Q. What is the format for the bibliography for Law coursework and dissertations? (OSCOLA)

**Please check for current guidance from Brunel Law School**

In academic work more generally, a bibliography is typically used to show everything you have cited and anything else you have read, even if not cited. Recent advice from the Law School suggests that academic colleagues only wished for cited works to appear in the bibliography and not anything else. So, if you have read a source (book, article etc) , but not cited it in your footnotes, then don't include it in your bibliography.

Bibliography format for law coursework:
The key points to note are that sources need to be in categories, with primary sources (cases, legislation) listed first, followed by secondary sources (books, journals, websites) all in alphabetical and then chronological order. Note that case names appear in plain text and not italics.

Note that authors names are inverted. Surname appears first followed by the initial of the first name and then a comma, i.e. Choo A, or Natile S,
This does not apply to company, departmental or organisational names (including law firms and barristers chambers), i.e. European Commission, Ministry of Justice, British Red Cross, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which remain as they are in both footnotes and the bibliography.

Electronic versions of cases and journal articles:
Many cases and journal articles can be found in legal databases such as Westlaw, Lexis+ etc. However, it is not necessary to cite databases as the source. Almost all law reports and journals are available in printed form. The citation itself is sufficient since it includes the law report or journal in which the case was reported or journal article was published. There are a few journals where only an electronic version is available, usually the clue is in the title: The Internet Journal of Criminology. For these titles it is necessary to add the URL in triangular brackets and the date it was accessed.

Here is a sample bibliography:

Bibliography

Cases

Pepper v Hart [1993] AC 593 (HL)

Mastercard Inc v Merricks [2021] Bus LR 25

R v Brockway (Andrew Robert) (2008) 2 Cr App R (S) 4

R v Edwards (John) (1991) 93 Cr App R 48

Legislation

Crime and Disorder Act 1998

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

Books

Dembour M-B, Who believes in human rights?: reflections on the European Convention (Cambridge University Press 2006)

Herring J, Criminal Law: Text and Materials (9th edn, OUP 2020)

Norrie A, Crime, Reason and History (3rd edn, Cambridge University Press 2014)

Journals

Ashworth A, ‘Social Control and “Anti-Social Behaviour”: the Subversion of Human Rights’ (2004) 120 LQR 263

Behan C and O'Donnell I, 'Prisoners, Politics and the Polls: Enfranchisement and the Burden of Responsibility' (2008) 48(3) Brit J Criminol 31

Stephens-Chu G, ‘Is it Always All About the Money? The Appropriateness of Non-Pecuniary Remedies in Investment Treaty Arbitration’ (2014) 30(4) Arbitration International 661

Websites

Gazard B, ‘What’s happened to crime during the pandemic? How ONS has responded to the measurement challenge’ (Office for National Statistics, 25 August 2020) <https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2020/08/25/whats-happened-to-crime-during-the-pandemic-how-ons-has-responded-to-the-measurement-challenge/> accessed 16 December 2020

Gowin J, ‘Can We Predict Crime Using Brain Scans?’ (You, Illuminated. Psychology Today, 2013)  <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-illuminated/201304/can-we-predict-crime-using-brain-scans> accessed 20 October 2020

Metropolitan Police, ‘What is hate crime?’ (Metropolitan Police, 2021) <https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/hco/hate-crime/what-is-hate-crime/> accessed 26 February 2021

Bibliography format for law dissertations:
Broadly the same as above except that separate tables of cases / legislation / EU or International legal materials (as applicable) should appear between the end of the dissertation and the beginning of the bibliography. The purpose of the bibliography at dissertation level is to provide a list of secondary sources, i.e. books, journals, online documents, websites, blogs.