AGLC referencing

Author variations

Author variations apply to all secondary source reference types (books, journal articles, reports etc.).

  • List the author’s first name followed by their family name, for example, John Smith. If the first name is not given on the publication, then use the author’s initial(s) with no spaces between e.g. JA Smith
  • See rule 4.1 for more details such as how to include honorific/peerage titles.

Examples

Scott Grattan, ‘Revisiting Restraints on Alienation: Public and Private Dimensions’ (2015) 41(3) Monash University Law Review 67, 84.

Paul Latimer, Australian Business Law (Oxford University Press, 35th ed, 2016) 36.

  • List both in the reference joined by ‘and’

Examples

Ronald Dworkin and Ross Redford, Law’s Empire (Harvard University Press, 1968) 18.

Jacob Greber and Andrew Tillett, ‘Donald Trump Nominates Australian Ambassador’, Financial Review (online at 6 November 2018) <https://www.afr.com/news/politics/donald-trump-nominates-australian-ambassador-20181106-h17kx5>.

  • List all authors in the reference joining the last two authors with ‘and’

Examples

Sarah Joseph, Jenny Schultz and Melissa Castan, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Cases, Materials and Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2004).

Bronwyn Naylor, Julie Debeljak and Anita Mackay, ‘Introduction: Implementing Human Rights in Closed Environments’ (2015) 31(1) Law in Context 1, 6.

  • List only the first author followed by ‘et al’ (meaning and others)

Examples

Paul Rishworth et al, The New Zealand Bill of Rights (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Martin Dockray et al, ‘Why Do We Need Adverse Possession?’ [1985] (Spring) Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 272, 275.

  • Omit company suffixes such as Pty, Ltd, Co., and Inc. from company names
  • Omit ‘The’ when it appears at the beginning of a company name
  • When a government department is the author and includes several levels of subdivisions, use the most specific subdivision as the author, unless this would cause confusion. For example, for Government of Western Australia, Department of Health, Royal Perth Hospital, use Royal Perth Hospital as the author
  • If the jurisdiction is not clear from the name, include the abbreviated jurisdiction in brackets after the department name, for example, Department of Health (WA).

Examples

Qantas Airways, Qantas Annual Report 2017: Positioning for Sustainability and Growth (Report, 2017) 12.

Department of Education (Cth), Department of Education 2018-19 Annual Report: Opportunity Through Learning (Report, 2019) 56.

Journal and news articles

Footnote components:

Author First Name or Initial(s) Author Surname, ‘Title of Article’ (Year) Volume number(Issue number) Full Journal Title in Italics First Page of Article, Pinpoint <URL>.

Footnote examples:

Scott Grattan, ‘Revisiting Restraints on Alienation: Public and Private Dimensions’ (2015) 41(3) Monash University Law Review 67, 84 <https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/monash41&i=75>.

Bronwyn Naylor, Julie Debeljak and Anita Mackay, ‘Introduction: Implementing Human Rights in Closed Environments’ (2015) 31(1) Law in Context 1, 6 <https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/lwincntx31&i=9>.

Martin Dockray et al, ‘Why Do We Need Adverse Possession?’ [1985] (Spring) Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 272, 275.

Anusha Pirani, ‘Cryptocurrency: A Magical Bubble or the Future of Currency’ (2018) 5(8) Court Uncourt 29: 29-31, 30 <https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/counco5&i=325>.

Andrew Sherrill et al, ‘Understanding How Grammatical Aspect Influences Legal Judgment’ (2015) 10(10) PLOS One e0141181: 1-19, 15 <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141181>.

Extra tips

  • If a case name or statute name appears in the article title, italicise the case or statute name. See Rule 4.2 for further guidance.

Year, volume number, issue number:

  • If the journal is organised by year, place the year of publication in square brackets, followed by the issue number in round brackets, preceded by a space: [2019] (1). No volume number is included
  • If the journal is organised by volume, place the year of publication in round brackets, followed by the volume number and issue number: (2018) 40(1).
  • If the issue identifier is not a number, place it in round brackets, preceded by a space. For example: [2019] (Summer) or (2019) 31 (Winter)
  • For newsletters or magazines where the issue is identified by a month or season rather than a volume, issue or year, see Rule 7.11.3.

Journal title

  • Omit ‘The’ when it appears at the beginning of a journal title
  • Omit subtitles unless doing so would create ambiguity (see Rule 5.5).

