Skip to Main Content

OSCOLA referencing guide

OSCOLA referencing guide

Page numbers and other pinpoints

To pinpoint means to identify where, within the source you are citing, you found the information. This is usually a page number, but legal cases sometimes have numbered paragraphs instead. Paragraph numbers should be indicated by square brackets, except for EU cases.

For everything other than cases, use ‘pt’ for part, ‘ch’ for chapter, and ‘para’ for paragraph. Page numbers standalone without any p. or pp.

Pinpoints to pages, chapters, parts and paragraphs come at the end of the footnote, whether you are directly quoting or paraphrasing from a source.

Page numbers are not included in the Bibliography.

Example pinpoints (note: these examples are also used in the relevant formats sections of this guide).

Page number:

John Knowles, Effective Legal Research (4th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2016) 33.

Chapter:

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, The Rough Sleeping Strategy (Cm 9685, 2018) ch 4.

Paragraph:

Halsbury’s Laws (5th edn, 2010) vol 57, para 53.