Oxford Referencing
Proofreading And Editing

Cite Your Sources Clearly

Introducing Oxford Referencing

‘Oxford referencing’ is a type of footnote referencing based on the guidelines in the OUP’s New Oxford Style Manual. However, many universities have their own versions of this system, so it can vary from place to place. And this makes it vital to have one of our Oxford referencing experts check your written work before you submit it for marking!

Oxford Referencing Proofreading Services

If you’ve been asked to use Oxford referencing in a document, why not have it proofread by one of our academic proofreading specialists? We can make sure your referencing follows your style guide exactly, as well as ensuring consistency throughout.

How To Select
Oxford Referencing

When you upload a document, we will ask you to select a referencing system. Proofed uses the Deakin University version of Oxford referencing by default. So if you’re okay with this system, simply select ‘Oxford’ from the menu.

We’re happy to work with any version of Oxford referencing, though. Simply leave a note in the comment box to let us know which style guide to use.

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Footnote Citations In Oxford Referencing

As a footnote referencing system, Oxford uses superscript numbers in the text for citations. The first reference would look like this, for example:

History is often said to repeat itself.¹

The number here points to a footnote at the bottom of the page, which is where you provide full source information. A footnote would therefore look like this:

¹ H. Kane, Discovering Rome, Penguin Roundhouse, London, 2002, p. 10.

This is the first citation of a book. The number at the end here shows which part of the book we’re citing. To reference the same source again, you would not need to repeat the full citation. Instead, you would use the following Latin abbreviations:

Ibid. – Used when citing the same text twice in succession; if you are citing a different part of the text, include a page number
Loc. cit. – Used alongside the author’s surname when referring to the same page of a text in non-consecutive citations
Op. cit. – Used alongside the author’s surname when citing a different page of a text in non-consecutive citations

For instance, repeat citations of the text above would look like this:

¹ H. Kane, Discovering Rome, Penguin Roundhouse, London, 2002, p. 10.
² Ibid., p. 31.
³ C. Alexander, Mrs Chippy’s Last Expedition, Bloomsbury, London, 1991, p. 24.
⁴ Kane, op. cit., p. 185.

For information on other source types in Oxford referencing, see our blog.

Oxford Bibliographies

As well as footnote citations, Oxford referencing requires you to create a bibliography. This is a list of every source cited in your work, with full publication detail. It should:

Be placed at the end of your document
List sources alphabetically by author surname
Give author names surname first, followed by initials
List all names for sources with up to three authors; for sources with more authors, name the first author followed by ‘et al.’
Use a hanging indent for each line after the first in each entry
Italicise titles of books, journals, and websites
Place titles of articles and book chapters within quote marks

The information in each bibliography entry will be similar to the first footnote for the source. The only differences in the bibliography are that:

Author’s names and initials are inverted
You do not need a pinpoint citation in bibliography entries

The entry for the book cited in the examples above would therefore look like this:

Kane, H., Discovering Rome, Penguin Roundhouse, London, 2002.

As with footnote citations, check our blog for info on other source types.

Referencing Styles And Systems

Our expert editors can work with a range of referencing styles, including:

We can work with other referencing styles on request, too. Just let us know which system you’re using when you upload your work, and we’ll tailor our service accordingly. For more information on legal referencing styles, such as OSCOLA and AGLC, see our dedicated legal referencing page.