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ABS Law School REFERENCING GUIDE

PG Dissertation

2014-15

Law School Aberdeen Business School The Robert Gordon University Garthdee Road Aberdeen AB10 7QE

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Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3

1. The importance of referencing coursework .............................................................. 5

2. Plagiarism ................................................................................................................... 5

3. Referencing system and footnotes ............................................................................ 6

4. Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 7

5. Some Frequently Asked Questions ............................................................................ 8

6. Information which may not be included in OSCOLA ................................................. 9

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Introduction This referencing guide contains guidance on how to reference properly in accordance with the referencing system used in the Law School; as such, it is to be followed in when writing your PG dissertation, regardless of whether you are aiming for an MSc or an LLM. The referencing system used in the Law School is the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA), 4th edition, which can be found at http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/published/OSCOLA_4th_edn_Hart_2012.pdf accessed 25 September 2014; this document is also available on Moodle in the ‘Referencing Information’ section. Further guidance – with reference to relevant examples – can be found in the appendix to this guide and the guidance document provided by RGU’s library (both to be found on Moodle in the ‘Referencing Information’ section). PRACTICAL TIPS:

• Please read this Guide and the OSCOLA guide carefully, but more importantly, either print them off or save copies in some format so that you can keep going back to them to check that you have followed the style of referencing properly. No one expects you to learn the contents of the OSCOLA off by heart, but there is no excuse for not following referencing conventions properly when you have access to the correct format to copy and are working on your dissertation. Keep OSCOLA with you when you are writing footnotes. For a useful aide memoire showing you how to reference an example of most sources see the appendix to this guide as well as the OSCOLA Quick Guide https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/published/OSCOLA_Quick_Reference_Guide_001.pdf accessed 3rd September 2014

• Don’t panic if you can’t figure out the logic of how the referencing conventions work, when to put tiles in italics and when to use single quotation marks, when you put the surname first followed by initials e.g. Sharp L. And Ross M, and when it is the other way round, e.g. L. Sharp and M. Ross. This guide and OSCOLA will show you how to get it right and to reference your sources accurately and with confidence.

If you consult the grading grids posted on Moodle for the PG Dissertation module, you will see that referencing features as one of the areas on which the grade for your dissertation is awarded. This means that

poor or inaccurate referencing in your footnotes and/ or your bibliography will lose you marks in your dissertation. However, with the help provided by this guide and the other related guidance documents on Moodle, there is no reason for you to lose marks unnecessarily.

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Please also note the passages in the module handbook referring to referencing issues. This means that BOTH the module handbook and this guide (including appendix) are relevant for dissertation presentation purposes. Essentially, while the module handbook refers to the physical presentation of your dissertation, this guide applies to the referencing of your dissertation. For these purposes, where this guide refers to ‘coursework’, it should be taken as referring to both ‘coursework’ and ‘dissertations’. If there are any questions on referencing that are not answered in this guide, please get in touch with your supervisor (once allocated) or the module co-ordinator (at the research proposal stage).

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1. The importance of referencing coursework It is essential to reference your coursework according to the conventions set out in OSCOLA. The reasons that referencing is so important are threefold:

1. Proper use of appropriate referencing enhances your coursework and will ensure that you do not lose marks unnecessarily.

2. As you will see in the introduction to OSCOLA, consistency in referencing is very important. It makes your work look more professional and can make it easier to follow of for the reader.

3. Failure to reference material taken from another source could amount to plagiarism.

2. Plagiarism Plagiarism is the presentation of thoughts or writings of others as your own original work, without properly identifying and referencing the source. Plagiarism, falsifying or fabricating data, copying from another student’s work, etc. are unacceptable behaviour. Any allegations of such cheating in assessments will be reported to one of the Associate Deans of the Aberdeen Business School, and dealt with as academic misconduct in accordance with the University’s Academic Regulations. Aiding and abetting another student to commit academic misconduct will be dealt with in the same way. The Associate Dean has the authority to apply a range of penalties in proven cases. The following is extracted from the University’s Academic Regulations, A3 Section 2, regulation 6 (1):

“Plagiarism. The University defines this as the practice of presenting the thoughts, writings or other output of another or others as original, without acknowledgement of their source(s) at the point of their use in the student’s work. All materials including text, data, diagrams or other illustrations used to support a piece of work, whether from a printed publication or from electronic media, should be appropriately identified and referenced and should not normally be copied directly unless as an acknowledged quotation. Text, opinions or ideas translated into the words of the individual student should in all cases acknowledge the original source.”

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At university you will be exploring the literature of, and be exposed to, many academic influences. In order to take advantage of these without plagiarising you should: Ensure that you acknowledge and reference the sources which you have

used; If you want to paraphrase, make sure that you refer to it as, e.g. A’s view of B

is … If you want to use the exact words, use a quotation.

Expressing ideas from someone else’s work in your own words and acknowledging the source is known as paraphrasing. This is acceptable practice. Expressing someone else’s ideas and presenting them as your own is plagiarism. Many sources can be found on line but extra care must be taken to avoid simply copying and pasting extracts from on line resources as this can lead to inadvertent copying of another’s work. Even this can be judged to be plagiarism.

