It is important, therefore, to make a careful note of your sources of information as you are doing your research and collecting materials to incorporate in your answer so that you can identify and acknowledge them when writing up and list those sources in your bibliography. You should also be aware that employers are extremely reluctant to hire people who have been found guilty of acts of dishonesty. You should be aware that the Law Society and Bar Council requires all applicants for membership to declare whether they have ever ‘committed an act of plagiarism or cheating in any form of assessment’ and will require two referees to provide written statements to the Society concerning the issue. More serious consequences are also likely to follow. This is a disciplinary offence under the University’s Assessment Regulations, is regarded as cheating (whether intentional or not), and normally will result in the coursework being marked as zero. If you do not accurately reference your work you may commit plagiarism. They also allow others to follow up on the work that you have done. References and quotes reflect your research and indicate the depth of reading you have undertaken. Passages taken from the work of others must be suitably acknowledged with the use of speech marks and a clear reference to the source.Īccurate quoting and referencing give credit both to you and to those whose work you have used. The full OSCOLA document, giving more examples and covering the full range of materials, is available online from Oxford University. Please refer to your course handbook or tutors for guidance as to which system they want you to use. The guide also provides some reference to the Harvard System. This guide offers guidance based on the Oxford Standard for Citing Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) – it differs in some small respects from OSCOLA. There are a number of systems of referencing. Similarly if you make a direct quotation from someone’s work this should be referred to accurately. Whenever you refer to either the work or ideas of someone, or are influenced by another’s work, you must acknowledge this. Guide to Referencing and Citations for Law EssaysĪccurate and consistent referencing is essential in all academic work. Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn WhatsApp

How to insert a citation into an essay