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OSCOLA to MLA converter

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

Paste references written in OSCOLA and get them back in MLA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: footnotes in-text citations become author–page citations, your “Bibliography” list becomes “Works Cited” and the list is alphabetical by first author’s surname. 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 MLA: 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>.

MLA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science, vol. 354, no. 6317, Dec. 2016, pp. 1288–92, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 1290)

Book

OSCOLA

Achebe C, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann 1958)

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

MLA

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

In-text: (Achebe 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.

MLA

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

In-text: (World Health Organization 1290)

Key differences between OSCOLA and MLA

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleOSCOLAMLA
Reference list headingBibliographyWorks Cited
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 page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290)
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)First author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack
Many authorsMore than three authors: first author followed by “and others”Three or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”
DateIn brackets: after the title for journal articles, (2016), and with the publisher for books, (Heinemann 1958)Near the end, after the journal or publisher details
Article titlesIn single quotation marks, title caseIn quotation marks, title case
ItalicsBook titles (and case names); article titles and journal names are not italicisedContainers: journal, website and book titles
Journal namesFull journal name (or its standard abbreviation) after the volume number, not italicisedFull journal name in title case, followed by vol. and no.
Page rangesFirst page only, e.g. 1288; pinpoint pages go in the footnoteShortened range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–92
DOIs and linksURLs in angle brackets, followed by the date you accessed them: <https://…> accessed 1 October 2026DOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also accepted
Title capitalisation(same)Title caseTitle case

When to use MLA

MLA is the usual choice for English literature, modern languages and other humanities subjects, where quoting and pinpointing pages matters more than dates. It is published by the Modern Language Association; CiteSwap follows the 9th edition (2021).

OSCOLA is more common in law, law schools in the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and other common-law countries, while MLA is usual in literature, languages, cultural studies. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

OSCOLA to MLA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert OSCOLA citations to MLA?

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 MLA, 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 MLA?

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”. MLA uses author and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290). 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>., MLA gives (Suri and Jack 1290).

What is the reference list called in MLA?

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

Does the order of my references change in MLA?

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

How are author names written in MLA?

MLA: First author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. OSCOLA: Footnotes give the name as written (Tavneet Suri); the bibliography gives surname and initials without full stops (Suri T). 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 OSCOLA to MLA 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.