Literary texts

Guidance

*What's new?* The new MHRA official guidance states that you don't need to include the place of publication when referencing books and book chapters.

Authors

• In the footnote reference, the author name should be first name followed by surname, e.g. Virginia Woolf. The bibliography needs to be arranged alphabetically by author surname, so always reverse the name of the first author in the bibliography reference, e.g. Woolf, Virginia. Subsequent authors should be first name followed by surname.
• The name of an editor or translator follows the title, as in the examples (right). For editors, use the format 'ed. by'; for translators, use the format 'trans. by'.

Title: Use book title as it appears on the title page.

Publication details:

• Include edition if not the first, in the form ‘2nd edn’, ‘rev. edn’ etc, preceded by a comma.
• If any publication details are not given in the source, use: ‘[n. pub.]’ (= no publisher), ‘[n.d.]’ (= no date).

Page numbers:

• Include page number(s) in footnote references only as you are citing a specific section of the book, in the form ‘p.’ for ‘page’ or ‘pp.’ for ‘pages’.
• In the bibliography you are citing the whole book, so no page numbers are needed.

Put a full stop at the end of footnote references, but not at the end of bibliography references

For further tips and examples, see the MHRA Style Guide  §7.3. Citing Books, Chapters, and Literary Works (a) Citing entire books (in Chapter 7 'References')

Format and examples

New format

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname, Book Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year), p. x.

Firstname Lastname, Book Title, trans. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year), p. x.

Footnote examples:

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, ed. by Maurice Hindle, rev. edn (Penguin, 2003), pp. 62-63.

Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis and Other Stories, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Penguin, 2007), p. 33.

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Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname, Book Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year)

Lastname, Firstname, Book Title, trans. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year)

Bibliography examples:

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

Kafka, Franz, Metamorphosis and Other Stories, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Penguin, 2007)

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Previous format: include place of publication before the publisher, for example:

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, ed. by Maurice Hindle, rev. edn (London: Penguin, 2003), pp. 62-63.

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

Guidance

*What's new?* The new MHRA official guidance states that you don't need to include the place of publication when referencing books and book chapters.

eBook viewed on a personal device e.g. Kindle

If you have read the novel on a personal device, state the format (for example, Kindle). If any publication details are not given in the source, use: ‘[n. pub.]’ (= no publisher), ‘[n.d.]’ (= no date).

Project Gutenberg eBook

If you've accessed an eBook through the freely available website Project Gutenberg, include the URL and date accessed. For more advice on referencing Project Gutenberg texts, see the section Referencing an eBook that's part of an online collection.

Page numbers and sections:

If the eBook 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.

Put a full stop at the end of footnote references, but not at the end of bibliography references.

For further guidance and examples, see:

• MHRA Style Guide  §7.3. Citing Books, Chapters, and Literary Works (a) Citing entire books (in Chapter 7 'References').

Format and examples

eBook viewed on a personal device e.g. Kindle

*New format*

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname, Book Title (Publisher, Year), type of ebook, p. x.

Footnote example: Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis and Other Stories, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Penguin, 2007), Kindle ebook, p. 33.

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Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname, Book Title (Publisher, Year), type of ebook

Bibliography example: Kafka, Franz, Metamorphosis and Other Stories, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Penguin, 2007), Kindle ebook

If no page numbers are available:

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname, Book Title (Publisher, Year), type of ebook, ch. x.

Footnote example: Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower (Headline, 2019), Kindle ebook, ch. 4.

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Project Gutenberg eBook

Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (Project Gutenberg, 2023), ch. XV <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/583> [accessed 2 May 2024].

Guidance

*What's new?* The new MHRA official guidance states that you don't need to include the place of publication when referencing books and book chapters.

Authors:

• If the editor of the novel has also written the introduction, they need to be credited as both author (of the book section) and as editor (of the whole book).
• In the footnote reference, the name of the author of the introduction should be first name followed by surname, e.g. Vincent Carretta. The bibliography needs to be arranged alphabetically by author surname, so always reverse this name in the bibliography reference, e.g. Carretta, Vincent.
• The name of the editor or translator follows the title, as in the examples (right). For editors, use the format 'ed. by'; for translators, use the format 'trans. by'.

