MHRA referencing is the standard in many UK humanities subjects, especially English, modern languages, history and cultural studies. It uses footnotes and a bibliography rather than in-text citations. This guide explains how MHRA works, how to format footnotes and the bibliography, and the errors that most often cost marks.
The Short Answer
MHRA referencing cites sources in numbered footnotes and then lists them again in an alphabetical bibliography. In the body of your work you add a superscript number after the punctuation; at the foot of the page that number gives the full details in natural name order (Jane Smith, Title (Place: Publisher, Year), p. 12). The bibliography repeats each source with the surname first and no page number for the work as a whole. Book and journal titles are italicised, while article, chapter and poem titles sit inside single quotation marks. Get those four habits right — superscript placement, name order, title formatting and the short form for repeat citations — and the rest of MHRA is detail.What Is MHRA Referencing?
MHRA, set out by the Modern Humanities Research Association, is a footnote-based style. Instead of author–date brackets in your text, you place a superscript number that links to a footnote at the bottom of the page giving full source details. All sources are then listed again in a bibliography at the end. It is favoured in the humanities because footnotes let you add commentary without interrupting your argument.
How MHRA Footnotes Work
The first footnote for a source gives full details: Author, Title (Place of publication: Publisher, Year), p. number. For a later reference to the same source, use a shortened form — usually the author’s surname and a page number. Unlike some styles, MHRA footnotes place the publication details in brackets and end with a full stop. Each footnote is numbered sequentially through your work.
The MHRA Bibliography
Your bibliography lists every source alphabetically by author surname, with the surname placed first: Last, First, Title (Place: Publisher, Year). The key difference from a footnote is that the author’s name is inverted and there is no page number for a whole book. Bibliography entries do not carry the footnote number. Keeping footnote and bibliography formats distinct is one of the details markers look for.
MHRA Reference Examples
Here are footnote templates for common sources. Book: Author, Title (Place: Publisher, Year), p. x. Chapter in an edited book: Author, ‘Chapter Title’, in Book Title, ed. by Editor (Place: Publisher, Year), pp. x–y. Journal article: Author, ‘Article Title’, Journal, Volume (Year), pp. x–y. Website: Author, ‘Page Title’, Site Name (Year) <URL> [accessed day month year].
Want your referencing and citations checked by an academic specialist? Explore our academic writing & proofreading support — trusted by UK students since 2001.
Common MHRA Mistakes to Avoid
Frequent slips include inverting the author’s name in footnotes (it should only be inverted in the bibliography), forgetting the access date for online sources, using ‘p.’ when ‘pp.’ is needed for a page range, and inconsistent use of single quotation marks for article and chapter titles. MHRA is precise about punctuation, so following an example closely and staying consistent is essential.
Second and Later References: Short Forms and ibid.
Only the first footnote for a source carries the full details. Every later citation of the same work uses a short form: the author’s surname, a shortened version of the title, and the page number — for example Smith, Victorian Readers, p. 44. Keep the shortened title recognisable and use it consistently; if you shorten the same book two different ways, the reader cannot tell whether you are citing one work or two.
Where you cite the same source in consecutive footnotes, ibid. (followed by a page number if it changes) is a common convention in humanities writing, but practice varies by department and some UK markers prefer short titles throughout because they survive later edits. Check your module handbook, and if ibid. is permitted, never let it point across a page break to a footnote the reader cannot see.
Two related conventions are worth knowing. Where several sources support the same point, separate them within a single footnote with semicolons rather than creating a string of adjacent numbers. And where you refer the reader to your own earlier discussion, use see above, n. 12 rather than repeating the citation in full.
Quotations, Block Quotes and Ellipses in MHRA
MHRA uses single quotation marks for quoted material, with double quotation marks reserved for a quotation inside a quotation. Short quotations run on within your own sentence, and the footnote number goes after the closing punctuation. Where the quotation ends the sentence, the full stop belongs outside the closing quotation mark unless it was part of the original.
Longer quotations — roughly anything beyond two or three lines of prose, or more than one line of verse — are set as a block: indented, on a new line, with no quotation marks, and usually without a colon before them unless your own sentence needs one. Because the indentation already signals that the words are quoted, adding quotation marks as well is a common error.
When you cut material from a quotation, mark the omission with an ellipsis in square brackets, […], so the reader can see that the gap is yours rather than the author’s. Square brackets also carry any word you insert to make the grammar work, and [sic] after an error you are reproducing deliberately. Keep the original spelling and capitalisation otherwise, even where it looks wrong.
Titles, Capitalisation and Italics
Formatting tells the reader what kind of source they are looking at. Whole works that stand alone — books, journals, newspapers, films, plays, long poems — are italicised. Parts of larger works — chapters, articles, short poems, songs, individual episodes — go in single quotation marks. A chapter title in quotation marks followed by an italicised book title is one of MHRA’s clearest signals.
English-language titles take maximal capitalisation: capitalise the first word and every significant word thereafter, leaving articles, short prepositions and coordinating conjunctions in lower case unless they begin the title or follow a colon. Titles in other languages normally follow the capitalisation conventions of that language, which matters in modern languages degrees where French and German titles appear alongside English ones.
Reproduce the title as it appears on the title page rather than the cover, keep any subtitle after a colon, and do not add a full stop inside a quoted title that did not have one. If a title itself contains a title, invert the formatting: a book about Hamlet keeps the play in italics inside an italic title by setting it in roman.
