If you’re studying in the humanities, you may need to use MHRA referencing at some point. But what exactly is the MHRA system? And how does it work?
In this post, we set out the basics. And don’t forget to check our other posts on MHRA referencing if you want to find out about different source types.
The Modern Humanities Research Association is an organisation that promotes study of the humanities, particularly literature and languages. It is best known for producing the MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses.
MHRA referencing is a citation system drawn from this guide. You can download the third edition of the MHRA Style Guide as a PDF for free. But since it’s quite a big book, we’ll try to summarise the key points here.
When people refer to MHRA referencing, they usually mean the footnote and bibliography version, where sources are cited in footnotes. These are indicated using superscript numbers in the text:
Usually at the end of the sentence, like this.1
The first citation of a source should include full publication information. For a book, this means:
n. Author Name(s), Title (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year), page number.
Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.
You can then shorten further citations of the same source to save space. The MHRA style guide recommends using the ‘shortest intelligible form’ for this, usually just the author’s surname and a page number (although you should check whether your university has other rules).
There is also an author–date version of MHRA referencing set out in the style guide, but this is much less common in practice.
All cited sources should be listed in a bibliography at the end of your document. Bibliography entries are similar to the first footnote citation for a source, but the author’s surname is given first, and the page number(s) and final punctuation are left out.
A book, for example, would be listed like this:
Surname, First Name, Title (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year)
In addition, you should format the bibliography using these rules:
Follow these rules and you should end up with a well formatted MHRA bibliography. Good luck!
Δ
4-minute read
Proofreading is important to ensure your writing is clear and concise for your readers. Whether...
2-minute read
Creating presentations can be time-consuming and frustrating. Trying to construct a visually appealing and informative...
No matter your industry, conducting market research helps you keep up to date with shifting...
In a world where you need to stand out, press releases are key to being...
3-minute read
In the United States, the US Patent and Trademarks Office issues patents. In the United...
A visually appealing and user-friendly website is essential for success in today’s competitive ecommerce landscape....