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Chicago A-D to OSCOLA converter

Paste Chicago A-D references, get OSCOLA. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in Chicago A-D and get them back in OSCOLA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: author–date in-text citations become footnotes, your “References” list becomes “Bibliography” and the list is secondary sources alphabetically by first author’s surname, with cases and legislation in separate lists. CiteSwap looks each reference up in the open Crossref catalogue, so authors, years and page numbers come from the publisher’s record rather than being rewritten by hand.

Chicago A-D vs OSCOLA: the same sources side by side

Each example below was formatted by CiteSwap’s engine, exactly as the converter outputs it.

Journal article

Chicago A-D

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 2016. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science 354 (6317): 1288–92. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)

OSCOLA

Suri T and Jack W, ‘The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money’ (2016) 354 Science 1288 <https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309>

Footnote: Tavneet Suri and William Jack, ‘The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money’ (2016) 354 Science 1288, 1290 <https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309>.

Book

Chicago A-D

Achebe, Chinua. 1958. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

OSCOLA

Achebe C, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann 1958)

Footnote: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann 1958) 1290.

Web page

Chicago A-D

World Health Organization. 2023. “Malaria.” December 4. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

In-text: (World Health Organization 2023, 1290)

OSCOLA

World Health Organization, ‘Malaria’ (4 December 2023) <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria> accessed 1 October 2026

Footnote: World Health Organization, ‘Malaria’ (4 December 2023) 1290 <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria> accessed 1 October 2026.

Key differences between Chicago A-D and OSCOLA

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleChicago A-DOSCOLA
Reference list headingReferencesBibliography
In-text citationsauthor and year in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)footnotes: a superscript number in the text points to a footnote with the full citation; later notes use a short form or “ibid”
List orderAlphabetical by first author’s surnameSecondary sources alphabetically by first author’s surname, with cases and legislation in separate lists
Author namesFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William JackFootnotes give the name as written (Tavneet Suri); the bibliography gives surname and initials without full stops (Suri T)
Many authorsList up to six authors; for seven or more, the first three followed by “et al.”More than three authors: first author followed by “and others”
DateAfter the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.In brackets: after the title for journal articles, (2016), and with the publisher for books, (Heinemann 1958)
Article titlesIn quotation marks, title caseIn single quotation marks, title case
ItalicsJournal and book titlesBook titles (and case names); article titles and journal names are not italicised
Journal namesFull journal name, volume and issue without labels: 354 (6317)Full journal name (or its standard abbreviation) after the volume number, not italicised
Page rangesShortened range after a colon, e.g. 1288–92First page only, e.g. 1288; pinpoint pages go in the footnote
DOIs and linksDOI as a link: https://doi.org/…URLs in angle brackets, followed by the date you accessed them: <https://…> accessed 1 October 2026
Title capitalisation(same)Title caseTitle case

When to use OSCOLA

OSCOLA is the standard for law essays, dissertations and journals in the UK and many common-law countries. CiteSwap formats secondary sources (articles, books, chapters and websites); cite cases and legislation by hand following the OSCOLA guide. It is published by the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford; CiteSwap follows the 4th edition (2012).

Chicago A-D is more common in the natural sciences, the social sciences, geography, while OSCOLA is usual in law, law schools in the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and other common-law countries. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

Chicago A-D to OSCOLA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert Chicago A-D citations to OSCOLA?

Paste your Chicago A-D reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says Chicago A-D or Auto-detect and “To” says OSCOLA, then press Convert. You can also paste DOIs, BibTeX or RIS. Copy the result or download it for Word.

How do in-text citations change from Chicago A-D to OSCOLA?

Chicago A-D uses author and year in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290). OSCOLA uses footnotes: a superscript number in the text points to a footnote with the full citation; later notes use a short form or “ibid”. A first footnote for the Suri and Jack article reads: Tavneet Suri and William Jack, ‘The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money’ (2016) 354 Science 1288, 1290 <https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309>.

What is the reference list called in OSCOLA?

In Chicago A-D the list is headed “References”; in OSCOLA it is “Bibliography”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

Does the order of my references change in OSCOLA?

Yes. Chicago A-D: alphabetical by first author’s surname. OSCOLA: secondary sources alphabetically by first author’s surname, with cases and legislation in separate lists. CiteSwap sorts the converted list for you.

How are author names written in OSCOLA?

OSCOLA: Footnotes give the name as written (Tavneet Suri); the bibliography gives surname and initials without full stops (Suri T). Chicago A-D: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. When a reference is matched in Crossref, CiteSwap uses full first names from the publisher’s record, so it can produce either form.

Is the Chicago A-D to OSCOLA converter accurate?

Each reference is matched against the Crossref catalogue (over 150 million records) and only accepted automatically when the title, year and first author agree. Anything uncertain is marked “Needs review” so you can pick the right match, and references that aren’t in the catalogue, like websites or local journals, are parsed from your text and marked so you can check them.