Pinpoint references

  • Provide the exact page being referenced, preceded by a comma and a space
  • If the pinpoint page is also the first page of the article, repeat the page number
  • If the article is available as a PDF, include the article page range after the starting page number and before the pinpoint reference (see the fourth example)
  • If the article has an article number or other identifier, use that identifier instead of the starting page number (see the fifth example).

URL

  • A <URL> may be included to assist readers in locating the article
  • Place the URL at the end of the citation, after the pinpoint reference and before any short title

Footnote components:

Author First Name or Initial(s) Author Surname, ‘Title of Article’ (Year) Volume number(Issue number) Full Journal Title in Italics (advance).

Footnote examples:

Shiri Krebs, Ingrid Nielsen and Russell Smyth, ‘What Determines the Institutional Legitimacy of the High Court of Australia?’ (2019) 43(2) Melbourne University Law Review (advance).

Virginia Mantouvalou, ‘Welfare-to-Work, Structural Injustice and Human Rights’ (2020) Modern Law Review (advance).

Footnote components:

Reporter First Name or Initial(s) Reporter Surname, ‘Title of Article’, Italicised Newspaper Title (Place of Publication, Full Date) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Tomio Geron, ‘As Market Softens, Startups Work Harder to Compete for Talent’, Wall Street Journal (New York, 20 June 2016), 12.

Jacob Greber and Andrew Tillett, ‘Donald Trump Nominates Australian Ambassador’, Financial Review (online, 6 November 2018) <https://www.afr.com/news/politics/donald-trump-nominates-australian-ambassador-20181106-h17kx5>.

Extra tips

  • Include ‘The’ at the beginning of a newspaper title if it appears in the newspaper’s masthead, e.g. The West Australian
  • If an article is published in a separately paginated section with its own title, include the section title before the newspaper title, e.g. Saturday Extra, The Age
  • Give the place of publication as the city where the newspaper is headquartered. Include the state or country if the city name could be unclear or shared by multiple locations, e.g. London, Ontario
  • Include a pinpoint reference only if the article has pages or paragraphs
  • For online newspaper articles, omit the place of publication and insert the word online before the date (see the second example) After the full date, include the <URL> (or place it after any pinpoint reference, if one is provided).

Books

Footnote components:

Author First Name or Initial(s) Author Surname, Title of Book in Italics (Publisher, edition ed, Year) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Paul Latimer, Australian Business Law (Oxford University Press, 35th ed, 2016) 36.

Sarah Joseph, Jenny Schultz and Melissa Castan, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Cases, Materials and Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2004).

Paul Rishworth et al, The New Zealand Bill of Rights (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Justin Healey (ed), Drug Law Reform Debate (Spinney Press, 2014) 123.

Extra tips

  • Omit ‘The’ if it appears at the start of a publisher’s name. Also omit company abbreviations such as Ltd, Co, and similar terms
  • Use ‘rev ed’ when referring to a revised edition
  • If the author’s name and the publisher’s name are the same, do not include the publisher’s name. See rule 6.3.1 for further details
  • For pinpoint references, provide the exact page cited. If citing a specific paragraph, include the paragraph number in square brackets. If citing a specific chapter, use the abbreviation ‘ch’ followed by the chapter number
  • For an edited book, include (ed) or (eds) after the name(s).

Footnote components:

Chapter Author First Name or Initial(s) Chapter Author Surname, ‘Chapter Title’ in Editor First Name or Initial(s) Editor Surname, Title of Book in Italics (Publisher, edition ed, Year) Starting page of chapter, Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Frederick Hendrik Kistenkas, ‘Sustainable Development: New Thoughts’ in Volker Mauerhofer (ed), Legal Aspects of Sustainable Development (Springer International Publishing, 2016) 535, 540.

Paul James Cardwell and Tamara Hervey, ‘Bringing the Technical into the Socio-Legal: The Metaphors of Law and Legal Scholarship of a Twenty-First Century European Union’ in David Cowan and Daniel Wincott (eds), Exploring the ‘Legal’ in Socio-Legal Studies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) 157.

Footnote components:

Dictionary Title in Italics (Edition Number ed, Publication Year) ‘Title of Entry’ (def Definition Number).

Footnote examples:

Print dictionary

Macquarie Dictionary (5th ed, 2009) ‘demise’ (def 4).

Online dictionary

Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary (online at 20 February 2018) ‘default judgment’ (def 1).

Extra tip

  • For an online dictionary replace the publication details with (online at Date of Retrieval).

