AGLC

The AGLC is footnote referencing system produced by the Melbourne University Law Review Association and provides Australia with a uniform system of legal citation. It is designed for academics, legal practitioners, law students, and the judiciary.

AGLC style guides

Library resource

Online resource

Referencing in AGLC

Let's go through the steps of how to use a style guide to reference in AGLC, using the Melbourne University Law Review and the Melbourne Journal of International Law's online PDF version.

The footnote

The AGLC guide focuses mostly on footnotes, so we will start with an example of doing a footnote. As there are just minor differences between footnotes and bibliography entries, it's easy enough to copy your footnotes into a bibliography as you go, then check the bibliography formatting when you edit your work.

1. Identify what the source is, where it's from, and who it's by.

Is it a book? A journal article? An interview? Did you access it online? How many authors does it have? The source's characteristics influence how to reference it.

Say for instance you need to reference a journal article that you found online, such as the one below. Figure 1 shows the information that is at the top of the first page of the article. This information tells you that it is an article from the journal The International Journal of Transitional Justice, and that there are three authors.

2. Find a matching example in your style guide.

The aim is to find the closest example possible in your AGLC style guide. For the following examples, we're using the Melbourne University Law Review and the Melbourne Journal of International Law's online PDF version.

In the style guide, on page 96, you can find examples for an online journal article that is written by one author.

Examples

Kate Lewins, 'What's the Trade Practices Act Got to Do with It? Section 74 and Towage Contracts in Australia' (2006) 13(1) eLaw Journal: Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law 58, 59. 

3. Write out the footnote following the style guide examples.

Your aim at this point is to make the information that you have match the order and formatting of the information from the style guide. This includes the details such as punctuation. If you're ever unsure, remember that your markers care most of all about consistency, and having enough information to be able to locate the source themselves. Check over your references to make sure they're following the same principles and formatting.

Author names

First, you need to present the authors' names, with authors' first names presented before their surnames (also known as their last name, or family name). Section 1.14.2 of the AGLC guide gives examples of how to present multiple authors. For three authors, you will write:

1 Jennifer Balint, Julie Evans and Nesam McMillan,

Article title

Then comes the article title.

1 Jennifer Balint, Julie Evans and Nesam McMillan, 'Rethinking Transitional Justice, Redressing Indigenous Harm: A New Conceptual Approach'

Publication details

After that, you need the year in parentheses, the volume number (and if available, the issue number), and the journal title. You will also need the starting page, and the pinpoint reference (which is the page on which you found the information that you're citing in your work) range.

1 Jennifer Balint, Julie Evans and Nesam McMillan, 'Rethinking Transitional Justice, Redressing Indigenous Harm: A New Conceptual Approach' (2014) 8 The International Journal of Transitional Justice 194, 195.

A finished footnote

Following the above steps, this is what your footnote will look like:

1 Jennifer Balint, Julie Evans and Nesam McMillan, 'Rethinking Transitional Justice, Redressing Indigenous Harm: A New Conceptual Approach' (2014) 8 The International Journal of Transitional Justice 194, 195.

Bibliography entries

When you use AGLC, there are general rules to follow explained in the guide (see pages 35-37). Applying those rules to the example we have used, here is what its bibliography entry will look like:

Balint, Jennifer, Julie Evans and Nesam McMillan, 'Rethinking Transitional Justice, Redressing Indigenous Harm: A New Conceptual Approach' (2014) 8 The International Journal of Transitional Justice 194 

Check your guide

Always remember to have your chosen style guide open while you are referencing-even if you use referencing software. It's useful to look out for inconsistencies, and to make sure that you have all the right information in the correct order and format. Check out the style guides listed above.

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