MHRA referencing guide

MHRA referencing: where to start

This guide follows the official MHRA Style Guide, fourth edition. MHRA also supports an author–date system; the examples here use notes and bibliography.

1. Bibliography example
2. Books
3. Articles
4. Online sources
5. Films, videos and images
6. Other source types
7. Modern sources and AI guidance

Footnotes, shortened notes and the bibliography

Insert a footnote using your word processor. Put its superscript number after the punctuation of the sentence or passage it supports. Give the source details in the note at the foot of the page; endnotes use the same reference format.

The first citation gives the full reference. Later notes can use the author's surname, a short title and the relevant page number. If your work has chapters, give the full reference again at the first citation in each chapter.

The note numbers above show how notes appear in a document; let your word processor number your own notes automatically.

• In the bibliography, reverse the first author's name so the surname comes first. Leave later authors' names in their usual order.
• Alphabetize entries by the first author's surname, or by title where there is no author. Ignore an initial “A”, “An” or “The” when sorting English titles.
• Use a full stop at the end of a footnote. Do not add one at the end of a bibliography entry.
• Keep a chapter's or article's full page range in the bibliography; omit the particular page you quoted.
• Italicize book and journal titles. Put chapter and article titles in single quotation marks.
• Use p. for one page and pp. for several. Compress a range within the same hundred to its final two digits: 104–08, but 98–102.

See the official guidance on references and shortened notes, bibliographies and names and number ranges. Follow the name order used in the source, including particles such as “de” or “von”.

MHRA bibliography example

Arrange the entries alphabetically by the first author's surname. Do not number the entries or add a full stop at the end.

1. Books

Give the author's published name, the book title, any editor or translator, the edition if it is not the first, and the publisher and year in parentheses. The fourth edition does not normally require the publication city. Add the page you are citing to the footnote.

A book with one author

Keep forenames as published rather than reducing them to initials. For English book titles, capitalize the principal words, including the first word after a subtitle's colon. Follow the relevant language's conventions for non-English titles.

Two or three authors

Name every author, in the order shown by the source. Only the first author's name is reversed in the bibliography.

Four or more authors

Give the first author followed by “and others” in both notes and bibliography entries. Do not use “et al.” in this MHRA system.

Edited books and translations

For an edited collection, start the full footnote with the title and give the editors after “ed. by”. In the bibliography, start with the editor's name followed by “(ed.)” or “(eds)”. For an author's book with an editor or translator, keep the author first and add “ed. by” or “trans. by” after the title.

A chapter in an edited book

Cite the chapter's author and title first, then the collection and its editors. Include the chapter's entire page range. Put a particular page reference in parentheses after that range.

For a chapter within a book written entirely by the same author, use the book reference and locate the passage by page or chapter. For several separately authored chapters from one collection, give each chapter its own bibliography entry.

More than one book by the same author

In the notes-and-bibliography system, distinguish works by their titles. Arrange that author's bibliography entries alphabetically by title. Year suffixes such as 2024a and 2024b belong to author–date referencing; do not automatically add them here. MHRA permits a double em dash in place of a repeated author's name.

Ebooks, missing details and special editions

Cite an ordinary ebook using the book format. Do not add the device or ebook format. Use page numbers only when they are stable; otherwise identify a chapter or section. Include a DOI when available. If an online source has no DOI and needs a URL to locate it, add the URL in angle brackets and an access date.

When a book's publication details genuinely cannot be found, use “[n. pub.]” for an unknown publisher and “[n.d.]” for an unknown year. For an online edition, add its DOI or URL. Identify the edition or volume used, following the examples in MHRA §7.3.

Generate a book reference or generate a chapter reference.

2. Articles

Journal articles: print or online

Use the same basic format for both. Give the volume and issue separated by a full stop, followed by the year in parentheses and the article's full page range. Include the issue number when one exists, even if page numbering continues across issues. Add the DOI whenever available, including when you read the printed article.

Write the DOI with the prefix “doi:” and no access date. Do not add the database name. If there is no DOI, use a suitable URL and access date instead. For an article published online before allocation to a volume, give “published online” and its publication date in place of the volume/year details. Omit page numbers if the source has none.