Title: Put introduction title in single quotation marks and the book title in italics. Use book title as it appears on the title page.

Publication details:

• Include edition if not the first, in the form ‘2nd edn’, ‘rev. edn’ etc, preceded by a comma.
• If any publication details are not given in the source, use: ‘[n. pub.]’ (= no publisher), ‘[n.d.]’ (= no date).

Page numbers:

• Include page number(s) in footnote references only as you are citing a specific section of the book, in the form ‘p.’ for ‘page’ or ‘pp.’ for ‘pages’.
• In the bibliography you are citing the whole book, so no page numbers are needed.

Put a full stop at the end of footnote references, but not at the end of bibliography references.

Format and examples

*New format* 

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname, ‘Introduction’, in Firstname Lastname, Book Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year), pp. x-xx (p. x).

Footnote example: Vincent Carretta, ‘Introduction’, in Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, ed. by Vincent Carretta (Penguin Books, 1995), pp. ix-xviii (p. xvii).

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In the bibliography reference, reverse the author name and omit the full stop.

Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname, ‘Introduction’, in Firstname Lastname, Book Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year), pp. x-xx

Bibliography example: Carretta, Vincent, ‘Introduction’, in Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, ed. by Vincent Carretta (Penguin Books, 1995), pp. ix-xviii

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Previous format: include place of publication before the publisher, for example:

Vincent Carretta, ‘Introduction’, in Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, ed. by Vincent Carretta (New York: Penguin Books, 1995), pp. ix-xviii (p. xvii).

Guidance

*What's new?* The new MHRA official guidance states that you don't need to include the place of publication when referencing books and book chapters.

The format is essentially the same as referencing a chapter from an edited book.

Many scholarly versions of short story collections will have editors. The editor's name follows the title, as in the examples.

Format and examples

*New format*

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname, ‘Story Title’, in Book Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year), pp. x-xx (p. x).

Footnote example: Jean Lorrain, ‘The Spectral Hand’, in Late Victorian Gothic Tales, ed. by Roger Luckhurst (Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 177-182 (p. 179).

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Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname, ‘Story Title’, in Book Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year), pp. x-xx

Bibliography example: Lorrain, Jean, ‘The Spectral Hand’, in Late Victorian Gothic Tales, ed. by Roger Luckhurst (Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 177-182

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Previous format: include place of publication before the publisher, for example:

Jean Lorrain, ‘The Spectral Hand’, in Late Victorian Gothic Tales, ed. by Roger Luckhurst (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 177-182 (p. 179).

Guidance

*What's new?* The new MHRA official guidance states that you don't need to include the place of publication when referencing books and book chapters.

Authors and editors:

• In the footnote reference, the author name should be first name followed by surname, e.g. Sylvia Plath. The bibliography needs to be arranged alphabetically by author surname, so always reverse the name of the first author in the bibliography reference, e.g. Plath, Sylvia.
• The name of an editor follows the title, using the format 'ed. by', as in the examples.

Titles: Put the poem title in single quotation marks and the collection title in italics.

Publication details:

• Include edition if not the first, in the form ‘2nd edn’, ‘rev. edn’ etc, preceded by a comma.

Page numbers and lines: Include page number(s) and line numbers (if available) in footnote references only, as you are citing a specific section of the book. Use the form ‘p.’ for ‘page’ or ‘pp.’ for ‘pages’ and/or ‘l.’ for ‘line’ or ‘ll.’ for ‘lines’.

Put a full stop at the end of footnote references, but not at the end of bibliography references.

For further guidance check the MHRA Style Guide  §7.3. Citing Books, Chapters, and Literary Works (c) Citing plays and longer poems (in Chapter 7 'References')

Format and examples

New format

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname of poet, ‘Poem Title’, in Collection Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname of editor (Publisher, Year), p. x OR pp. x-xx (p. x), ll. x-xx.

Footnote examples: Sylvia Plath, ‘Daddy’, in Collected Poems, ed. by Ted Hughes (Faber and Faber, 1981), pp. 222-24 (p. 222), ll. 2-4.

