MHRA style

The Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) referencing style guidance on this page is based on the 4th edition. The guidance on this page covers key aspects of using the style, but is not comprehsive. See the full MHRA 4th edition style guide for complete guidance on all aspects of using the style.

Important to note:

The MHRA referencing style requires the second and subsequent lines of each entry in the bibliography to be indented. Due to the formatting constraints of this website, this requirement is not reflected in the examples below; please keep this in mind when formatting your bibliography.

Citing sources in your text

In-text numbering, footnotes and endnotes

The MHRA style of referencing is notes based. It requires you to use superscript numbers when you’re citing a source.

...the Skills Hub uses the 12th edition of Cite Them Right1

The numbers correspond to a full reference given in a note in addition to your bibliography.

There are two types of notes:

  • Footnotes: Notes set out at the bottom of each page.
  • Endnotes: Notes set out at the end of the piece of work (or at the end of each chapter for books) before the bibliography.

You should use either footnotes or endnotes in a piece of work. Check with your school to see if they prefer footnotes or endnotes.

Format your footnotes or endnotes as follows

    • Wherever possible, a note reference number should be placed at the end of a sentence. The number should follow any punctuation (except a dash which it should precede). Example of note placement:

The quick fox jumps over the lazy dog,1 but the dog2 - who was not so lazy after all - chased the fox away.3

  • Provide full reference details the first time you cite a source; abbreviate subsequent entries of the same source to author's surname first two words of the title, and a page number. Example:

1Tai Lim and others, Coal Mining Communities and Gentrification in Japan (Springer Nature, 2019), p. 55 doi:10.1007/978-981-13-7220-9.

2Lim and others, Coal Mining, p. 57.

  • Notes should not repeat information already clear from the text: if, for example, the author has been named before a quotation there is no need to repeat the name in a note reference. Example:

Willis argues that the minor characters in Austen’s works are ‘given substance by being associated with concrete objects.’1

1‘Object Association and Minor Characters in Jane Austen’s Novels’, Studies in the Novel, 7.1 (1975), pp. 104–19 (p. 104).

  • Author's forename is followed by surname in the footnotes but not in the bibliography.
  • Put a full stop at the end of footnotes and endnotes.
  • Number your notes in the order they appear in the text, not alphabetically.
  • Where there is no author, use the title instead.
  • Use title case, capitalising the first letter of each major word.
  • Place URLs, but not DOIs, between angle brackets <>.
  • Do not repeat the note reference number to refer to the same note. If you need to refer to the same note again reference the previous note in brackets in your text e.g. (see note 2 above).

Quotations

  • Short quotations are 40 words or less and should be enclosed in single quotation marks in line with your main text. Example:

As Jane Austen writes, ‘It isn't what we say or think that defines us but what we do.’

  • If your quote isn’t a complete sentence, place the full stop after the quotation mark. Example:

‘Anxiety in this group may present as a behaviour that challenges’.

  • If the text you’re quoting, includes a quote/speech within it, use double quotations marks to indicate this. Example:

‘He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath: “‘The horror! The horror!”’

  • Long quotations (over 40 words) should be given without quote marks but as their own paragraph, indented to the left with a blank line before and after. Example:

We are left with Roy Batty’s final monologue:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... Time to die.1

In this scene, Scott presents...

  • When citing the same source repeatedly in a document (e.g. if you’re critiquing a book) cite the source in full once. Then add this note to the end of your footnote/endnote:

Further references to this [article, book, edition etc.] are given in the text.

  • After this, you do not need to include footnotes/endnotes when quoting this source, just give the page number (or act, scene and line number for plays) in brackets. Example:

‘They breathe profits: they eat the interest on money’ (p. 34).

