MHRA Referencing

Page Contents:

Overview
Creating a Reference List and Footnotes
Examples

Overview

This is a quick guide to the Modern Humanities Research Association reference style to reference sources using footnotes.

The full 2008 guide can be downloaded from http://www.mhra.org.uk.

Creating a Reference List and Footnotes

Whether quoting directly or indirectly from a source, the source must be acknowledged. To avoid interrupting your text, footnotes, placed at the bottom of the page, include reference information and are separated from the main text. Citations take the form of sequential superscript numbers (1, 2, 3 etc.) that are placed after a direct quotation or a reference to a source in the main text. These refer readers to the corresponding footnotes at the bottom of that page. All sources referred to in the citations must be included in the list of references at the end of your work. You are required to provide the full bibliographic information for each source. References must be listed in alphabetical order .

The basic components for each reference usually include:

Author(s)/Editor(s), Title and Publication Details

Note: If the publication details cannot be ascertained use:

[n.p.] for no place of publication, [n. pub.] for no publisher, [n.d.] for no date.

Reference Lists

References must be listed in alphabetical order.
The surname of the first author/editor precedes the first name or initials.
There is no fullstop at the end of the entry.
Multiple works by an author are listed in date order.
Name the author in the first entry only, in the subsequent entries replace the author's name with a long dash.
This dash, known as a 2-em dash, is used as in the example below:

Leavis, Frank R., The Common Pursuit (London: Chatto & Windus, 1952)

____ , D.H. Lawrence: Novelist (London: Chatto & Windus, 1965)

Footnotes

In a footnote the first name or initials of the author/editor is followed by the surname.
All footnotes end with a fullstop.
Second and subsequent footnote references to a source should be shortened.
In most cases subsequent footnote references need only the author's surname and page numbers.

Quotations

Short quotations can be included in the body of the text with the use of single quotation marks as in the example below:

Alone with Beatrice, Benedict confesses his love but drifts into conventional rhetoric in his declaration, 'Come, bid me do anything for thee', which is sharply challenged by Beatrice's, 'Kill Claudio.'¹

Quotations that are longer than one and a half lines within the text should be indented, single-spaced and not enclosed in quotation marks as in the example below:

Beatrice shocks Benedict into action. His parting words to her are focused, brisk and concise:

Enough, I am engaged; I will challenge him. I will kiss your hand, and so I leave you. By this hand, Claudio shall render me a dear account. As you hear of me, so think of me. Go... and so, farewell.²

Indicate anything that has been left out of the quotation by using an ellipsis, as shown in the example above. Three dots are used, but in the case of a fullstop being omitted, use four dots.

Examples

Books

Book - one author

Reference list /bibliography

Erne, Lukas, Shakespeare as Literary Dramatist (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

First footnote

Lukas Erne, Shakespeare as Literary Dramatist (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 54.

Book - two or more authors

Reference list/bibliography

Nolen, Stephanie and Jonathan Bate, Shakespeare's Face (Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2002)

First footnote

Stephanie Nolen and Jonathan Bate, Shakespeare's Face (Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2002), pp. 63-68.

Note: If there were more than three authors, reference as: Nolen, Stephanie and others, ...

Book - edited and later edition to the first

Reference list/bibliography

Johnson, Thomas H., ed., Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters, 2nd edn (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), pp. 94, 105.

First footnote

Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters, ed. by Thomas H. Johnson, 2nd edn (Cambridge , MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), pp. 94, 105.

Note: The comma between the two page numbers indicates references to two separate pages and not to one reference spanning these page numbers.

Book - chapter or article or work in edited book or anthology

Reference list/bibliography

Stewart, J.F. 'Primitivism in Women in Love', in The Critical Response to D.H. Lawrence, edited by J. Pilditch (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2001)

First footnote

J.F. Stewart, 'Primitivism in Women in Love', in The Critical Response to D.H. Lawrence, ed. by J. Pilditch (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001), pp. 246-59.

Book - edited multi-volume reference work such as a dictionary or an encyclopedia

Reference list/bibliography

Strayer, Joseph R., and others, eds, Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 13 vols (New York: Scribner, 1982–89), vi (1985)

First footnote

Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. by Joseph R. Strayer and others, 13 vols (New York: Scribner, 1982–89), vi (1985), 26.

Multi-volume book

Reference list/bibliography

McKerrow, Ronald B., ed., The Works of Thomas Nashe, 2nd edn,rev. by F. P. Wilson, 5 vols (Oxford: Blackwell, 1958)

First footnote

The Works of Thomas Nashe, ed. by Ronald B. McKerrow, 2nd edn, rev. by F. P. Wilson, 5 vols (Oxford: Blackwell, 1958), iii, 94–98 (pp. 95–96).

Multi-volume work

Reference list/bibliography

Byron, George Gordon, The Complete Poetical Works , edited by Jerome McGann, 7 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983-1990)

First footnote

George Gordon Byron, The Complete Poetical Works , ed. by Jerome McGann, 7 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983-1990), V, pp. 9-10.

