It is important to use a referencing system for your essay since it indicates the wide range of research you have rendered for the topic and helps you avoid plagiarism. Referencing also allows readers to look for the sources on their own if they wish to conduct further research for their essays. The Oxford referencing system is a citation system commonly used in academic essay writing to credit sources. Its basic elements include an in-text citation that uses footnotes at the bottom of the page and a bibliography at the end of the essay. A footnote corresponds to a superscript number that is written after a sentence that contains a cited passage. Footnotes are written after every page so your readers can immediately find the source of a citation that they find interesting and relevant.