Bibliography Formatting: How to Cite Sources Correctly for UK Students

When you write an essay for university in the UK, bibliography formatting, the system for listing all sources you used in your research. Also known as referencing, it's not just about following rules—it's about giving credit where it's due and proving your work is grounded in real research. Get it wrong, and you risk losing marks for plagiarism, even if you didn’t mean to copy. Get it right, and you show your tutor you understand academic integrity.

There’s no single way to format a bibliography. Different courses use different systems. Law students rely on OSCOLA, the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities to cite cases and statutes. Humanities and social science students often use Harvard style, a simple author-date system widely used across UK universities. Science and engineering programs may prefer APA, a format that emphasizes publication dates and clear source tracking. The key isn’t memorizing every rule—it’s learning which style your department requires and sticking to it. Your department’s handbook, library guide, or even your module leader will tell you which one to use. Don’t guess.

What trips up most students isn’t the complexity—it’s inconsistency. One source cited as (Smith, 2020), another as Smith (2020). One book listed with a publisher, another without. One website with a URL, another with a retrieval date. These tiny errors add up. They make your work look sloppy, even if your ideas are strong. The good news? You don’t need to be a formatting expert. Tools like Zotero or Mendeley can auto-generate references once you enter the details. But even then, you still need to check them. Automated tools make mistakes, especially with legal sources or unusual publications. Always proofread your bibliography like it’s part of your argument—not just an afterthought.

And don’t forget: your bibliography isn’t just a list. It’s a trail. Every citation points back to a source you actually read. If you’re citing something you found in another student’s essay—and not the original study—you’re citing it wrong. That’s called secondary referencing, and it’s allowed, but only if you clearly label it. Your tutor wants to see you’ve done the work, not just copied a reference from someone else’s footnotes.

Some students think bibliography formatting is just busywork. But it’s not. It’s how you join the conversation. When you cite a study by a professor, you’re saying, "I’ve read your work, and I’m building on it." When you cite a government report, you’re grounding your argument in real data. This isn’t about following rules for the sake of rules. It’s about showing you’ve engaged with the material, not just skimmed it.

Below, you’ll find real guides from UK students who’ve been there—how to cite legal cases without getting lost, how to handle online sources that don’t have authors, how to fix common mistakes that cost marks, and how to save hours by setting up templates in Word or Google Docs. Whether you’re in law, history, psychology, or engineering, these posts will help you get your bibliography right—once and for all.