Footnote components:

Publisher, Title of Encyclopedia in Italics, vol Volume Number (at Full date) Title Number Name of Title, ‘Chapter Number Name of Chapter’ [Paragraph].

Footnote examples:

Print encyclopedia

LexisNexis, Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, vol 15 (at 25 May 2009) 235 Insurance, ‘2 General Principles’ [235-270].

Online encyclopedia

WestLaw AU, The Laws of Australia (online at 15 February 2018) 2 Administrative Law, ‘2.3 Access to Information’ [2.3.10].

Extra tip

  • For an online encyclopedia include (online at Date of Retrieval) after the title and omit the Volume Number and (at Full Date).

Footnote components:

Publisher, Title in Italics, vol Volume Number (at most recent service number for pinpoint or Date of last update) [Pinpoint].

Footnote examples:

Print looseleaf

Niel J Williams, LexisNexis Butterworths, Civil Procedure: Victoria, vol 1 (at service 231) [21.01.1].

Online looseleaf

CCH Australia, Australian Intellectual Property Commentary (online at 20 February 2018) ¶7-000.

Extra tips

  • If a looseleaf service clearly identifies an author, include the author’s name before the publisher’s name, followed by a comma
  • For online looseleaf include (online Date of Retrieval) after the title. Omit the Volume Number and (at most recent service number for pinpoint or Date of last update)
  • Pinpoints should be given to paragraphs and placed in square brackets [ ], unless the ¶ symbol is used, in which case square brackets are omitted.

Footnote components:

Author First Name or Initial(s) Author Surname, ‘Title’ (Type of Thesis, Institution, Year) Pinpoint.

Footnote example:

Michelle Evans, ‘The Use of the Principle of Subsidiarity in the Reformation of Australia’s Federal System of Government’ (PhD Thesis, Curtin University, 2012) 17.

Extra tip

  • A <URL> may be included at the end of the citation, where its inclusion will help the reader locate the item.

Footnote components:

Author First Name or Initial(s) Author Surname, ‘Title’ (Conference Paper, Name of Conference, Full Date) Pinpoint.

Footnote example:

Jessica Almqvist, ‘Global Judicial Governance of Cultural Diversity: The Role of the European Judge’ (Conference Paper, European Society of International Law Annual Conference, 31 December 2015).

Extra tips

  • Do not include the ordinal number of a conference, e.g. 5th or 12th
  • A <URL> may be added at the end of the citation if it will help readers locate the paper
  • If a conference paper has been published in a journal or a book, cite it following the rules for a journal article or book.

Reports

Footnote components:

Author, Title of Report in Italics (Document Type/Series No Document Number, Full Date) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Community Law Australia, Unaffordable and Out of Reach: The Problem of Access to the Australian Legal System (Report, July 2012).

Qantas Airways, Qantas Annual Report 2017: Positioning for Sustainability and Growth (Report, 2017) 12.

Extra tips

  • If a report does not clearly identify an author, do not include an author in the citation
  • If the report is not part of a numbered series, omit the document number
  • Where a full date is not available, include as much information as the source provides e.g. September 2018 or 2018
  • A <URL> may be included at the end of the footnote if it will help readers locate the report.

Footnote components:

Author, Title of Report in Italics (Document Type/Series No Document Number, Full Date) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption (Final Report, December 2015) vol 2.

Australian Law Reform Commission, Elder Abuse (Discussion Paper No 83, December 2016).

Victorian Law Reform Commission, Civil Justice Review (Report No 14, March 2008) 4.

Extra tips

  • If a report does not clearly identify an author, do not include an author in the citation
  • If the report is not part of a numbered series, omit the document number
  • Where a full date is not available, include as much information as the source provides, e.g. September 2018 or 2018
  • A <URL> may be included at the end of the footnote if it will help readers locate the report
  • For submissions to royal commissions see rule 7.5.2
  • For Law Reform Commission publications, include the publication type as the document type (Report, Discussion Paper, Issues Paper, Consultation Paper, Interim Report).

Footnote components:

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Title of Report in Italics (Catalogue Number, Full Date) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia, 2019 (Catalogue No 4517.0, 5 December 2019).

Extra tips

  • Where a full date is not available, include as much information as the source provides, e.g. September 2018 or 2018
  • A <URL> may be included at the end of the footnote if it will help readers locate the report.

Footnote components:

Committee, Legislature, Title in Italics (Document Type/Series No Document Number, Full Date) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Environment and Natural Resources Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Inquiry into the Environment Effects Statement Process in Victoria (Parliamentary Paper No 59, September 2011).

