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OSCOLA to APA converter

Paste OSCOLA references, get APA. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in OSCOLA and get them back in APA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: footnotes in-text citations become author–date citations, your “Bibliography” list becomes “References” and titles switch to sentence case. 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.

OSCOLA vs APA: the same sources side by side

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

Journal article

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>.

APA

Suri, T., & Jack, W. (2016). The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science, 354(6317), 1288–1292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309

In-text: (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290)

Book

OSCOLA

Achebe C, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann 1958)

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

APA

Achebe, C. (1958). Things fall apart. Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe, 1958, p. 1290)

Web page

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.

APA

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

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

Key differences between OSCOLA and APA

12 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleOSCOLAAPA
Reference list headingBibliographyReferences
In-text citationsfootnotes: a superscript number in the text points to a footnote with the full citation; later notes use a short form or “ibid”author and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations
List orderSecondary sources alphabetically by first author’s surname, with cases and legislation in separate listsAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Author namesFootnotes give the name as written (Tavneet Suri); the bibliography gives surname and initials without full stops (Suri T)Surname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W.
Many authorsMore than three authors: first author followed by “and others”List up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, give the first 19, an ellipsis, then the last author
DateIn brackets: after the title for journal articles, (2016), and with the publisher for books, (Heinemann 1958)Straight after the authors, in parentheses: (2016).
Title capitalisationTitle caseSentence case
Article titlesIn single quotation marks, title casePlain text, no quotation marks, sentence case
ItalicsBook titles (and case names); article titles and journal names are not italicisedJournal name and volume number; book and report titles
Journal namesFull journal name (or its standard abbreviation) after the volume number, not italicisedFull journal name in title case
Page rangesFirst page only, e.g. 1288; pinpoint pages go in the footnoteFull page range, e.g. 1288–1292
DOIs and linksURLs in angle brackets, followed by the date you accessed them: <https://…> accessed 1 October 2026DOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309

When to use APA

APA is the default in psychology, education, nursing, business and most social sciences, and many universities use it as their house style for coursework and dissertations. It is published by the American Psychological Association; CiteSwap follows the 7th edition (2020).

OSCOLA is more common in law, law schools in the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and other common-law countries, while APA is usual in psychology, education, nursing. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

OSCOLA to APA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert OSCOLA citations to APA?

Paste your OSCOLA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says OSCOLA or Auto-detect and “To” says APA, 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 OSCOLA to APA?

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”. APA uses author and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations. For the same article and page: OSCOLA gives 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>., APA gives (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290).

What is the reference list called in APA?

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

Does the order of my references change in APA?

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

Do titles need different capitalisation in APA?

Yes. APA uses sentence case, capitalising only the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns. CiteSwap keeps titles as the publisher’s record has them, so check that capitals on ordinary words are lowered, because catalogues often store titles in title case.

Is the OSCOLA to APA 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.