The fourth edition uses “p.” or “pp.” before journal page numbers. See MHRA §7.4 and the official DOI guidance.

Generate a journal article reference.

Newspaper and magazine articles

Use the article's author and quoted title, the italicised publication name and the issue date. Give the date as day, month and year, without parentheses. Omit an initial “The” or “A” from an English newspaper title except for The Times. Page numbers are generally needed only for older or archival material. Literary magazines that use numbered issues follow their own issue numbering.

3. Online sources

Web pages

Give the credited author, the page title in single quotation marks, the website name, the publication or updated date, the URL and your access date. Use as much of the publication date as the source provides; use “n.d.” for an undated page. Retain the title's original spelling and capitalization.

Credit an organisation as author only when it is identified as the author. Otherwise begin with the page title. Website and platform names normally stay in roman type; a website that functions as a print-like publication may have an italicised name. Do not add “[online]” or “Available from”.

Use a full URL, including “https://”, within angle brackets. The access date goes in square brackets after it. A DOI takes precedence over a URL where applicable and does not need an access date. See MHRA chapter 6 and §7.5.

Generate a website reference.

4. Films, videos and images

Films and DVD releases

Give the italicised film title, the director introduced by “dir. by”, and the country and release year in parentheses. Add release-specific details only when relevant. Cite a DVD or Blu-ray release when discussing material specific to it, such as a commentary; a film streamed online normally does not need the streaming service's URL.

YouTube and other online videos

Use the online-source format for a video published on a platform. Give its credited creator or username, title, platform, publication date, URL and access date. Preserve the creator's published username.

Images, photographs and artworks

Give the artist if known, the italicised work title, date and medium. Add dimensions and the current location where useful. When citing a web page about an image, give the web page's source details using the online format; a page reference and a description of the artwork serve different purposes.

See MHRA §§7.5, 7.8 and 7.9 for online material, audiovisual works and art.

5. Other source types

Reports

Choose the format that matches the report: book-style publication details for a published report, or the online-source format for a web page. Give the credited individual or organisation as author. Include a report number if needed to identify it, and a DOI or URL where applicable.

Dissertations and theses

Put an unpublished thesis title in single quotation marks. Give its status and degree level, university and year in parentheses. Add a page reference when citing a passage, then the repository URL and access date if available.

Government and official publications

Apply the book or online format according to how the document was published. Identify the responsible department or credited author and give enough publication information to distinguish the document. For parliamentary and archival documents, include the paper number or archive reference that identifies the item.

Interviews

Reference a published interview in its source format, such as a newspaper article or online video. Follow its credited authorship; if this is unclear, use the interviewer. Add “interview with” and the interviewee's name if the title does not identify them. For an interview you conducted, use the person's name, “interview with the author” and the date.

Presentations and lectures

Try to obtain a written version of a conference paper you attended. Reference an online version using the online-source rules. If no written version is available, identify the speaker, quoted paper title, event, venue and date.

Music recordings

For a recorded popular song, start with the performer or group, then the track title in single quotation marks, “from” and the italicised album title, and the record company and year in parentheses. For classical recordings, include the composer and relevant performers or conductor. Do not normally add the streaming platform used to listen.

Dictionaries and reference works

For a searchable major online reference work, identify the entry and give the main website URL and access date. A print dictionary can be referenced as a book, with the entry or page identifying the passage. Use a DOI if the entry has one.

Worked examples appear in MHRA chapter 7, especially §§7.3, 7.5 and 7.8–7.11. Apply the bibliography name order and punctuation described at the start of this guide when turning a note into a bibliography entry.

MHRA references for public posts and online recordings

MHRA fourth edition, §7.5 covers websites and social media. Account names and handles help identify public posts. Put the post or short-video title in single quotation marks, keep the platform name in roman type, and give the posting date, URL and access date.

Use the MHRA online-video generator or social post generator for a full note, shortened note and bibliography entry. A complete film or broadcast belongs to the audiovisual guidance in §7.8.

Podcasts and generative AI

For a podcast, give the host or creator, episode title in single quotation marks, series title in italics, producer and release date, followed by the URL and access date. Add a timestamp to identify a quoted passage.

When acknowledging AI use, identify the tool, version and date, describe what you used it for, and retain the prompts and responses with your research notes.

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