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Two or three authors

Example:

Footnote citation:

Nick Arnott, ‎Penny Paliadelis and ‎Mary Cruickshank, The Road to Nursing (Routledge 2023)

574.

Bibliography entry:

Arnott N, ‎Paliadelis P and ‎ Cruickshank M, The Road to Nursing (Routledge 2023).

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Four or more authors

Example:

Footnote citation:

Robin Richardson and others, Clinical Skills: An Introduction for Nursing and Healthcare

(Routledge 2021) 25-26.

Bibliography entry:

Richardson R and others, Clinical Skills: An Introduction for Nursing and Healthcare

(Routledge 2021).

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Books with editors or translators

Use ed/eds or tr/trs

Example:

Footnote citation:

Sally Sutherland-Fraser (ed), Perioperative Nursing: An Introduction (Springer 2023) 15.

Bibliography entry:

Sutherland-Fraser S (ed), Perioperative Nursing: An Introduction (Springer 2023).

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Authors with editors or translators

Example:

Footnote citation:

Narayan Changder, Nursing: The Amazing Quiz Book (Joseph Nundger tr., Routledge 2024)

302.

Bibliography entry:

Changder N, Nursing: The Amazing Quiz Book (Nundger J tr., Routledge 2024).

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Multiple works by the same author

Using multiple works by the same author poses no challenge as all are to be cited in footnotes at the bottom of the page. On the reference list, replace the author with two-em dashes in all entries after the first one. 

Example:

Footnote citation:

1 Douglas Long, Mastering Leadership: Practical Advice (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021) 23.

2 Douglas Long, Nursing Scope of Practice (MacMillan 2023) 15.

Bibliography entry:

Long D, Mastering Leadership: Practical Advice (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021).

— —Nursing Scope of Practice (MacMillan 2023).

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Different editions

Example:

Footnote citation:

Jonathan Law, A Dictionary of Nursing (5th edn, Oxford UP 2022) 178.

Bibliography entry:

Law J, A Dictionary of Nursing (5th edn, Oxford UP 2022).

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Encyclopedia or dictionary entry

Example:

Footnote citation:

‘Elizabeth II: Queen of United Kingdom’, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024)

<https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-II> accessed 26 June 2024.

Bibliography entry:

‘Elizabeth II: Queen of United Kingdom’, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024)

<https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-II> accessed 26 June 2024.

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Chapter in an edited book

Example:

Footnote citation:

Mark Martin, ‘Leading Change and Working with Others’ in Jillian Jones (ed), Quality

Improvement in Law Enforcement (Routledge 2023) 105.

Bibliography entry:

Martin M, ‘Leading Change and Working with Others’ in Jones J (ed), Quality Improvement

in Law Enforcement (Routledge 2023).

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