Referencing acknowledges the ideas and information sources you have used in assignments. You must reference direct quotations, facts and figures, and any ideas and theories that you use from both primary materials (such as legislation and case reports) and secondary materials (such as journal articles, books, legal encylopaedias and commentaries). Your reader will then be able to find the original sources. If you do not reference correctly, you may be accused of plagiarism.
Please check your unit outline for the referencing style you must use. This page provides information about the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC). If you are studying non-law units, you may be required to use another style. Curtin Library has referencing guides for Chicago, APA and Vancouver styles.
Find the Chicago, APA and Vancouver Curtin referencing guides here.
The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) is produced by the Melbourne University Law Review Association in collaboration with the Melbourne Journal of International Law. Currently the 4th edition is the most recent.
You can access this manual either online or in hard copy:
It is a good idea to familiarise yourself with ‘Part 1: General Rules’ as it outlines the essence of the referencing style and will give you a good foundation.
The guide below to AGLC4 has been prepared by Curtin University Library.
Zotero is a free reference management software designed to store and manage your references. It works particularly well with AGLC referencing. The Library has prepared the following workbooks to guide you in the use of Zotero.
EndNote is referencing software which enables you to create your own database of references and display them in a preferred referencing style. To learn more about EndNote see our Getting started with EndNote guide.
To help you get started the Library has put together a step by step guide to using EndNote with AGLC. Please note this guide refers to AGLC3.
Legal citations abbreviate case law series and legal journals. Here are some sources you can use to find the full series title (or vice versa):
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
Find the full title for many legal publications from Commonwealth countries and the United States.
La Trobe University Library Legal Abbreviations Search
A database of some of the most frequently encountered abbreviations.
Legal abbreviations – Monash University Library
Use the full title of the law report or journal to find the link in the Curtin Library catalogue. You will not be able to link through to the law reporter from this Monash list.
Lexis+ CaseBase Abbreviations
When logged into Lexis Advance, go to the ‘Search Tips’ link in the right hand side of the screen and search for CaseBase Abbreviations.
FirstPoint Table of Abbreviations
Click on the Help link on the right hand side of the screen and choose FirstPoint Table of Abbreviations