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MHRA Style Tip Sheet

The MHRA style is often used in the arts and humanities, particularly in the United Kingdom. It uses footnotes that fully reference a citation, which is its major advantage: a reader does not need to consult the bibliography to find a reference as the footnote provides all the details. The examples on these pages are based on the MHRA Style Guide : a handbook for authors, editors, and writers of theses, PN 147 .M689 2008.

Creating a Footnote

Use your word processing program to create the footnotes. Insert the  footnote at a natural break, usually at the end of a sentence or paragraph. Place it after the item which you wish to acknowledge or annotate. Sequential numbering will happen automatically with the program.

The footnote must include the full bibliographic details of the item, according to the type as listed below. Second  and subsequent references to the same item can be abbreviated, most commonly to  author’s surname and page number.

General principles for footnotes

Authors’ names appear in spoken word order ie as firstname lastname.
Book and journal titles are italicised.
Article titles and chapter  titles appear in quotation marks.
Encyclopaedia and dictionary entry headwords appear in quotation marks eg “sonata”.
Titles of operas, songs, poems, stories etc  appear in quotation marks.
Use p. if the information comes from a single page, pp if it spans two or more pages  eg pp 2-6.
All notes end with a full stop.
The pattern of information required is who- what -where-when.
Author’s  name, Title of Whole Work in Italics (Place of publication: Publisher, year),  p. xx

Bibliography

Your essay should conclude with a full bibliography of works consulted. Note that the author's surname appears first. When organising the bibliography, order it by surname.

Footnote and Bibliography Citations by Item Type

The examples on these pages are based on the MHRA Style Guide : a handbook for authors, editors, and writers of theses, PN 147 .M689 2008.

Book  (single author)

First Footnote
Jon W. Finson, Nineteenth-century music: the western classical tradition (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002), p.65.

Second and subsequent footnotes
Finson ,  p. 71.

Bibliography
Finson, Jon W. Nineteenth-century music: the western classical tradition  (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002)
Books (2 authors)

First footnote
Gillyanne Hayes and Jeremy Fisher, Successful singing auditions (London: A. & C. Black, 2002).

Second and subsequent footnotes
Hayes and  Fisher,  p.22.

Bibliography
Kayes, Gillyanne and Jeremy Fisher, Successful singing auditions (London: A. & C. Black, 2002)

Book (3 or more authors)

First footnote
Jen-yen Chen and others, Three masses from Vienna: a capella masses (Middleton, Wis.: A-R Editions, 2004), pp. 24-25.

Bibliography
Chen, Jen-yen and others, Three masses from Vienna: a capella masses (Middleton, Wis.: A-R Editions, 2004)

Chapter or Article in an edited Book

Formula
Author , ‘Title of Chapter’, in Book Title: Subtitle, editors (Place of publication: Publisher name, Year of publication), Page numbers.

First Footnote
Susan Fast, 'Music, contexts and meaning in U2', in Expression in pop-rock music: a collection of critical and analytical essays, ed. by Walter Everett (New York: Garland, 2000), pp. 33-58.

Second and subsequent footnotes
Fast, p.24

Bibliography
Fast, Susan, 'Music, contexts and meaning in U2', in Expression in pop-rock music: a collection of critical and analytical essays, ed. by Walter Everett (New York: Garland, 2000), pp. 33-58
Journal article (print)

Formula
Author , ‘Title of Article’, Journal Title, volume (year), page number to page number.

First Footnote
John M. Jennings, 'French Baroque chamber music', Early Music, 36 (2005), 142-43 (p.142).

Second and subsequent footnotes
Jennings, p. 43.

Bibliography
Jennings, John M., 'French Baroque chamber music', Early Music, 36 (2005), 142-43
Newspaper Article

‘Big Sing Tests Talents of High School Choirs’, The Press, 12 June 2010, p. 5.

 
Online Databases & Encyclopedias Walker,Alan et al. "Liszt, Franz." in Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/48265> [accessed 18 Apr. 2011].
Electronic  source eg web page

Formula
Author name, ’Title of Item’, Title of Whole Resource  (year of publication or update) <URL or DOI> , [date  you viewed it]

First Footnote

Margo Schulter , ‘Pythagorean Tuning and Medieval Polyphony’, Early Music FAQ (1998) <http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/harmony/pyth.html>[accessed 20 March 2011].

Bibliography
Schulter , Margo, ‘Pythagorean Tuning and Medieval Polyphony’, Early Music FAQ (1998) <http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/harmony/pyth.html>[accessed 20 March 2011]
A Thesis or dissertation  Jane, Philip. ‘An historical survey of the establishment of an orchestral tradition in Christchurch to 1939’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Canterbury, 2009)
A Film or Broadcast The Piano, written and directed by Jane Campion, (Optimum Releasing, 2005) [on DVD]
A Piece of Music As for Books for a whole piece;  as for Book Chapters if it is a piece from a collection or  anthology

 

Other links

Modern Humanitites Research Association