Senate Legal Constitutional References Committee, Parliament of Australia, Inquiry into Alternative Dispute Resolution and Restorative Justice (Final Report, May 2009) 26.

Department of Parliamentary Services (Cth), Bills Digest (Digest No 75 of 2008-09, 27 January 2009) 8.

Websites & social media

Footnote components:

Author, ‘Document Title’, Webpage Title in Italics (Document Type, Full Date) Pinpoint <URL>.

Footnote examples:

Peter Ryan, ‘Global Bank HSBC Owns Up to Potential Anti-Money Laundering Law Breaches, ABCNews (Web Page, 8 April 2020) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-08/banking-giant-hsbc-flags-potential-money-laundering-breaches/12132454>.

Jeremy Gans, ‘News: Five New Special Leave Grants Bring the Yearly Total to 35’, Opinions on High (Blog Post, 15 December 2018) <http://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/opinionsonhigh/2018/12/15/news-five-special-leave-grants-bring-the-yearly-total-to-35>.

Extra tips

  • Include an author only if one is identified on the webpage. If the author name is the same as the webpage title, omit the author
  • Include the document type, e.g. Blog Post, Forum Post etc. If the document type is unclear, use Web Page
  • Include the full date the webpage was last updated. If this is not available, use the date the content was created. Where only a partial date is provided, include all available date information. If no date is given, omit the date element. The date of access is not required
  • For pinpoints, use page numbers if the source is a PDF. For webpages in HTML format, use the paragraph number or section number in square brackets
  • Include the full URL whenever possible. However, if the URL is very long and the content can be easily located from the website’s homepage, you may cite the homepage URL instead.

Footnote components:

Username, ‘Title’ (Social Media Platform, Full Date, Time) <URL>.

Footnote examples:

@AustLii, (Twitter, 10 December 2018, 8.26pm) <https://twitter.com/austlii/status/1072333780755591169>.

VictoriaLegalAid, ‘Australia’s Legal System - What’s the Law? Australian Law for New Arrivals’ (YouTube, 24 October 2011) 00:00:10-00:01:50 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO5bBEulP68>.

Extra tips

  • The username should appear as it does on the social media platform (capitalisation should not be altered)
  • For X (Twitter) accounts, @ should be included in the username
  • If the author’s name is not clear from their username, you may include their name in brackets after the username, preceded by a space
  • If the post does not have a title, omit this from the footnote
  • When citing YouTube videos, any pinpoint references should identify the relevant point in the recording using a timestamp or timespan in the format Hours:Minutes:Seconds.

Other sources

Footnote components:

Film Title in Italics (Version details, Studio/Production Company/Producer, Year) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Legally Blonde (Metro Goldwyn Mayer, 2001) 1:12:00.

To Kill a Mockingbird (Brentwood Productions, 1962) 0:30:05.

Extra tips

  • Include a shortened form of the studio or production company’s name. Omit ‘The’ if it appears at the start of the name, as well as information relating to corporate status (e.g. Pty or Ltd) and geographic location. If multiple studios or production companies are listed, include only the first one
  • Include version information when citing a non-standard release, e.g. Director’s Cut or Extended Version
  • Where a pinpoint is given, provide it as a timestamp in the format Hours:Minutes:Seconds.

Footnote components:

‘Episode Title’, Series Title in Italics (Studio/Production Company/Producer, Year) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

‘Episode Three’, When They See Us (Netflix, 2019).

‘Accounts Payable’, Suits (Open 4 Business Productions, 2016) 0:29:03.

Extra tips

  • Include a shortened form of the studio or production company’s name. Omit ‘The’ if it appears at the start of the name, as well as information relating to corporate status (e.g. Pty or Ltd) and geographic location. If multiple studios or production companies are listed, include only the first one
  • If the episode has no title and is numbered consecutively, include Episode Number in place of the title (see first example). If numbered by season, include Season Number before the Episode Number e.g. ‘Season 9, Episode 7’
  • Where a pinpoint is given, provide it as a timestamp in the format Hours:Minutes:Seconds.

Footnote components:

‘Episode Title’, Series Title in Italics (Version details, Studio/Production Company/Producer, Full Date of Broadcast) Pinpoint.

Footnote example:

‘Family Violence Killing Found to be a Workplace Death’, The Law Report (ABC National Radio, 21 July 2020) <https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/family-violence-killing-found-to-be-aworkplace-death/12448338>.