Quoting poetry and verse

  • When giving a short quotation (40 words or less) of verse, use a spaced upright stroke to indicate a line division. Example:

‘So rested he by the Tumtum tree | And stood awhile in thought.’1

  • When giving a long quotation (three lines or more) of verse, present your quote in its own indented paragraph, without quote marks preserving the layout and indentation of the original text. Example:

Our protagonist is ambushed whilst lost in thought:

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
            The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
            And burbled as it came!1

Referencing works with more than one author

  • When citing works with up to three authors, give all their names in full.
  • Use the written ‘and’ rather than the symbol ‘&’ when naming multiple authors e.g. ‘John Smith, Juliet Robinson and Maya Hubert’.
  • For works with four or more authors, give the first author’s name followed by ‘and others’. Example:

1Jessica Hughes and others, ‘“It Wasn’t the Strategies on Their Own”: Exploring Caregivers’ Experiences of Accessing Services in the Development of Interventions for Autistic People with Intellectual Disability’, Autism, 28.5 (2024), pp. 1231–44 doi:10.1177/13623613231196084.

Creating your bibliography/list of references

The bibliography is the list of all the sources that you have read for a piece of work. In your bibliography you must list every source you have reviewed, even those you have not cited in the text. A reference list should just contain sources that you have cited in your work. Check with your school to see if they prefer you to include a reference list or a full bibliography.

Format your bibliography as follows

  • Arrange the references in alphabetical order by author's surname.
  • The first author’s/editor’s name should be reversed (surname first). Where texts have multiple authors, this only applies to the first author all other author’s names should not be reversed.
  • If a work has more than three authors, name only the first followed by ‘and others.’
  • Where there is no author, use the title instead and place in alphabetical order (ignoring any initial articles e.g. ‘The’ or ‘A’).
  • Use title case, capitalising the first letter of each major word.
  • Do not put a full stop at the end of bibliographic entries.
  • Place URLs (but not DOIs) between angle brackets <>.
  • Add the relevant page range for journal articles and book chapters that are included in the bibliography (preceded by pp.) e.g. pp. 27-52.

Example:

Caillard, Vivian, The Songs of Innocence of William Blake Set to Music (Novello, Ewer and Co, 1891)

Dickens, Charles, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (George Routledge and Sons, 1889) <https://data.historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/view?pubId=bl-000931922> [accessed 11 January 2024]

Hutcheon, Rebecca, ‘George Gissing: A Story of English Surrealism’, English Literature, 6 (2019), pp. 69-82, doi:10.30687/EL/2420-823X/2019/01/004

Lim, Tai and others, Coal Mining Communities and Gentrification in Japan (Springer Nature, 2019), p. 54, doi:10.1007/978-981-13-7220-9

Pears, Richard, Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide, 12th edn (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022)

Walsh, Claire, 'Sylvia Plath's Poetry of Youth' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Sussex, 2006)

Print Books

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, book title, edition if not the first (publisher, year of publication), p. page number you've referred to.

If the section you’ve quoted/referred to spans multiple pages, use ‘pp.’ instead.

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, book title, edition if not the first (publisher, year of publication)

Example

Footnotes

1Vivian Caillard, The Songs of Innocence of William Blake Set to Music (Novello Ewer, and Co, 1891), p. 5.
2Richard Pears, Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide, 12th edn (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), pp. 27-28.

 

Bibliography

Caillard, Vivian, The Songs of Innocence of William Blake Set to Music (Novello, Ewer and Co, 1891)

Pears, Richard, Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide 12th edn (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022)

eBooks

The MHRA manual states that “it is preferable, wherever possible, to cite the details of the original print edition”. If an e-book is also available in print, cite it as you would a physical book. If a DOI is available for an eBook give the DOI rather than a URL.

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, title (publisher, year of publication), p. page number you've referred to DOI or <URL> [accessed date month year].

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, title (publisher, year of publication) DOI or <url> [accessed date month year].

Example

Footnotes

1 Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (George Routledge and Sons, 1889), p. 123 <https://data.historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/view?pubId=bl-000931922> [accessed 11 January 2024].

2 Tai Lim and others, Coal Mining Communities and Gentrification in Japan (Springer Nature, 2019), p. 54, doi:10.1007/978-981-13-7220-9.

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (George Routledge and Sons, 1889) <https://data.historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/view?pubId=bl-000931922> [accessed 11 January 2024]

Lim, Tai and others, Coal Mining Communities and Gentrification in Japan (Springer Nature, 2019), p. 54, doi:10.1007/978-981-13-7220-9

Chapters/sections in edited books

When you want to quote a chapter or section of text within an edited book use the format below. If you are looking for guidance on how to reference a particular chapter in a book that isn’t edited e.g. a single author please look under the ‘Book’ section.

