A citation is a way of acknowledging the creative and intellectual contributions of others that you used to support your research. It can also be used to identify specific sources and minimize plagiarism. A citation may typically include the author's name, date, location of the publishing company, journal title, or DOI (Digital Object Identifier).
A citation style specifies the material that must be included in a citation, as well as how that information is organised, including its punctuation, and another formatting.[1]
The citation style you choose will be heavily influenced by the discipline in which you're writing. Your instructor may recommend or demand a particular style for numerous assignments. If you're not sure which one to use, check with your instructor or the publisher whether you're submitting a manuscript to see if they demand a specific style. In certain circumstances, you may not be compelled to employ a particular style as long as you choose one and stick with it.
There are numerous methods for citing sources from your research. The citation style used can vary depending on the academic discipline, and some of the styles such as Bluebook, OSCOLA and ILI are explained below.
1. Bluebook[2]
Cases
General Rule:
[Plaintiff/ Appellant/ Applicant] v. [Defendant/ Respondent], [Citation].
Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, AIR 1962 SC 933.
Index of Authorities (IoA):
Addition to the citation: If the pages referred to are 933, 934, and 935, then the addition in IoA would be the last page number referred.
Kesavananda Bharati v. the State of Kerala, AIR 1962 SC 933, 935.
Statutes
General Rule:
Central Legislation
, § , No. , Acts of Parliament, ().
State Legislation
, § , No. , Acts of State Legislature, ().
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Banking Regulation Act, 1949, § 3, No. 10, Acts of Parliament, 1949 (India).
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Maharashtra Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953, § 5, No. 40, Acts of Maharashtra State Legislature, 1953 (India).
IoA:
The section referred to will not be mentioned.
-
Banking Regulation Act, 1949, No. 10, Acts of Parliament, 1949 (India).
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Maharashtra Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953, No. 40, Acts of Maharashtra State Legislature, 1953 (India).
Constitution
General Rule:
[INDIAN CONST.] art.
, §, cl. , amended by The Constitution.
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INDIA CONST. art. 1, § 9, cl. 2.
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INDIA CONST. art. 269, § 9, cl. 3, amended by The Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000.
Articles
General Rule:
[Author’s name], [Title of the article], [Journal Volume Number] [NAME OF THE JOURNAL (abbreviated)] [Starting Page of the Article], [Pages Cited] [(Year)].
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Emre Öktem, Turkey: Successor or Continuing State of the Ottoman Empire?, 24 LEIDEN J. I NT'L L. 561, 575-576 (2011).
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David E. Graham, Cyber Threats and the Law of War, 4 J. NAT'L SEC. L. & POL'Y 87, 91 (2010).
IoA:
Only the Starting Page of the Article will be mentioned and the other pages cited will not be mentioned.
-
Emre Öktem, Turkey: Successor or Continuing State of the Ottoman Empire?, 24 LEIDEN J. I NT'L L. 561 (2011).
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David E. Graham, Cyber Threats and the Law of War, 4 J. NAT'L SEC. L. & POL'Y 87 (2010).
Books
General Rule:
[Volume Number, if any] [AUTHOR ’S NAME], [TITLE OF THE BOOK] [Page Number] [(Publisher’s Name Year of Publishing)].
2 DD BASU, CONSTITUTION OF INDIA 201 (2010).
Index of Authorities (IoA):
The page number will not be mentioned.
2 DD BASU, CONSTITUTION OF INDIA (2010).
Multiple Editions, Same Publisher:
General Rule:
[AUTHOR ’S NAME], [TITLE OF THE BOOK] [Page number] [(Edition Year of Publishing)].
FRANCIS A. CAREY, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 310 (6th ed. 2006).
Online Sources
Online-only Sources:
[NAME OF WEBSITE], [URL] [(last visited Date)].
BEN & JERRY’S HOMEMADE ICE CREAM, http://www.benjerry.com (last visited Oct. 6, 2008).
Dynamic webpages, such as blogs:
[Name of the author], [ Name of the article], [NAME OF THE WEBPAGE] [(Date of access, time of access)], [URL].
Asahi Shimbun, A-Bomb Disease Ruling, JAPANESE L. BLOG (Mar. 27, 2009, 9:29 PM), http://japaneselaw.blogspot.com.
Online source that preserves original paging, such as a PDF:
[Name of the author], [ Name of the article], [Journal Volume Number] [Name of the Journal (abbreviated)] [Starting Page of the Article], [Pages Cited] [(Year)], [URL].
Kenneth W. Simons, Retributivists Need Not and Should Not Endorse the Subjectivist Account of Punishment, 109 COLUM. L. R EV.1, 3 (2009), http://www.columbialawreview.org/Sidebar/volume/109/1_Simons.pdf.
Direct Citations to Internet Sources:
[Name of the author], [ Name of the article], [NAME OF THE WEBPAGE] [(Date of publication, time of publication)], [URL].
Eric Posner, More on Section 7 of the Torture Convention, VOLOKH CONSPIRACY (Jan. 29, 2009, 10:04 AM), http://www.volokh.com/posts/1233241458.shtml.
2. The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities-OSCOLA[3]
Cases
General Rule:
Case Name – Neutral Citation (which includes Volume and the first page of relevant Law Report).
Guru Nanak Foundation v. Rattan Singh and Sons, AIR 1981 SC 2075.
