strathclyde university essay format

University of Strathclyde

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Dissertation Structure - a Guide

Dissertation.

Summary of your dissertation including key findings.

Introduction

Setting the context of your thesis, what issues are you going to address in your thesis and why?

Link your research question/hypotheses with the gaps in existing literature.

Literature Review

What research has been done? What do they say about your research problem? Establish the gaps, issues, contradictions in existing literature on your research topic. Link your research question/hypotheses with the gaps in existing literature.

Establish gaps, issues and contradictions in existing literature on your research topic.

Provides with a viewpoint, a philosophical stance about research. What are the theoretical foundations for your approach?

• What approach does your research questions/hypothesis necessitate? Why? (Justify your methodological approach)
• What is a theoretical background for this approach? (Describe your methodological approach)
• Which methods are linked to it?
• Which methods did you decide for and why? What other methods could you have chosen but did not and why?

Methodology chapter

How, why and what chapter: How are you going about gathering your data.

Contains information about methodological approach/methods/sampling procedures/ethics /validity and reliability of your data collection. In particular you should answer the following questions:

• How are you going about gathering your data? How will you evaluate the data?
• How do you choose your participants? (Describe and justify your inclusion and exclusion criteria)
• What kind of ethical considerations your research project encounter? How you will deal with them?
• Does your data reliable? Explain how you ensure reliability of your data.
• How do you validate your data?

Show your data, does it or does it not answer your research questions, proof your hypotheses? Why or why not?

Did they prove or discard issues raised in the literature review?

Discussion/Interpretation

What implications do your findings have? Did they prove or discard issues raised in the literature review? What do your findings mean in context of your profession?

What do your findings mean in context of your profession?

What kind of implication your findings brings into to theory/policy/field of study?

Conclusion/Implications

So what? Impact on your field. What kind of implication your findings brings into to theory/policy/field of study ? What kind of contribution your findings brings to theory/policy/field of study?

What kind of contribution your findings brings to theory/policy/field of study?

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Assessment and Exams

All students will experience some form of assessment during their studies. This might be essays, presentations, group projects, placement observations, vivas, or a whole host of other assessment types.

If at any point you need to quickly leave one of our advice pages, you can hit escape to return to the landing page.

What should I know about exams?

The most common type of assessment for students at the end of modules is a written exam and these usually take place in one of three exam diets: at the end of semester one in December, the end of semester two in April and May, and – if for any reason you need to take an exam again – over a resit exam diet in August.

Not all modules are assessed by exam, so it’s important to check your Course Handbook and Module Guides (all available via the module pages on MyPlace) to see how all your classes for the year will be assessed. Don’t assume you know as courses change year on year and assessment methods may vary, so always have a look at the most up to date version of the module information so you know what to expect and when to expect it. You may have an in person ‘closed book’ style exam or a remote ‘open book’ exam so double check how you will be assessed so you can plan your study well in advance.

Students are expected to ensure that they are available for all exam diets relevant to them. This includes August – if you have a resit exam to sit in August and have, for example, booked a holiday or planned to be working, it is expected that you will make arrangements to be available to sit your exam in the designated format.

Learner Development Services have a wealth of resources to help you maximise your studying without sacrificing your self-care and their expert staff are there to help you plan, look at your study habits, and help you make the most of your academic time at Strathclyde.

What is the process for exams?

The dates of exam diets are published at the start of each academic year and detailed exam timetables are usually released two to three weeks prior to an exam diet. You should make sure you have all your dates and times noted down accurately – don’t get caught out by having your days wrong!

Your results will be released on Pegasus (under ‘Curriculum History’) and then will be finalised (also referred to as ‘ratification’) by Exam Boards/Board of Examiners following the semester 2 exams. Along with all your final results, you will receive an Exam Board decision – this will determine your final award in the case of final year students, whether you can progress into the next year of study, any resits you may need to do, and any other academic decisions about your award or progression. It’s really important you check this out when your final results are released so that you know if you have to complete any resits or, in some cases, need to appeal against a decision that’s been made.

How can the Advice Hub help me with exams?

The Advice Hub can help you with understanding your exam timetable once it’s released, with making sure you know what work you have to do and when, and helping you to understand your results when they’re released!