Abbreviations MHRA Expects
MHRA has a small set of abbreviations that markers notice immediately. Use p. for a single page and pp. for a range, with an en dash between the numbers (pp. 45–67). Use n. for a note and nn. for several. Use vol. and vols for volumes, and fol. for a folio in manuscript work.
Two forms catch people out. Editions are abbreviated edn — as in 2nd edn — not ed., because ed. is reserved for an editor and ed. by introduces the person who edited a collection. Translations use trans. by. Where no place of publication is given, use n.p., and where no date is given, n.d..
Finally, follow the modern convention of dropping the full stop from abbreviations that end with the last letter of the word: edn, vols and eds take no point, while p., ed. and vol. do. Being consistent matters more than any single choice, so decide once and apply it across the whole bibliography.
Referencing Online and Digital Sources
Digital sources follow the same pattern as print, with the location details added at the end. The web address is enclosed in angle brackets and followed by the date you consulted it in square brackets: <full URL> [accessed 14 March 2026]. The access date matters because online material can change or disappear, and leaving it out is one of the most frequent deductions in MHRA marking.
Where a stable identifier exists, prefer it to a long search-result address: a DOI is more durable than a database link, and a journal’s own article page is more durable than a proxy link that only works from inside your university network. For a document that has fixed pages, cite the page number as you would in print rather than the position in the file — the same principle explained in our guide to referencing a PDF.
Web pages without an obvious author, date or title need judgement rather than guesswork. Use the organisation as author where no individual is named, use the page heading as the title, and record n.d. where no date is given rather than inventing one. Our guides to referencing a website and referencing a YouTube video work through those decisions in detail.
How MHRA Differs From Harvard, APA and Chicago
The biggest difference is where the citation lives. Harvard and APA put an author–date bracket in your sentence, so the reader sees the source without leaving the line. MHRA moves the citation to a footnote, which keeps the prose uncluttered and gives you room for commentary — a real advantage when you are discussing an edition, a translation choice or a manuscript variant.
MHRA also differs in name order and punctuation. Footnotes keep the author’s name in natural order, whereas Harvard, APA and the MHRA bibliography all invert it. MHRA uses single quotation marks where APA uses double, gives publication details in brackets where APA does not, and lists a bibliography of everything consulted rather than a reference list restricted to works cited.
Chicago’s notes-and-bibliography system is the closest relative, which is why the two are easy to confuse: both use footnotes and both list a bibliography, but the punctuation and abbreviations differ throughout. If your department offers a choice, compare our Chicago referencing guide before you commit, and remember that mixing two styles in one submission costs more marks than following either one imperfectly.
A Pre-Submission MHRA Checklist
Start with the footnotes. Check that every superscript number sits after the punctuation, that the first mention of each source is complete, and that every later mention uses the same short form. Then confirm that no footnote has been orphaned by editing — moving a paragraph often leaves a note pointing at nothing.
Next, read the bibliography as a list rather than as entries. Every author surname should be inverted, the list should be alphabetical by surname, and no entry should carry a page number unless it is a chapter or article with a defined range. Anything you cited in a footnote must appear here, and anything here that you never consulted should be removed.
Finally, check formatting consistency in one pass each: italics for whole works, single quotation marks for parts of works, en dashes in page ranges, and an access date on every online source. Reference lists are one of the few places where a marker can verify accuracy in seconds, so a tidy bibliography buys goodwill before your argument is even read. Our guide to referencing a book covers the print templates in more depth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does MHRA use in-text citations?
No. MHRA uses numbered footnotes (or endnotes) for citations, together with a bibliography at the end. There are no author–date brackets in the body of your text.
What is the difference between a footnote and the bibliography in MHRA?
The footnote gives full details the first time you cite a source, with the author’s name in normal order. The bibliography lists all sources alphabetically with the surname first and no page numbers for whole works.
Which subjects use MHRA referencing?
MHRA is common in English literature, modern languages, history, philosophy and other humanities subjects. Always confirm your department’s required style before you begin.
Where does the footnote number go in MHRA?
The superscript number goes at the end of the relevant clause or sentence, after the punctuation rather than before it. If the citation supports a quotation, place the number after the closing quotation mark and any full stop. Numbers run continuously through the whole piece of work rather than restarting on each page.
Do I use italics or quotation marks for titles in MHRA?
Italicise anything that stands alone as a complete work: books, journals, newspapers, films, plays and long poems. Use single quotation marks for parts of a larger work, such as a chapter, a journal article, a short poem or a song. That contrast is how MHRA shows the reader whether they are looking for a whole volume or one piece inside it.
Should I use ibid. in MHRA footnotes?
It is acceptable in many humanities departments for consecutive references to the same source, but a short form using the author’s surname and a shortened title is safer. Short forms survive later edits, whereas ibid. breaks silently if you move or insert a paragraph. Check your module handbook, because some UK departments now discourage it outright.
Does an MHRA bibliography include everything I read?
MHRA bibliographies conventionally list the works you consulted, which can be broader than a reference list of works actually cited. Some departments restrict it to cited sources, so confirm the requirement locally. Whichever rule applies, every footnoted source must appear in the bibliography, and each entry begins with the surname so the list can be alphabetised.
How do I reference a source with no author or date in MHRA?
Where no individual author is named, use the organisation responsible as the author. Where the work is genuinely anonymous, begin the entry with the title and alphabetise it under the first significant word. Record a missing date as n.d. and a missing place of publication as n.p. rather than estimating, and always add an access date for online material.