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, ‘Chapter Title’, in Book Title, ed. By Author forename followed by surname (publisher, year of publication), pp. page range of chapter (p. page number(s) you've referred to), DOI (if present).

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, ‘Chapter Title’, in Book Title, ed. By Author forename followed by surname (publisher, year of publication), pp. page range of chapter

Example

Footnotes

1 Nathaniel Leach, ‘Mary Shelley and the Godwinian Gothic: Matilda and Mandeville’, in Mary Shelley: Her Circle and Her Contemporaries, ed. by L. Adam Mekler and Lucy Morrison (Cambridge Scholars, 2010), pp. 63-82 (p. 66).

Bibliography

Leach, Nathaniel, ‘Mary Shelley and the Godwinian Gothic: Matilda and Mandeville’, in Mary Shelley: Her Circle and Her Contemporaries, ed. by L. Adam Mekler and Lucy Morrison (Cambridge Scholars, 2010), pp. 63-82

Journal articles

When referencing online journal articles, include the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) if possible. With a DOI it is not necessary to give an access date. A URL should only be given where there is no DOI. If you include a URL, you must also include the date that you accessed the article. If you’re referencing a print journal, the format is the same but without a DOI/URL.

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, ‘article title’, title of journal, volume number.issue number if applicable (year published), pp. page range if available (p. page number you've referred to), DOI or <URL> [accessed date month year].

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, ‘article title’, title of journal, volume number.issue number if applicable (year published), pp. page range if available, DOI or <URL> [accessed date month year]

Example

Footnotes

1 Rebecca Hutcheon, ‘George Gissing: A Story of English Surrealism’, English Literature, 6 (2019), pp. 69-82 (p. 73), doi.org/10.30687/EL/2420-823X/2019/01/004.

2 Olivia Harrison, ‘Translating Race on the French Stage’, Comparative Literature, 73.4 (2021), pp. 385-402 (p.386) <https://read.dukeupress.edu/comparative-literature/article/73/4/385/276757/Translating-Race-on-the-French-Stage> [accessed 11 January 2022].

Bibliography

Harrison, Olivia, ‘Translating Race on the French Stage’, Comparative Literature, 73.4 (2021), 385-402 <https://read.dukeupress.edu/comparative-literature/article/73/4/385/276757/Translating-Race-on-the-French-Stage> [accessed 11 January 2022]

Hutcheon, Rebecca, ‘George Gissing: A Story of English Surrealism’, English Literature, 6 (2019), pp. 69-82 doi.org/10.30687/EL/2420-823X/2019/01/004

Newspaper articles

When citing English-language newspapers and magazines the initial ‘The’ or ‘A’ is normally omitted (except when citing 'The Times’). Unlike with journal articles, you don’t need to give the page range for news articles, just the page number for the section you’re quoting/citing. If you read the article in a print newspaper, the format is the same but with no URL or access date.

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, ‘Title of article’, Title of newspaper, publication date month year, name of section if applicable, p. page number <URL> [accessed date month year].

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, ‘title of article’, title of newspaper, publication date month year, name of section if applicable <URL> [accessed date month year].

Example

Footnotes

1 Dan Old, 'House Price Gloom', Evening Chronicle, 26 June 2008, p. 25.

2 Sandra Laville, ‘MPs call for bathing rivers across England as part of anti-pollution drive’, The Guardian, 13 January 2022, Environment section <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/13/bathing-rivers-england-pollution-water-quality-mps-report> [accessed 13 January 2022].

Bibliography

Laville, Sandra, ‘MPs call for bathing rivers across England as part of anti-pollution drive’, The Guardian, 13 January 2022, Environment section <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/13/bathing-rivers-england-pollution-water-quality-mps-report> [accessed 13 January 2022]

Old, Dan, 'House Price Gloom', Evening Chronicle, 26 June 2008

Theses and dissertations

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, ‘title of thesis’ (degree level, university, year of submission), p. page number referred to <URL> [accessed date month year].

