Reference with MHRA

If you're discussing a literary text throughout your essay, you don't want to overwhelm your document with multiple footnotes for the same work. 

• Titles of literary texts (novels, plays) mentioned in the body of your assignments should be italicized, as in the corresponding reference.
• Where you're analysing a smaller part, like a poem, short story or essay, use single quotation marks, again as in the corresponding reference. 
• If it's a long title, you can use a shortened form but be consistent.
• The first time you refer to the text, create a footnote which includes the full reference as normal - see the example below. 
• The next time you mention the same work in the body of your assignment, just provide the relevant line numbers or page references in round brackets () after the quotation or mention. 
• As before, titles of literary texts should be italicized, titles of smaller parts, like a poem, short story or essay, should be enclosed in single quotation marks.
• Above all make sure you're consistent and that it's clear which text you're referring to. 

Example of first mention in the text:

Shelley's Frankenstein begins with a scientific voyage to the North Pole where Captain Walton hopes to make his own scientific discoveries. ¹

Corresponding footnote reference:

_______________________________

¹Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, ed. by Maurice Hindle, rev. edn (Penguin, 2003), p. 7.

Examples of subsequent mentions in the text:

Captain Walton's instinctive pity for Victor, 'the most poignant grief' he feels (p. 18) is in stark contrast to Victor's reaction to his own creature when...

In Frankenstein, Shelley explores the theme of lost innocence (p.123)

You'll find examples of How to set out quotations in MHRA, below.

The second method is appropriate if you've mentioned the same source a few times, for example if you've drawn on a source of secondary criticism such as a book or an article. In this method, create footnotes for each mention. The first footnote should include the full reference to the source, but the later footnotes need only have an abbreviated reference or ‘short citation’. This should usually be the author's name, followed by a short form of the title (you can omit the subtitle for example), plus the cited page number(s).

For example, I've used the book Modernist Poetry, Gender and Leisure Technologies: Machine Amusements, by Alex Goody.

In the first footnote I would provide the full reference for the book. In subsequent footnotes I could put:

Goody, Modernist Poetry, p. 49.

For further examples:

• You can see an example of a short citation in this sample text with MHRA referencing (4th edn) in Cite Them Right (scroll down to see the 'Sample text for notes and bibliography format', Footnote 9).
• see the MHRA Style Guide, §7.12. Abbreviated References to Works Already Cited (in Chapter 7 'References')

Harry Potter series

These books weren’t published as a series, so there is no overarching series title. To refer to the books collectively, provide a footnote the first time you mention one of the books in your text. In this footnote put the full reference details for each book individually (separate them with a semicolon), and at the end of the list write the following:

Further references to the Harry Potter books as a collection will be referred to as 'Harry Potter series (1997-2007)'.

You can then use this short form in further references to refer to the series as a whole.

Books read on a personal device

f you have read an ebook on a personal device that doesn't include page numbers, you should only provide section details if these are fixed and stable:

• You could provide the chapter information, e.g. ch. 4.
• You can also number the paragraphs and include the paragraph cited in round brackets, e.g. (para. 3 of 24).
• If using both chapter and paragraph details, put the chapter details first, e.g. ch. 4 (para. 3 of 24).
• Don't use line numbers as these aren't fixed and stable.

Web page sections

Some web pages may have numbered sections which you can use include in your short citation to help locate a specific part. If there are no numbered sections, you can number the paragraphs and include the paragraph cited in round brackets at the end of your footnote, e.g. (para. 3 of 24). Don't use line numbers as these aren't fixed and stable.

Courses in English Literature, Creative Writing and Drama, Theatre & Acting require written assignments to be presented in 12 point Arial font and double-spaced.

The final word count should be clearly indicated at the end of your assignment.

The allowed word length does not include abstract, footnotes, bibliography and any appendices

It does include quotations used in the body of the text.

NB Different rules apply for PhD theses - check the guidance provided by the Graduate Office.

To calculate the word count without including the bibliography, highlight the relevant text to be counted. To exclude footnotes:

• In Word, click on ‘Review’ and ‘Word count’. A dialog box will open allowing you to choose whether to include footnotes and endnotes.
• In Word for Mac, click on ‘Tools’ and select ‘Word Count’. The default is to include text in footnotes and endnotes, so un-tick the option ‘Include footnotes and endnotes’ to change this.

You must use footnotes and a bibliography in every assignment. If you fail to include both, or you include footnotes but no bibliography (and vice versa), you will have marks deducted.