Sylvia Plath, ‘Daddy’, in The Norton Anthology of Poetry, ed. by Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy, 5th edn (W. W. Norton, 2005), pp. 1840-42 (p.1840), ll. 2-4.

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Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname of poet, ‘Poem Title’, in Collection Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname of editor (Publisher, Year), p. x OR pp. x-xx

Bibliography examples: Plath, Sylvia, ‘Daddy’, in Collected Poems, ed. by Ted Hughes (Faber and Faber, 1981), pp. 222-24

Plath, Sylvia, ‘Daddy’, in The Norton Anthology of Poetry, ed. by Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy, 5th edn (W. W. Norton, 2005), pp. 1840-42

If you want to reference the whole collection in the bibliography:

Plath, Sylvia, Collected Poems, ed. by Ted Hughes (Faber and Faber, 1981)

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Previous format: include place of publication before the publisher, for example:

Sylvia Plath, ‘Daddy’, in Collected Poems, ed. by Ted Hughes (London: Faber and Faber, 1981), pp. 222-24 (p. 222), ll. 2-4.

Guidance

If you are referencing a poem you've found online, whether text or audio file, include the URL and date accessed.

Authors: In the footnote reference, the poet's name should be first name followed by surname, e.g. Sylvia Plath. The bibliography needs to be arranged alphabetically by author surname, so always reverse the name of the poet in the bibliography reference, e.g. Plath, Sylvia.

Titles: Put the poem title in single quotation marks and the website title in italics.

Date: For the date, give the year the page was last updated if available. If this information is not available, use ‘[n.d.]’ (= no date).

Page numbers and lines: Use line numbers only if these are fixed and stable, in the form ‘l.’ for ‘line’ or ‘ll.’ for ‘lines’.

Access details: You must include the URL and date accessed. Put the URL in angle brackets <URL> and the date accessed in square brackets [accessed day month year].

Put a full stop at the end of footnote references, but not at the end of bibliography references.

For further guidance check the MHRA Style Guide  §7.3. Citing Books, Chapters, and Literary Works (c) Citing plays and longer poems (in Chapter 7 'References')

Format and examples

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname of poet, ‘Poem Title’, Website (Year) <URL> [accessed day month year].

Footnote example: Kei Miller, ‘Place Name: Oracabessa’, The Poetry Society (2015) <https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/kei-miller/> [accessed 3 June 2024].

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Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname of poet, ‘Poem Title’, Website (Year) <URL> [accessed day month year]

Bibliography example: Miller, Kei, ‘Place Name: Oracabessa’, The Poetry Society (2015) <https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/kei-miller/> [accessed 3 June 2024]

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If you want to reference an audio file:

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname of poet, ‘Poem Title’, Website, format (Year) <URL> [accessed day month year].

Footnote example: Kei Miller, ‘Some Definitions for Song’, The Poetry Archive, audio recording (2009) <https://poetryarchive.org/poem/some-definitions-song/> [accessed 3 June 2024].

For the bibliography format, reverse the poet's name and omit the full stop.

Guidance

*What's new?* The new MHRA official guidance states that you don't need to include the place of publication when referencing books and book chapters.

Authors and editors:

• In the footnote reference, the playwright's name should be first name followed by surname, e.g. William Shakespeare. The bibliography needs to be arranged alphabetically by author surname, so always reverse the name of the playwright in the bibliography reference, e.g. Shakespeare, William.
• The name of an editor follows the title, using the format 'ed. by', as in the examples.

Sections of plays:

• In footnote references, you need to specify the section of the play you are citing or quoting, including act, scene and line numbers if these are available, separated by full stops. For acts of plays, use roman numerals (e.g. VIII or viii) . These can be upper or lower case but be consistent. For scenes and lines, use regular Arabic numerals (e.g. 2). Note that unlike references to poems, you do not include ‘l.’ for ‘line’ or ‘ll.’ for ‘lines’.
• If the play doesn’t have scenes, or if you’re citing the introduction, use page numbers in the form ‘p.’ for ‘page’ or ‘pp.’ for ‘pages’.
• In the bibliography you are referencing the whole book.