Thesis

Reference list/bibliography

Moffat, Kirstine, 'The Shadow of Knox' (unpublished master's thesis, University of Waikato, 1996)

First footnote

Kirstine Moffat, 'The Shadow of Knox' (unpublished master's thesis, University of Waikato, 1996), p.16.

Dictionary entry

Dictionary - sub verbo (meaning under the word) s.v. entry

Reference list/bibliography

Cuddon, J.A., A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, 4th edn (Oxford: Blackwell,1998)

First footnote

John Cuddon, A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, 4th edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998), s.v. ditrochee.

Journals (Academic/Scholarly)

Journal article -print version - separate pagination for every issue of the volume/year each beginning at page 1

Reference list/bibliography

Duffin, Ross, 'An Encore for Shakespeare's Rare Italian Master', Elizabethan Review, 2.1 (1994), 23-35

First footnote

Ross Duffin, 'An Encore for Shakespeare's Rare Italian Master', Elizabethan Review, 2.1 (1994), 23-35.

Journal article - print version - continuous pagination throughout the volume/year

Reference list/bibliography

Houlahan, Mark, 'Shakespeare in the Settlers' House', Journal of New Zealand Literature, 20 (2002), 112-24

First footnote

Mark Houlahan, 'Shakespeare in the Settlers' House', Journal of New Zealand Literature, 20 (2002), 112-24.

Journal article - on a subscription database - fulltext in pdf

Reference list/bibliography

Yachnin, Paul, 'Reversal of Fortune: Shakespeare and Middleton', ELH, 70 (2003) p. 758-78, in Project Muse <http://muse.jhu.edu> [accessed 2 June 2005]

First footnote

Paul Yachnin, 'Reversal of Fortune: Shakespeare and Middleton', ELH, 70 (2003) p. 758-78, in Project Muse <http://muse.jhu.edu> [accessed 2 June 2005].

Journal article - on a subscription database - fulltext in html

Reference list/bibliography

Sohmer, Steve, 'The Lunar Calendar of Shakespeare's King Lear', Early Modern Literary Studies, 5.2 (1999), <http://muse.jhu.edu> [accessed 30 November 2005] (para.3 of 17)

First footnote

Steve Sohmer, 'The Lunar Calendar of Shakespeare's King Lear', Early Modern Literary Studies, 5.2 (1999), <http://muse.jhu.edu> [accessed 30 November 2005] (para.3 of 17).

Journal article – (online journal that has a DOI)

Reference list/bibliography

Jongeneel, Els, ‘Art and Divine Order in the Divina commedia’, Literature and Theology, 21 (2007) <doi: 10.1093/litthe/frm008>

First footnote

Els Jongeneel, ‘Art and Divine Order in the Divina commedia’, Literature and Theology, 21 (2007) <doi: 10.1093/litthe/frm008>

Newspapers

Newspaper article - print version

Reference list//bibliography

Houlahan, Mark, 'New Zealand Poetry', Dominion Post, 6 August 2005, p.10

First footnote

Mark Houlahan, 'New Zealand Poetry', Dominion Post, 6 August 2005, p. 10.

Newspaper article - online version on a subscription database

Reference list/bibliography

Houlahan, Mark, 'New Zealand Poetry', Dominion Post, 6 September 2004, in Newztext Plus < http://io.knowledge-basket.co.nz> [accessed 1 May 2005], (p. 10)

First footnote

Mark Houlahan, 'New Zealand Poetry', Dominion Post, 6 September 2004), in Newztext Plus <http://io.knowledge-basket.co.nz> [accessed 1 May 2005], p. 10.

Magazines

Magazine article - print version

Reference list/bibliography

Blundell, Sally, 'Storming the Ivory Tower', New Zealand Listener, 17-23 February 1997

First footnote

Sally Blundell, 'Storming the Ivory Tower', New Zealand Listener, 17-23 February 1997, pp.12-13.

Magazine article - online version

Reference list/bibliography

Keegan, Alex, 'The Man Who Learned to Love America', Southern Ocean Review, 12 July 1997, <http://www.book.co.nz/gardin.htm> [accessed 3 November 2005]

First footnote

Alex Keegan, 'The Man Who Learned to Love America', Southern Ocean Review, 12 July 1997, <http://www.book.co.nz/gardin.htm> [accessed 3 November 2005].

Website

Reference list/bibliography

Willett, Perry, Victorian Women Writers Project. Indiana University, updated 2006, <http:www.indiana.edu> [accessed 11 June 2009]

First footnote

Perry Willett, Victorian Women Writers Project. Indiana University, updated 2006, <http:www.indiana.edu> [accessed 11 June 2009].

Film

Reference list/bibliography

The Grapes of Wrath, directed by John Ford, (20^th Century Fox, 1940)

First Footnote

The Grapes of Wrath. dir. by John Ford. (20^th Century Fox, 1940).

Note: For a DVD add [on DVD-ROM] at the end of the reference.

Consult the Modern Humanities Research Association, MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses, (London: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2008).

Download the MHRA, 2008 guide from www.style.mhra.org.uk