MHRA referencing is a footnote style used widely in the humanities, especially modern languages, English literature and history. You cite sources in numbered footnotes and list them in a bibliography at the end.
This guide shows the footnote and bibliography format for the most common source types, how to shorten later notes and the mistakes markers notice most often.
How MHRA Referencing Works
- Place a superscript number in the text, usually after the punctuation at the end of the clause or sentence.
- Give the full reference in a matching footnote the first time you cite a source.
- Use a shortened form for later references to the same source.
- List all sources alphabetically by surname in the bibliography.
MHRA at a Glance
| Feature | MHRA convention |
|---|---|
| Citation method | Numbered footnotes |
| Author names in notes | Forename first: Jane Smith |
| Author names in bibliography | Surname first: Smith, Jane |
| Quotation marks | Single quotation marks for titles of articles and chapters |
| Publication details for books | In brackets: (Place: Publisher, Year) |
| Page references | p. for one page, pp. for a range |
The examples below use fictional sources to show the pattern. Check your department's handbook too, since some add their own preferences.
Footnotes in MHRA
Footnote numbers run consecutively through the essay. Each footnote ends with a full stop.
In the text: Critics have read the novel's ruined houses as images of a failing social order.¹
Footnote: 1. Eleanor Marsh, Houses of Memory: Ruin in the Victorian Novel (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2019), p. 87.
Book
Footnote: 1. Eleanor Marsh, Houses of Memory: Ruin in the Victorian Novel (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2019), p. 87.
Bibliography: Marsh, Eleanor, Houses of Memory: Ruin in the Victorian Novel (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2019)
For two or three authors, give all names in the order they appear: Eleanor Marsh and David Price. For a later edition, add it after the title, for example "2nd edn".
Journal Article
For journal articles, give the volume number and year, then the full page range, then the specific page in brackets.
Footnote: 2. David Price, 'Ruin and Restoration in Bleak House', Modern Language Review, 114 (2019), 45–67 (p. 52).
Bibliography: Price, David, 'Ruin and Restoration in Bleak House', Modern Language Review, 114 (2019), 45–67
Note that the volume number stands alone, without "vol.", and that no "pp." appears before the page range of a journal article.
Chapter in an Edited Book
Footnote: 3. Ruth Adeyemi, 'Haunted Interiors', in The Victorian House in Fiction, ed. by Thomas Gray (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 112–34 (p. 120).
Bibliography: Adeyemi, Ruth, 'Haunted Interiors', in The Victorian House in Fiction, ed. by Thomas Gray (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 112–34
Website
Give the author if there is one, the page title, the site name, the date if available, the URL in angle brackets and the date you accessed it.
Footnote: 4. Thomas Gray, 'Reading Victorian Domestic Space', Victorian Studies Network (2021) <https://www.example.org/domestic-space> [accessed 3 March 2026].
Bibliography: Gray, Thomas, 'Reading Victorian Domestic Space', Victorian Studies Network (2021) <https://www.example.org/domestic-space> [accessed 3 March 2026]
Later References: Shortened Notes and Ibid.
After the first full footnote, use a shortened form: the author's surname and page number. If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a short title.
5. Marsh, p. 92.
6. Price, 'Ruin and Restoration', p. 60.
"Ibid." may be used when a note refers to the same source as the note immediately before it, but many tutors prefer the shortened form throughout because it stays clear if notes are moved. Follow your department's preference.
The Bibliography
List every source alphabetically by the first author's surname. Bibliography entries omit the specific page references used in footnotes. Some departments ask you to separate primary and secondary sources.
Quotations in MHRA
MHRA also sets rules for how quotations appear in your text, which markers check alongside the footnotes.
- Short quotations sit within your sentence in single quotation marks, with double marks for a quotation inside a quotation.
- Long quotations of more than about forty words, or more than two lines of verse, are set off as an indented block without quotation marks.
- Omissions are shown with an ellipsis in square brackets: [...].
- Your own additions or clarifications go in square brackets.
The footnote number follows the quotation, after any closing punctuation.
MHRA Versus Chicago, and Common Mistakes
MHRA and Chicago notes and bibliography look similar, but differ in detail. MHRA uses single quotation marks around article titles, places publication details in brackets in the bibliography as well as the notes, and gives journal volume and year as "114 (2019)".
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Double quotation marks around article titles | Use single quotation marks |
| Surname first in footnotes | Forename first in notes; surname first only in the bibliography |
| Missing full stop at the end of a footnote | End every footnote with a full stop |
| Page references in the bibliography | Keep specific pages in the footnotes only |
| "vol." before journal volumes | Give the number alone: 114 (2019) |
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Modern Humanities Research Association, which publishes the MHRA Style Guide.
Mainly the humanities, especially modern languages, English literature, film and history.
Usually yes. Most essays end with a bibliography listing every source cited in the footnotes.
As a superscript, normally after the punctuation at the end of the relevant clause or sentence.
Yes, for a note that refers to the same source as the one just before it, though many tutors prefer the shortened form.
Begin with the title. In the bibliography, alphabetize it by the first significant word of the title.
The MHRA guide includes an author-date option, but most humanities departments that use MHRA expect footnotes.
Give line numbers instead of pages, using "l." for one line and "ll." for several, after the full first reference.