How to cite a web page in OSCOLA
Short answer
How do you cite a web page in OSCOLA?
You need author or organisation, year, page title, site name, url, date accessed. The reference list entry looks like this:
Quality Assurance Agency, 'Academic Integrity Charter for Uk Higher Education' (QAA, 2025) <https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity> accessed 14 August 2026
The matching in-text citation is n 1 (footnote).
Gather the details
You need: Author or organisation, Year, Page title, Site name, URL, Date accessed. Take them from the source itself, not from a database record, which is often incomplete.
Order the elements
OSCOLA is a footnote style, so the full citation appears in a note and again, reordered, in the bibliography. Follow the pattern in the example below exactly, including its punctuation.
Add the in-text citation
Every reference needs a matching in-text citation. In OSCOLA that is n 1 (footnote). Missing or mismatched in-text citations are penalised more often than formatting slips.
Check against your own guide
Institutional variants exist, particularly in Harvard. Where your department's published guide differs from any generator, the department's guide wins.
What you need
Details to collect
- Author or organisation
- Year
- Page title
- Site name
- URL
- Date accessed
Watch out
Mistakes this pairing invites
- Concluding there is no date without checking the page source or copyright line.
- Using the site name as the author when a named author is present.
- Omitting the access date in styles that require it, such as Harvard and MLA.
- No full stops in abbreviations — 'ibid' not 'ibid.'
- Case names are italicised; the citation that follows is not.
Compare
The same web page in all eight styles
Agency, Q. A. (2025) Academic integrity charter for uk higher education. Available at: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity (Accessed: 14 August 2026).
Agency, Q. A. (2025). Academic integrity charter for uk higher education. QAA. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity
Agency, Quality Assurance. "Academic Integrity Charter for Uk Higher Education." QAA, 2025, https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity. Accessed 14 August 2026.
Agency, Quality Assurance. "Academic Integrity Charter for Uk Higher Education." QAA. 2025. Accessed August 14, 2026. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity.
Agency QA. Academic integrity charter for uk higher education [Internet]. QAA; 2025 [cited 14 August 2026]. Available from: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity
OSCOLA
This pageQuality Assurance Agency, 'Academic Integrity Charter for Uk Higher Education' (QAA, 2025) <https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity> accessed 14 August 2026
Q. A. Agency, "Academic integrity charter for uk higher education," QAA, 2025. Accessed: August 14, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity
Agency QA. Academic integrity charter for uk higher education. QAA. Published 2025. Accessed August 14, 2026. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity
Frequently asked questions
- How do you cite a web page in OSCOLA?
- Quality Assurance Agency, 'Academic Integrity Charter for Uk Higher Education' (QAA, 2025) <https://www.qaa.ac.uk/academic-integrity> accessed 14 August 2026 — that is the reference list entry. The matching in-text citation is n 1 (footnote). You need author or organisation, year, page title, site name, url, date accessed.
- What details do I need to cite a web page?
- Author or organisation, Year, Page title, Site name, URL, Date accessed. If a detail is genuinely unavailable, most styles have a defined substitute — for example 'n.d.' or 'no date' where no publication year exists — rather than simply omitting the element.
- What is the in-text citation for a web page in OSCOLA?
- n 1 (footnote). The number refers to a footnote at the bottom of the page carrying the full citation on first use and a short form thereafter.