MHRA referencing uses numbered footnotes for citations and a bibliography at the end. The first footnote for a source gives full details; later notes use a short form, and the bibliography lists every source alphabetically.
The style comes from the Modern Humanities Research Association and is set out in its freely available MHRA Style Guide. It is common in modern languages, English, film and the arts, especially in UK universities.
How MHRA Referencing Works
- Place a superscript note number in the text, normally after the punctuation.
- Give full details in the first footnote, with the author's name in normal order.
- Use "p." or "pp." for page references.
- Use a shortened note for later citations of the same source.
- List every source in an alphabetical bibliography, surname first.
The Footnote Principle
MHRA's main system is footnotes plus a bibliography, which makes it a close cousin of Chicago's notes and bibliography style. The MHRA guide also describes an author-date variant, but most students are asked to use footnotes.
Footnotes keep the main text uncluttered. They can also carry a brief comment, such as a contrasting view or a note on translation, though they should never grow into mini-essays.
Use your word processor's footnote tool so numbering updates automatically when you edit.
Citing Books
A first footnote for a book gives the author's name in normal order, the title in italics, the publication details in round brackets and a page reference.
Footnote: 1. Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction, 2nd edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), p. 45.
Bibliography: Eagleton, Terry, Literary Theory: An Introduction, 2nd edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996)
Note the MHRA details: place, publisher and year inside one set of brackets, "edn" for edition, and "p." for a single page or "pp." for a range. The bibliography entry inverts the author's name and omits the page reference.
Citing Journal Articles
For an article, put the title in single quotation marks and the journal in italics, then give the volume, the year in brackets, the full page range and, in a further set of brackets, the specific page you are citing.
Footnote (illustrative): 2. Alex Roe, 'Memory and Landscape in Wordsworth', Romantic Studies Review, 12 (2019), 81–97 (p. 85).
Bibliography: Roe, Alex, 'Memory and Landscape in Wordsworth', Romantic Studies Review, 12 (2019), 81–97
The "full range, then pinpoint in brackets" pattern is distinctive to MHRA. Note that the article's page range has no "pp."; only the bracketed pinpoint uses "p."
Chapters, Translations and Websites
Chapter in an Edited Book
3. Author First-name Surname, 'Chapter Title', in Book Title, ed. by Editor Name (Place: Publisher, Year), pp. 60–78 (p. 64).
Work in Translation
4. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans. by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier (London: Vintage, 2011), p. 295.
Website
5. Author or Organization, 'Page Title', Website Name (Year) <URL> [accessed 9 October 2026].
Use "ed. by" for editors and "trans. by" for translators. URLs go in angle brackets, followed by the access date in square brackets.
Short Notes and Ibid.
After a full first citation, later notes use a short form: usually the author's surname, a short title and the page.
6. Eagleton, Literary Theory, p. 51.
7. Ibid., p. 53.
"Ibid." means "in the same place" and refers to the source in the immediately preceding note. MHRA allows it, though many tutors prefer the short form throughout because it stays clear when notes are moved. If you cite two works by one author, keep enough of each title to tell them apart.
Quotations and Primary Texts
Short quotations, up to about forty words of prose or two lines of verse, run into your sentence in single quotation marks. Mark verse line breaks with a spaced forward slash. Longer quotations are indented as a block without quotation marks.
Shakespeare's speaker opens with a question he immediately answers: 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate'.8
For plays and poems, cite the specific edition once in full, then refer to act, scene and line, or line numbers, in later notes or in brackets in your text. Editions differ in wording and line numbering, so the edition you used matters.
The Bibliography
List every source alphabetically by author surname at the end of your work. Only here is the author's name inverted.
- Books appear without page references.
- Articles and chapters include their full page range.
- Some departments split primary and secondary sources into separate lists.
| Feature | MHRA | MLA 9th | Chicago (notes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citation method | Footnotes | In-text (author page) | Footnotes |
| Article title | Single quotation marks | Double quotation marks | Double quotation marks |
| Page reference | p. or pp. | Number only | Number only |
| Source list | Bibliography | Works Cited | Bibliography |
Common MHRA Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Inverting the author's name in footnotes | Use normal order in notes; invert only in the bibliography |
| Double quotation marks for article titles | Use single quotation marks |
| Missing "p." or "pp." | Add it to every page reference |
| No pinpoint for an article | Add the cited page in brackets after the range |
| Hand-numbered footnotes | Use the word processor's footnote tool |
| Edition not recorded for literary texts | Cite the specific edition you used |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Usually after the punctuation at the end of the clause or sentence the citation supports.
Yes. Use "p." for a single page and "pp." for a range in references, unlike Chicago and MLA.
Yes, in most cases. The bibliography lists every source alphabetically, even though the footnotes already give full details.
MHRA allows it for the source in the immediately preceding note. Many tutors prefer short forms throughout; follow your department.
Cite the work you actually read, for example "quoted in" followed by the book you used, so the reader knows your route to the quotation.
No. MLA uses in-text author and page citations and a Works Cited list. MHRA uses footnotes and a bibliography.