Bibliograph

Author surname, forename, ‘title of thesis’ (degree level, university, year of submission) <URL> [accessed date month year]

Example

Footnotes

1 Claire Walsh, 'Sylvia Plath's Poetry of Youth' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Sussex, 2006), p. 22.

2 Rebecca Sinar, 'A history of English reflexives: from Old English into Early Modern English' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of York, 2006), p. 34 <https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/42604954.pdf> [accessed 23 January 2024].

Bibliography

Walsh, Claire, 'Sylvia Plath's Poetry of Youth' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Sussex, 2006)

Sinar, Rebecca, 'A history of English reflexives: from Old English into Early Modern English' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of York, 2006) <https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/42604954.pdf> [accessed 23 January 2024]

Poems

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, ‘poem title’, in book/anthology title (publisher, year of publication), p. page containing poem <URL> [accessed date month year].

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, ‘poem title’, in book/anthology title (publisher, year of publication), p. page containing poem <URL> [accessed date month year]

Example

Footnote

1 Funwi Ayuninjam, ‘Christmas in Cameroon’, in Voices from Africa and Beyond: A Collection of Poems (Langaa RPCIG, 2011), pp. 11-12 <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/suss/detail.action?docID=1135043> [accessed 17 July 2022].

Bibliography

Ayuninjam, Funwi, ‘Christmas in Cameroon’, in Voices from Africa and Beyond: A Collection of Poems (Langaa RPCIG, 2011), pp. 11-12 <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/suss/detail.action?docID=1135043> [accessed 17 July 2022]

Plays

When citing a play, rather than giving a page number, you should give the act, scene and line number. Use small capitalised roman numerals for the acts (or other large play sections). Then use Arabic numerals for scenes and line numbers separating each of these figures with a full stop. For example: Act 4, Scene 3, Line 54 would be formatted as: IV. 3. 54.

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, play title, ed. by editor forename followed by surname (publisher, year), act. scene. line or page number referred to.

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, play title, ed. by editor forename followed by surname (publisher, year)

Example

Footnote

1 William Shakespeare, Hamlet, ed. by T.J.B. Spencer (Penguin, 1980), I. 2. 177.

Bibliography

Shakespeare, William, Hamlet, ed. by T.J.B. Spencer (Penguin, 1980)

Webpages

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname, ‘title of webpage’, name of website, publication date month year <URL> [accessed date month year].

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, ‘title of webpage’, name of website, publication date month year <URL> [accessed date month year]

Example

Footnote

1 Willem Hollmann, ‘Five Things People Get Wrong About Standard English’, The Conversation, 8 October 2021 <https://theconversation.com/five-things-people-get-wrong-about-standard-english-168969> [accessed 11 January 2024].

Bibliography

Hollmann, Willem, ‘Five Things People Get Wrong About Standard English’, The Conversation, 8 October 2021 <https://theconversation.com/five-things-people-get-wrong-about-standard-english-168969> [accessed 11 January 2024]

Social Media

When referencing social media posts:

  • Give the username in brackets after the author’s name if relevant.
  • If only a username is available, use this in place of the author’s name (without brackets)
  • For shorter posts, use the post itself as the title. For longer posts include a short relevant section of the post beginning from the first word.
  • Keep the punctuation, spelling and formatting the same as the original post including any #hashtags emojis or @mentions.
  • Where a social media site has changed its name, use the name of the site at the time of posting.

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname (username if applicable), ‘Text of the post’, Name of the social media platform, date month year of post <URL> [accessed date month year].

Bibliography

Author surname, forename (username if applicable), ‘Text of the post’, Name of the social media platform, date month year of post, <URL> [accessed date month year]

Example

Footnotes

1 University of Sussex Library, ‘Redecorated study area anyone?’, Facebook, 25 June 2024 <https://www.facebook.com/sussexlibrary?locale=en_GB> [accessed 19 July 2024].

2 Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself), ‘Two more days and my Twitter Holiday is over. This tweet did or didn't happen. #SchroedingersTweet’, Twitter, 29 April 2014 <https://x.com/neilhimself/status/461174148757463040> [accessed 18 July 2024].