Useful resources

For needs assessments for that may be entitled to reasonable adjustments for exams and assessment check the Disability and Wellbeing resource.

Disability and Wellbeing

Learner Development Services

Exams at Strathclyde

Book an appointment

We’re open Monday to Friday all year round other than a Christmas closure and on public holidays. You can book an appointment by visiting the link to our booking form or you can email us .

Book an Appointment

You can find us on Level 1 of the Union based in the Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell Wing of the Learning and Teaching Building. We are fully accessible.

Explore this area

• Help & FAQ

Essay marking of postgraduate students

• Fonseca, L. (Examiner)
• European Policies Research Centre

Activity : Examination types › Examination

Information Services Andersonian Library Guides

Referencing, oscola - introduction, oscola: the oxford university standard for citation of legal authorities 4th edition, examples of citing sources using oscola, additional guides and tutorials on using oscola, oscola style for endnote.

• Vancouver (NLM/PubMed)
• EndNote Online (Web)
• EndNote Desktop

This guide provides:

a video covering key principles of OSCOLA ,

an introduction to OSCOLA including links to official guides ,

a summary of the key features of OSCOLA and examples of references for key types of source ,

links to additional guidance and tutorials , and

information about how to use OSCOLA styles in EndNote reference management software .

OSCOLA: the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities is a well regarded and commonly used guide to legal citation.

It is not the only standard for citing legal materials and you should always check with your School or supervisor in order to confirm how you are expected to reference materials.

OSCOLA online

OSCOLA is available to download from the OSCOLA website:

• OSCOLA: The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities is designed to facilitate accurate citation of authorities, legislation, and other legal materials. Additional Information less... The website includes a full guide and and a 'quick reference' guide as well as information about OSCOLA styles for EndNote, LaTeX, Refworks and Zotero.

Resources include the full OSCOLA guide:

and a 'quick reference' guide:

• OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide A summary of key points of OSCOLA - including useful examples.

There is also information about using OSCOLA styles with EndNote and other reference management software.

OSCOLA in the Library

You can also access printed copies in the Andersonian Library:

These are some examples of how you might cite some common legal materials using OSCOLA.

There is a brief summary of OSCOLA as a f ootnote styl e which uses minimal punctuation , followed by a description of how you can cite subsequent citations to the same source and how you should include quotations .

Then examples are given of how you might cite:

• Legislation
• Chapters in edited books
• Journal articles , and
• Web pages and blogs

However, for more complete guidance please make sure you refer to the full OSCOLA guide or the 'quick reference guide':

• OSCOLA 4th Edition [FULL Guide]
• OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide

Footnote style (OSCOLA Section 1.1)

OSCOLA is a footnote style: all citations appear in footnotes. OSCOLA does not use endnotes or in-text citations.

When citing any source, either directly (as a quotation) or indirectly (by paraphrasing or referring to ideas in a source), cite the reference in a footnote, in the style indicated in OSCOLA .

Indicate footnotes with a superscript number which should appear after any relevant punctuation in the text.

Put the footnote marker at the end of a sentence, unless for the sake of clarity it is necessary to put it directly after the word or phrase to which it relates .

Close footnotes with a full stop.

Where more than one citation is given in a single footnote reference, separate them with semi-colons.

Recent cases have raised questions about the extent of executive power and its relationship to parliamentary sovereignty. 15 However, this does not mean that... 15 Cherry v Advocate General [2019] CSIH 49, 2020 SC 37; R (on the application of Miller) v Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41, [2020] AC 373 .

Minimal punctuation

OSCOLA does not purport to be comprehensive, but gives rules and examples for the main UK legal primary sources, and for many types of secondary sources .

As far as possible, the guidelines in OSCOLA are based on common practice in UK legal citation, but with a minimum of punctuation .

This means that the use of full stops/periods and commas in a citation is kept to a minimum - they are only used when absolutely necessary for clarity. So if you see legal citations in, for example, a database which include full stops you would need to remove these to conform with the OSCOLA style:

Subsequent citations - (OSCOLA section 1.2)

If you cite a source and then cite it again later in your work, you need not cite the source in full in each subsequent citation. You can 'briefly identify the source and provide a cross-citation to the footnote in which the full citation can be found'. This cross-citation would be in the form (n 3) - where 'n' indicates 'note' and  '3' is the number of the footnote - so the reader knows to look at footnote 3 to find the full citation.