Note: If the name of the case is given in the body, only the Neutral Citation is to be mentioned in the Footnotes.
Statutes
General Rule:
[Short Title of the Act] [Year]
Banking Regulation Act 1949
Books
General Rule:
Author of the Book, Title of the Book (Edition, Publisher Date)
Nadine El-Enany, Bordering Britain: Law, Race and Empire (1st ed, Manchester University Press 2020)
Journal Articles
General Rule:
Author, “Title of the Article.” Journal Title Volume(Issue) (Date): Page Numbers
Peter Fitzpatrick. “Racism and the Innocence of Law.” Journal of Law and Society 14(1) (1987): 119-32.
Websites
General Rule:
Author, ‘Article Title’ (Date) Website Title accessed date
James Boyle, ‘A Manifesto on WIPO and the Future of Intellectual Property 2004 DukeL & Tech Rev 0009 accessed 18 November 2009
3. Indian Law Institute-ILI[4]
Cases
All India Reporter (AIR)
General Rule:
Case Name, AIR Citation
Kesavnanda Bharati v. the State of Kerala, AIR 1962 SC 933. (In this example, the year 1962 is the year of the case, SC is the abbreviation of the law reporter and 933 is the page number on which the case exists in the SC 1962 Booklet.)
Note: If the name of the case is given in the body, only the Citation is to be mentioned in the Footnotes.
Supreme Court Cases (SCC)
General Rule:
Case Name, SCC Citation
Jassa Singh v. the State of Haryana (2002) 2 SCC 481
(In this example, the year 2002 is the year of the case, ‘2’ is the volume number, SCC is the abbreviation of the law reporter and 481 is the page number on which the case exists in the 2nd volume of SCC 2002 Booklet.)
Statute
General Rule:
Short Title of the Act, Year (Act of )
The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act 21 of 2000)
Books
By a Single Author:
Author Name, Title Pg. No. (if referring to a specific page or pages) (Publisher, Place of publication, edition/year of publication).
E.g. M.P. Jain, Indian Constitutional Law 98 (Kamal Law House, Calcutta, 5th edn., 1998).
By Two Authors:
Author Name, Title p.no. (if referring to a specific page or pages) (Publisher, Place of publication, edition/year of publication).
E.g. M.P.Jain and S.N. Jain, Principles of Administrative Law 38 (Wadhawa, Nagpur, 2001)
By Multiple Authors (More than Two):
Name of the first two authors, et.al., Title of the book p.no. (if referring to a specific page or pages) (Publisher, Place of publication, edition/year of publication).
E.g. Jerry L. Mashaw, Richard A. Merrill, et.al., The American Public Law System – Cases and Materials 50 (West Group, St. Paul, MN, 1992).
Journal / Newspapers
General Rule for a paper published in a journal/periodical:
Author name, title within inverted commas, volume number of journal, Name of the journal in abbreviation & page number (year).
K. Madhusudhana Rao, “Authority to Recommend President’s Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution” 46 JILI 125 (2004).
General Rule for a paper published by a case reporter:
Author Name, title within inverted commas, volume number of reporter, Name of the reporter in abbreviation & page number (year).
P.K. Thakur, “Permissibility of Probation in Offences Punishable with Minimum Imprisonment” 2 SCJ 26-38 (2002).
General Rule for a write-up published in a newspaper/periodical:
Writer’s name, the title of the write-up within inverted commas, Newspaper’s name, date.
Robert I. Freidman, “India’s Shame: Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption Are Leading to an AIDS Catastrophe” The Nation, Apr. 8, 1996.
General Rule for an editorial from a newspaper:
Editorial, Title of the Editorial within inverted commas Name of the newspaper, date.
Editorial, “Short-circuited” The Times of India, Aug. 2, 2004.
Websites
If the websites give information about when it was last modified, it must be cited, if not, cite the date of visiting the website.
Information Technology Act 2000, India, available at: http://www.mit.gov.in/it-bill.asp (Last Modified July 29, 2003).
Information Technology Act 2000, India, available at: http://www.mit.gov.in/it- bill.asp (Visited on July 29, 2003).
4. American Psychological Institute - APA
Cases
General Rule:
Case Name, Volume Number, Court. Pg No <(Year)>.
Kesavananda Bharati & Ors. v. State of Kerala & Anr., 4 S.C. 225 (1973).
Statutes
General Rule:
Act name, § Section Number (Year).
Information Technology Act, § 65 (2000).
Books
General Rule:
Author name, Initials. Year, Title, <(ed. Number)>. Place of Publication, Publisher name.
Alibi, M.W. Learning new problem-solving strategies leads to changes in problem representation, (ed. 4). New York, Science Direct.
Articles
General Rule:
Author, (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Volume Number (Issue Number), Page Number. DOI
Alibi, M.W. Learning new problem-solving strategies leads to changes in problem representation, Cognitive Development, 24(2), 89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2008.12.005
[1]Citing Sources, University Libraries by the University of Washington. https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=341448&p=2802215.
[2]Harvard Bluebook [20th Edition], https://www.scconline.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20th-Harvard-bluebook.pdf.
[3]OSCOLA [4th Edition], Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012.pdf
[4]ILI Citation Style. https://www.ili.ac.in/cstyle.pdf