Bibliography

Gaiman, Neil (@neilhimself), ‘Two more days and my Twitter Holiday is over. This tweet did or didn't happen. #SchroedingersTweet’, Twitter, 29 April 2014 <https://x.com/neilhimself/status/461174148757463040> [accessed 18 July 2024]

University of Sussex Library, ‘Redecorated study area anyone?’, Facebook, 25 June 2024 <https://www.facebook.com/sussexlibrary?locale=en_GB> [accessed 19 July 2024]

Films

When citing films:

  • In most cases, reference the film’s main release.
  • You only need to cite a film’s DVD or Blu-Ray release if you’re referring to content only included in that version (e.g. a director’s commentary).
  • If watched through a streaming service, you don’t need to include details of the streaming site in your reference.

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Film title, dir. by director forename followed by surname (country of origin, year).

Bibliography

Film title, dir. by director forename followed by surname (country of origin, year)

Example

Footnotes

1 Macbeth, dir. by Orson Welles (USA, 1948).

2 Blade Runner, dir. by Ridley Scott (USA 1982; Director’s Cut, 1992).

Bibliography

Macbeth, dir. by Orson Welles (USA, 1948)

Blade Runner, dir. by Ridley Scott (USA, 1982; Director’s Cut, 1992)

YouTube Videos

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Author forename followed by surname (username if relevant), ‘title of video’, YouTube, publication date month year <URL> [accessed date month year].

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, ‘title’ online video recording, YouTube, publication date month year <URL> [accessed date month year]

Example

Footnote

1 Adam Buxton, David Bowie - Cobbler Bob, YouTube, 4 January 2014 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZEGHK_3W2o> [accessed 14 January 2024].

Bibliography

Buxton, Adam, ‘David Bowie - Cobbler Bob’, YouTube, 4 January 2014 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZEGHK_3W2o> [accessed 14 January 2022]

TV and Radio Programmes

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
'Episode title', broadcast / programme / series title (Production company, years running), season number, episode number (episode’s release date).

Bibliography

'Episode title', broadcast / programme / series title (Production company, years running) season number, episode number (episode’s release date)

Example

Footnote

1 'The One Where Joey Speaks French', Friends (Bright/Kauffman/Cane Productions, 1994-2004) season 10, episode 13 (2004).

Bibliography

'The One Where Joey Speaks French', Friends (Bright/Kauffman/Cane Productions, 1994-2004) season 10, episode 13 (2004)

Music (Songs and Albums)

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Composer/artist forename followed by surname, ‘song title’ from album title/piece, cond. by name of conductor if applicable (recording company, year of release).

Bibliography

Composer/artist surname, forename, ‘song title’ from album title/piece, cond. by name of conductor if applicable (recording company, year of release)

Examples

Footnotes

1 The Beatles, Help! (Parlophone 1965).

2 Leonard Bernstein, Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”, cond by. Marin Aslop (Naxos, 1963).

3 Lauryn Hill, ‘Ex Factor’ from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse Records, 1998).

Bibliography

The Beatles, Help! (Parlophone, 1965)

Bernstein, Leonard, Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”, cond by. Marin Aslop (Naxos, 1963)

Hill, Lauryn, ‘Ex Factor’ from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse, Records 1998)

Music (Scores)

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Composer forename, followed by surname, title of work (publisher, year).

Bibliography

Composer surname, forename, title of work (publisher, year)

Example

Footnote

1 Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony no. 5 (Merryman Music, 1994).

Bibliography

Beethoven, Ludwig van, Symphony no. 5 (Merryman Music, 1994)

Art

Citation Order and Format

Footnote
Artist forename followed by surname, title of work, year of creation, medium dimensions if applicable, location if known.

When giving the dimensions of a piece use cm rather than inches and use a multiplication sign between the measurements not a lower-case x.

Bibliography

Author surname, forename, title of work, year of creation, medium, dimensions if applicable, location if known

Example

Footnote

1 Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1998, oil on canvas, 73.7 × 92.1 cm, MoMA, New York.

Bibliography

Van Gogh, Vincent, The Starry Night, 1998, oil on canvas, 73.7 × 92.1 cm, MoMA, New York