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Referencing - UK & EU Law: Encyclopedia

How do I reference an entry in an encyclopedia?

This guidance applies whether you found the encyclopedia in print or online.

title | (additional information, | edition, | year) vol | volume number

Footnote and bibliography:
e.g. Halsbury's Laws (5th edn, 2008) vol 2

To pinpoint a paragraph, follow the citation with a comma then ‘para’ and the paragraph number. To pinpoint several paragraphs, follow the citation with a comma then ‘paras’ and insert a dash between the paragraph numbers:
e.g. Halsbury's Laws (5th edn, 2008) vol 2, para 985

If an encyclopedia credits an author for a segment, give both the author and the segment title at the beginning of the citation if relevant.

Title

Begin the citation with the title. Do not include details of the author or editor (if available).

Give the title in italics

Give the first letter of all major words a capital letter. Minor words (e.g. 'for', 'and', 'or', 'the') should not be capitalized, unless they begin a title or a subtitle.

If an encyclopedia has a title and a subtitle that are not separated by punctuation, insert a colon : between them.

Additional information

Most items will not have 'additional information'.

This category is used to give descriptive information about an item not included in other parts of the reference.

For example, to indicate the item is a supplement to a main volume: e.g. Gareth Jones, Goff and Jones: The Law of Restitution (1st supp, 7th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2009).

Edition

Do not give the edition number for the first edition of an encyclopedia.

For all other editions, use this style: 2nd edn (or 'rev edn' for a revised edition).

Publisher

Give the year of publication, but do not include either the publisher or the place of publication.