If the subsequent citation is in the footnote immediately following the full citation, you can use ‘ibid’ instead .

3 Cherry v Advocate General [2019] CSIH 49, 2020 SC 37.

4 ibid [53]–[60] (Lord Carloway).

12 Cherry (n 3).

For more detail on how to indicate subsequent citations refer to section 1.2.1 of OSCOLA 4th edn.

Quotations (OSCOLA section 1.5)

Up to three lines.

You should incorporate quotations of up to three lines into the text within single quotation marks:

Lord Carloway described this period of prorogation as 'an extraordinary length of time'. 27

Quotations within short quotations have double quotation marks round them ( "..." ).

Longer than three lines

You should present longer quotations in an indented paragraph. You should not use quotation marks (except for any quotation within a quotation, where single quotation marks should be used).

In Cherry Lord Carloway highlighted the importance of the real reason for prorogation:

At the cabinet meeting, the tenor of the PM’s remarks, and the discussion around them, point to the various factors being used publicly to deflect from the real reason for the prorogation (see Porter v Magill , Lord Scott at [2002] 2 A.C., p.506, para.144). That reason, as is reflected in the frequent references to it in the papers, centred on Brexit and not the intervention of the party conferences or the new legislative programme.

The fact that there will be some days in September and October during which Parliament will be sitting, and thus potentially some time to discuss Brexit, does not detract from the general position that the prorogation is intended unlawfully to restrict that time. The court is not dictating the days on which Parliament should sit. That is a matter for Parliament to decide. It is merely holding that a particular attempt to restrict the available days is unlawful. 29

For detailed guidance on quotations refer to section 1.5 of OSCOLA 4th edn.

Electronic sources

The general guidance is: 'If you source a publication online which is also available in hard copy, cite the hard copy version . There is no need to cite an electronic source for such a publication '. (OSCOLA section 3.1.4)

This means that if you access a report of a case, a statute, or a journal article on a database service (such as Westlaw or Lexis+) you need not indicate that you found it on that service nor need you provide the web address. The same is true for an eBook, if you can cite the book as if it were a printed book then you need not include the web address.

Cases (OSCOLA sections 2.1 - 2.3)

Scottish judgments (with neutral citation).

Anderson v Imrie [2018] CSIH 79, 2019 SC 243 

Scottish judgments (with no neutral citation available)

Drury v McGarvie 1993 SC 95 (IH)

English and Welsh judgments (with neutral citation)

Williams v Hackney LBC [2018] UKSC 37, [2019] AC 421

English and Welsh judgments (with no neutral citation available)

Lloyd v McMahon [1987] AC 625 (HL)

For an explanation of the use of brackets in traditional citations see: Brackets in traditional citations (Case Law guide) .

To cite a specific part of a judgment with numbered paragraphs (e.g. most judgments with neutral citations) include the paragraph number(s) in the footnote citations, e.g.:

Anderson v Imrie [2018] CSIH 79, 2019 SC 243 [3]

Williams v Hackney LBC [2018] UKSC 37, [2019] AC 421 [62]–[69]

To cite a specific part of a judgment with no numbered paragraphs, include the page number(s) in the footnote citations, e.g.:

Drury v McGarvie 1993 SC 95 (IH) 99

Lloyd v McMahon [1987] AC 625 (HL) 682, 685

For more detailed guidance refer to OSCOLA 4th edn sections 2.1 - 2.3. For more general guidance on understanding citations to cases see:

• Case Law: How to find and use case law: Citations to case law

Legislation (OSCOLA sections 2.4 - 2.5)

Acts of the scottish parliament.

Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019 (asp 7)

Scottish Statutory Instruments

The Horse Passports (Scotland) Regulations 2005, SSI 2005/223

Children (Scotland) Act 1995

Statutory Instruments (UK)

Feed-in Tariffs Order 2012, SI 2012/2782

The details of how to refer to specific parts of legislation are covered in sections 2.4.2 and 2.5.3 of OSCOLA 4th edn. The following abbreviations are used in footnotes:

If specifying a paragraph or subsection as part of a section, use only the abbreviation for the section .

Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019 (asp 7), s 28(4)(a)(i)

The Horse Passports (Scotland) Regulations 2005, SSI 2005/223, reg 13(2)

Children (Scotland) Act 1995, sch 4

Feed-in Tariffs Order 2012, SI 2012/2782, art 7(2)(a)

For more detailed guidance refer to OSCOLA 4th edn sections 2.4 - 2.5. For more general guidance on understanding citations to legislation see:

• Legislation: How to find and use legislation: Citations to legislation

Secondary sources (OSCOLA Chapter 3)

Book (authored).

Edwina Higgins and Laura Tatham, Successful Legal Writing (3rd edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2015)

*Only second and subsequent editions are usually indicated - it is not usual to include edition information if you are citing the first edition of a book.

Chapter in edited book

Mark Elliot, 'Parliamentary Sovereignty in a Changing Constitutional Landscape' in Jeffrey L Jowell and Colm O'Cinneide (eds), The Changing Constitution (9th edn, OUP 2019)

Journal article

Patrick Birkinshaw, 'Brexit's Challenge to the UK's Unwritten Constitution' (2020) 26 EPL 29

Patrick Birkinshaw, 'Brexit's Challenge to the UK's Unwritten Constitution' (2020) 26 European Public Law 29

Paul Craig, 'The Supreme Court, Prorogation and Constitutional Principle' [2020] PL 248

*year of publication, in square brackets if it identifies the volume, in round brackets if there is a separate volume number

**the volume number if there is one (include an issue number only if the page numbers begin again for each issue within a volume, in which case put the issue number in brackets immediately after the volume number)

***the name of the journal can be in full or abbreviated form - but be consistent

Web pages and blogs (OSCOLA section 3.4.8)

The general guidance in OSCOLA is: 'Where there is no relevant advice elsewhere in OSCOLA, follow the general principles for secondary sources (section 3.1) when citing websites and blogs'.

Citations of online only publications should end with the web address (or ‘url’) in angled brackets (< >), followed by the date you most recently accessed it. You should only include ‘http://’ only if the web address does not begin with ‘www’.

Paul Craig, 'Prorogation: Constitutional Principle and Law, Fact and Causation' ( UK Constitutional Law Blog , 2 September 2019) <https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2019/09/02/paul-craig-prorogation-constitutional-principle-and-law-fact-and-causation/> accessed 13 May 2020

Georgian Presidency of the Council of Europe, 'Justice Systems Must Help Children Overcome Fear and Trauma, Not Make Them Worse' ( Council of Europe ,12 May 2020) <www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/justice-systems-must-help-children-overcome-fear-and-trauma-not-make-them-worse> accessed 24 May 2020

These resources from Cardiff University provide additional guidance on using OSCOLA:

• Citing the Law The Citing the Law online tutorial was devised by Information Services staff at Cardiff University.
• A - Z Referencing Examples (OSCOLA) Examples of citing and referencing sources using the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities - created by a team at Cardiff University.
• OSCOLA FAQs Frequently asked questions about OSCOLA. Includes guidance on some sources not specifically covered in OSCOLA.

Cite Them Right offers advice about writing references, understanding plagiarism and evaluating source materials. It contains videos and learning tools to help you learn about these topics. Guidance is provided about creating references and citations using a wide range of referencing styles. These styles include Harvard, APA, IEEE, OSCOLA, Chicago and MHRA. 

Access to the online version of Cite Them Right is available for academic year 2024/25. 

Users should sign in to this resource using University email address and password. Please note that if you want to do the tutorial and save your progress, you must also log in with a personal Bloomsbury account. If you have a personal account for other Bloomsbury products, please sign in with this. If not, sign up for a personal account.

Use your University of Strathclyde email address when registering. For security reasons do not reuse your University password.

Bloomsbury’s Privacy & Cookies Policy can be viewed via a link in the account registration form.

An OSCOLA 4th Edn style is available for both EndNote (Desktop) and EndNote Online.

Selecting OSCOLA as an Output Style

Endnote (desktop).

On PCs in University IT Labs in EndNote (Desktop) you can select OSCOLA_4th_edn from the Style Manager (you may need to follow the link to 'Get More on the Web...' if the style does not appear in your list).

