UK universities use at least five major citation styles — and choosing the wrong one, or formatting it incorrectly, is one of the most common ways students lose marks they've already earned. This guide explains exactly when to use each style, what it looks like in practice, and the errors that appear most often in our citation analysis.
Harvard — the default for most UK undergraduates
Harvard referencing (author-date) is the most widely used citation style in UK universities. It appears as an in-text citation like (Smith, 2019, p. 42) and a full reference in an alphabetical reference list at the end. It is standard in Business, Social Sciences, Education, and most Humanities subjects. The most common mistakes: missing the publication year, incorrect capitalisation in the reference list (only the first word of a title is capitalised, not every major word), and forgetting page numbers for direct quotes.
OSCOLA — mandatory for Law
The Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities is used in almost every UK Law school. Unlike Harvard, OSCOLA uses footnotes rather than in-text citations, and a bibliography rather than a reference list. Case citations follow a strict format: R v Brown [1993] 2 All ER 75. Statute citations: Equality Act 2010, s 4. The most common errors are italicising statute names (they shouldn't be), and formatting case names with the wrong punctuation.
Chicago — History, Philosophy, and some Humanities
Chicago style comes in two forms: Notes-Bibliography (used in History, Literature, and Arts) and Author-Date (similar to Harvard). UK History students almost always use Notes-Bibliography. Footnotes are numbered consecutively throughout the essay. The bibliography lists sources alphabetically with different formatting than the footnote. Key errors: using the same footnote format as the bibliography entry (they're different), and incorrect handling of subsequent citations (use Ibid. only for consecutive same-source citations).
APA 7th — Psychology, Nursing, and Sciences
APA (American Psychological Association) 7th edition is standard in Psychology, Nursing, Education research, and some Social Science departments. It uses an in-text author-date format (Smith & Jones, 2021) and a References list. APA 7th changed several rules from APA 6th: up to 20 authors are now listed before using et al. (previously 6), DOIs are formatted as hyperlinks, and running heads are no longer required for student papers. The most common error is applying APA 6th rules to a 7th edition requirement.
Vancouver — Medicine and Life Sciences
Vancouver style uses numbered citations in the order they appear in the text, like superscript numbers¹ or numbers in brackets [1]. The reference list is ordered numerically, not alphabetically. It is standard in Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, and Biomedical Sciences. Key rules: citations are numbered in order of first appearance (not alphabetically), journal article titles are not italicised, and journal names are abbreviated according to the NLM catalogue. The most common mistake is alphabetising the reference list instead of ordering it by first citation.
Quick reference: which style for which subject
| Style | Primary subjects | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Harvard | Business, Social Sciences, Education, General Humanities | In-text (author, year) |
| OSCOLA | Law | Footnotes + bibliography |
| Chicago NB | History, Philosophy, Arts | Footnotes + bibliography |
| APA 7th | Psychology, Nursing, Education research | In-text (author, year) |
| Vancouver | Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences | Numbered superscripts |