3. Referencing system and footnotes The referencing system which should be adopted is set out in OSCOLA, the 4th edition of which is posted on Moodle and can be downloaded from http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/published/OSCOLA_4th_edn_Hart_2012.pdf The supplementary OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide can be downloaded from https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/published/OSCOLA_Quick_Reference_Guide_001.pdf. Both documents are also available on Moodle. You must insert numbered footnotes in the text of your coursework which refer to notes containing details of the reference which appear at the foot of the page. This is done in Word by clicking insert, reference, footnote and then accepting the default setting and clicking insert. Alternatively you can use the function keys Ctrl, Alt, f. You should use footnotes, not endnotes. The footnote marker should appear after the relevant punctuation in the text (if any) and normally at the end of a sentence. It may sometimes be necessary, for the sake of clarity, to put the footnote after the word or phrase to which it relates. Footnotes should end with a full stop (or, if appropriate a question mark). Where more than one citation is given in a single footnote, they should be separated by semi-colons. The details required for different types of reference (books, articles, URLs etc) are itemised in OSCOLA and the Quick Guide. In addition, when you include a reference

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in a footnote you must include page numbers/paragraph numbers where appropriate. Where a case name is given in the text, it is not necessary to repeat it in the footnote but the citation should be included in the footnote. This system means that each reference is given a different number. Multiple citations of the same item receive separate numbers. The first time that an item appears in a footnote the full bibliographic details should be given (including page numbers if appropriate). If further references to the same item are made it is possible to avoid a full re-citing of the document by using the following terms: ibid (Ibidem — the same) can be used if successive references are made to the same document. Each use of “ibid” should be followed by the page number.* op.cit. (Opere citato — in the work previously cited) where the document has been cited at an earlier point, but not immediately before this reference. The author’s name and page number are required. The original citation should contain full bibliographic information. OSCOLS discourage use of op cit so use their suggested alternative.* * However OSCOLA avoids, where possible, the use of Latin terms, so while you may see ibid and op cit used elsewhere, follow the guidance in OSCOLA when you are writing.

4. Bibliography At the end of a piece of coursework you must always include a bibliography. Failure to do so will normally lead to 10 percentage points being deducted from the grade given to that piece of coursework. A bibliography is a list of books, journal articles, reports, theses, URLs or any other secondary sources of information consulted during the preparation of a piece of research. All the items included should have been of positive use to you. You should not list items which you have not consulted. The items should be listed in alphabetical order of the author’s surname. If the references start with the author’s surname they should appear as described in the References section in a footnote but should be turned around (e.g. Walker DM) for listing in a bibliography. Primary sources of information (such as cases and statutes) should not be included in a bibliography.

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The purpose of a bibliography is to: • Acknowledge the sources which have been consulted; • Enable readers of the research to access the material; • Provide examiners with an indication of the soundness of your research.

For an example of the use of a bibliography, see the appendix. Points to note:

1. When referring to a source you should always reference the source you actually used. If you did not use the primary source but instead e.g. looked at a case in a casebook or an excerpt of an article in a collection of shortened versions then you should acknowledge this. This means referring to it e.g. JF DiMento, ‘Can Social Science Explain Organisational Non-compliance with Environmental Law?’ (1989) 45 (1) Journal of Social Issues 109-132 in BM Hutter, A Reader in Environmental Law (OUP, Oxford 1999) 218.

2. Where legal material is available in both electronic and papers formats you should cite the paper source. This means that if you have used an article e.g. from Westlaw, you should not state that you have accessed it via the particular database instead you should reference it in the same way as if you had looked at the paper version. The paper version citation details will always be shown in the on line source. (e.g. 2009 S.C.L.1)

3. You should never include databases such as LexisLibrary or Westlaw in your bibliography. This would be the equivalent of attributing the University library which is also inappropriate.

4. You should never include your lecture notes or course handouts in your bibliography or in footnotes. They are not sufficiently authoritative sources and will be derived from the primary sources you should be using in any event.

5. Some Frequently Asked Questions Why do footnotes vary in my textbooks and in some journal articles? This is a frequently asked question. Each publisher has its own so-called house style, and so there may be subtle variations between the styles used by, for example, Bloomsbury Professional and W Green or the Edinburgh Law Review. Even so, what you will find is that the same conventions are followed throughout each book or article. Consistency is key and to ensure consistency in your work we want you to use OSCOLA. Are there any major differences between other referencing styles and OSCOLA? The ones that immediately spring to mind are:

• Less punctuation- follow OSCOLA for essentials that must be included

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• Fewer Latin terms- ‘and others’ instead of et al for example • No need for the place of publication of textbooks; just the edition the date

and the publisher.

6. Information which may not be included in OSCOLA One example which may not be included in OSCOLA is ‘The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia’. The style of reference to the Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia depends on whether the material is from one of the original volumes or a reissue:

• Material in a title in one of the original volumes should be styled: The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, vol 6, paras 896-922

• Material in a title that has been reissued should be styled: The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia Criminal Procedure Reissue, para 183

There is no need to cite the date of publication given that this encyclopaedia is updated on an ongoing basis.