Extra tips

  • Include a shortened form of the studio or production company’s name. Omit ‘The’ if it appears at the start of the name, as well as information relating to corporate status (e.g. Pty or Ltd) and geographic location. If multiple studios or production companies are listed, include only the first one
  • For radio segments, the Studio will usually be the radio station where the segment aired
  • For podcasts, use the title that appears on the podcast listening platform
  • Where a pinpoint is given, provide it as a timestamp in the format Hours:Minutes:Seconds.

Footnote components:

Type of Correspondence from Author to Recipient, Full Date, Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Email from Vanessa Li to Samantha Jones, 4 November 2015.

Letter from Sir Peter Cosgrove to Malcolm Turnbull, 3 July 2016 <http://gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/gg/2016/Election%20Letters%20PM%20GG.pdf>, archived at <https://perm.cc/59PC-V4YW>.

Extra tips

  • Use for letters, faxes, emails or email attachments
  • The position of the correspondents may be included after their names
  • If the correspondence is contained in an archive, the details of the archive should be included in brackets after the date.

Footnote components:

Author, ‘Title’ (Speech, Institution/Forum, Full Date) Pinpoint.

Footnote examples:

Chief Justice Robert French, ‘Legal Change - the Role of Advocates’ (JD Lecture Series, Melbourne Law School, 22 June 2016).

Justice Dyson Heydon, ‘Threats to Judicial Independence: The Enemy Within’ (Speech, Inner Temple, 23 January 2012).

Extra tips

  • If the speech is a named lecture, the lecture name should be included in the place of ‘Speech’. If the name starts with ‘The’ do not include this
  • If the speech is part of a lecture series, do not include its ordinal number
  • If no specific forum is indicated, the city or town in which the speech was delivered should be included
  • A <URL> may be included
  • If a speech has been published in a journal or book it should be cited as this.

Footnote components:

Interview with Name of Interviewee (Name of Interviewer, Forum or Form of Interview, Full Date).

Footnote examples:

Conversation with Chief Justice John G Roberts Jr, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Carolyn Evans, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne, 20 July 2017).

Extra tips

  • ‘Interview’ may be replaced with the appropriate format of the source being cited e.g. ‘Conversation’
  • The position of the interviewee may be included after their name, preceded by a comma
  • A <URL> may be included
  • If an interview has been published in a journal or book, it should be cited as this. If it is has been televised, it should be cited as an audiovisual recording.

Before using GenAI tools in your assessment, check the unit outline or assessment guidelines, or speak with your unit coordinator to confirm whether GenAI use is permitted.

If you use a GenAI tool, such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot, when completing an assessment, it is recommended to declare your use. Additionally, if you have used GenAI to create content that you include in your work, you must reference this use as a source of information.

Referencing is a standardised way of acknowledging sources such as books, articles, and websites to show that your work is based on credible evidence. GenAI must be cited if used as an information source. This is required in the same way as any other information you include in your work that comes from an external source.

It is important to understand that AI-generated content is considered a non-recoverable source. This means that the content produced is usually not accessible to anyone other than the person who generated it. Unless the GenAI tool provides a shareable link to the chat, other people cannot be directed to the exact location where the content was created. This makes it difficult to verify claims in the same way as traditional sources.

GenAI tools are also not considered scholarly sources at this time. Their responses are created from large training datasets, and the original source of the information is often unknown. For this reason, GenAI outputs should be used with care in academic work.

If the GenAI text discusses theories or specific ideas, you should include additional sources to support them with scholarly research.

If you are allowed to use GenAI in your work, it is good practice to include:

  • A written declaration

You should follow your Unit Coordinator’s instructions or use the Library’s declaration template to clearly explain how GenAI supported your work. You may also wish to include the prompts you used as a list or by sharing a link to the chat.

  • A footnote

This is required if the generated text has been quoted, paraphrased or summarised in your written work.

Footnote

AGLC has provided interim advice that content generated from an AI tool should be referenced as Written Correspondence (Rule 7.12).

Footnote components:

Output from Software, Creator to Recipient, Day Month Year.

Footnote example:

Output from ChatGPT, OpenAI to Lee Smith, 22 February 2023.

Text explaining the prompt can be included as discursive text in the footnote. The full detail can also be included in an appendix.

Output from ChatGPT, OpenAI to Lee Smith, 22 February 2023. The output was generated in response to the prompt, ‘How is legislation passed in Western Australia’: see below Appendix B.