If you have EndNote on your own computer, you can download the OSCOLA_2_4th_edn style from the OSCOLA website.

Please see further guidance on the OSCOLA website:

• OSCOLA styles for EndNote, Latek, Refworks and Zotero These styles for Endnote, LaTeK, Refworks and Zotero are designed to help legal scholars format cases, legislation, articles and books in compliance with OSCOLA.

Endnote Online

In EndNote Online you can select either OSCOLA _4th_edn or OSCOLA _2_4th_edn from the list of bibliographic styles.

Cite While You Write

When using EndNote's Cite While You Write function in Word, because OSCOLA is a footnote style, you need to use the 'Insert Footnote' function (under the 'References' tab) before using the 'Insert Citation' option (under the ' EndNote ' tab).

Entering References

You should follow guidance on how to enter information in each reference record in EndNote. If information is not in the field required for the OSCOLA style then references may not appear in the correct form in citations or bibliographies. Guidance on how to use the style including how to enter information for each reference is available on the OSCOLA support pages:

• OSCOLA_2_4th_edn_guide (basic instructions for using the style) Please read these notes before using OSCOLA_2_4th_edn.
• OSCOLA 4th edn Notes about this style (basic instructions for using the style) OSCOLA 4th edn (for shared computers,Endnote Web /Endnote on servers etc). If you use Endnote on servers, in shared computer rooms, and/or you want to be able to use your Endnote library on computers other than your own personal computer, use this style.
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• URL: https://guides.lib.strath.ac.uk/referencing_guide

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Scholarships: hints & tips

Choosing a scholarship, check the eligibility requirements.

Most scholarships have eligibility requirements ranging from level of study, course or previous academic achievements to residence or nationality. Before spending a long time on an application, check that you meet the basic eligibility requirements outlined in the scholarship information.

What funding is on offer?

Some scholarships offer a full funding package that covers both tuition fees and living expenses. Other awards offer partial funding, for example a contribution to living costs or tuition fees only. In this case you may need to look for other funding to make up any shortfall. If you have a family, check whether a scholarship offering living costs includes an allowance for a partner and/or children. 

Planning your application

Check the deadline.

Make sure you know the date you need to make your application, and plan from there. Most scholarship schemes are very competitive. It's important to make enquiries and start your application early. 

Allow plenty of time

Completing an application form and personal statement can be time-consuming. It’s vital you get it right, so give yourself plenty of time.

Making your application

Get the basics right.

Make sure you provide all the information on the application form and all supporting documents. Check that you're submitting the application correctly:

• do you need to apply online? If you need to email or post the application check the address. Sometimes the addresses for enquiries and applications are different.
• does an academic department need to nominate you? Some scholarships ask you to be nominated by the department where you plan to study. This will be clear from the scholarship information.
• do you need to also apply for a place on a course? Often, scholarships are only considered for students who have had an offer of a place. This should be clear in the scholarships information. If you haven’t applied for a place on the course, you must do so.
• is the scholarship for students who are applying to start a course, or for students who have already registered? Most scholarships are for students who are applying, but some awards are for students who have already started a course.
• make sure you also check any word or character limits for statements. There’s no point in submitting a 2,000-word essay if the application asks for a 500-word statement.

Completing a personal statement

Think about the criteria.

Most scholarships will publish criteria on how applications are judged. You must address these criteria in your application.

• you might be asked to show that you have 'academic excellence'. Think about how you've achieved this and what might set you apart from other applicants.
• scholarships may be specific. For example: 'for students who have achieved a first-class Honours degree at undergraduate-level study'. Make sure that you don’t forget to mention this if it’s not elsewhere on your application.
• there may be other requirements. For example, relating to financial hardship, career plans or areas of research. You should think about how your situation meets these criteria and put this in your statement.
• you might also want to mention other factors – your career plans, background etc. This should not be at the expense of the basic criteria.

Remember that you can apply for more than one scholarship if you’re eligible. There's usually no problem in applying to several scholarships.

If you're successful, you need to check the conditions of the scholarship.

Some scholarships have restrictions on other funding you can accept. This means that you have to decide which scholarship to accept. Find a scholarship

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