Put a full stop at the end of footnote references, but not at the end of bibliography references.

For further guidance check the MHRA Style Guide  §7.3. Citing Books, Chapters, and Literary Works (c) Citing plays and longer poems (in Chapter 7 'References')

Format and examples

New format 

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname, Play Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year), Act. Scene. Line no. OR p. x.

Footnote example: William Shakespeare, Hamlet, ed. by John Dover Wilson (Cambridge University Press, 2009), III. 4. 139-155.

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Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname, Play Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year)

Bibliography example: Shakespeare, William, Hamlet, ed. by John Dover Wilson (Cambridge University Press, 2009)

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Previous format: include place of publication before the publisher, for example:

William Shakespeare, Hamlet, ed. by John Dover Wilson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), III. 4. 139-155.

Guidance

*What's new?* The new MHRA official guidance states that you don't need to include the place of publication when referencing books and book chapters.

Authors and editors:

• In the footnote reference, the playwright's name should be first name followed by surname, e.g. William Shakespeare. The bibliography needs to be arranged alphabetically by author surname, so always reverse the name of the playwright in the bibliography reference, e.g. Shakespeare, William.
• The name of an editor follows the title, using the format 'ed. by', as in the examples (right).
• If the play is anonymous (as is the case with some older plays), do not use 'Anon.' Instead start the reference with the title of the play.

Titles: Put the play title in single quotation marks and the collection title in italics (as with a book chapter).

Sections of plays:

• In footnote references, you need to specify the section of the play you are citing or quoting, including act, scene and line numbers if these are available, separated by full stops. For acts of plays, use roman numerals (e.g. VIII or viii) . These can be upper or lower case but be consistent. For scenes and lines, use regular Arabic numerals (e.g. 2). Note that unlike references to poems, you do not include ‘l.’ for ‘line’ or ‘ll.’ for ‘lines’.
• If the play doesn’t have scenes, or if you’re citing the introduction, use page numbers in the form ‘p.’ for ‘page’ or ‘pp.’ for ‘pages’.
• In the bibliography you are referencing the whole play.

Put a full stop at the end of footnote references, but not at the end of bibliography references.

For further guidance check the MHRA Style Guide  §7.3. Citing Books, Chapters, and Literary Works (c) Citing plays and longer poems (in Chapter 7 'References')

Format and examples

New format 

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname, ‘Play Title’, in Collection Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year), Act. Scene. Line no.

Footnote example: Thomas Heywood, ‘A Woman Killed with Kindness’, in Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, 2nd edn, ed. by Arthur F. Kinney (Blackwell, 2005), VIII. 102-104.

If there is no author:

Footnote example: ‘The Tragedy of Master Arden of Faversham’, in Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, 2nd edn, ed. by Arthur F. Kinney (Blackwell, 2005), XIV. 223-225.

If the play has pages, rather than Acts and scenes:

Footnote format: Firstname Lastname, ‘Play Title’, in Collection Title (Publisher, Year), pp. x-xx (p. x).

Footnote example: Sarah Kane, ‘Crave’, in Complete Plays (Methuen Drama, 2001), pp. 153-202 (p. 165).

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Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname, ‘Play Title’ in Collection Title, ed. by Firstname Lastname (Publisher, Year)

Bibliography example: Heywood, Thomas, ‘A Woman Killed with Kindness’, in Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, 2nd edn, ed. by Arthur F. Kinney (Blackwell, 2005)

If there is no author:

Bibliography example: ‘The Tragedy of Master Arden of Faversham’, in Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, 2nd edn, ed. by Arthur F. Kinney (Blackwell, 2005)

If the play has pages, rather than Acts and scenes:

Bibliography format: Lastname, Firstname, ‘Play Title’, in Collection Title (Publisher, Year), pp. x-xx.

Bibliography example: Kane, Sarah, ‘Crave’, in Complete Plays (Methuen Drama, 2001), pp. 153-202

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Previous format: include place of publication before the publisher, for example:

Thomas Heywood, ‘A Woman Killed with Kindness’, in Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, 2nd edn, ed. by Arthur F. Kinney (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), VIII. 102-104.