Referencing in the MHRA Style

www.swansea.ac.uk/lis
Referencing in the MHRA style
Modern Humanities Research Association
(mhra.org.uk)
by Carine Harston

In this session:
What is referencing?
Why is it important?
What should I reference?
How do I reference?
Practicalities
Looking closer (types of references, formats, changes in format, etc.)

What is referencing?
Referencing is
the academic practice
of acknowledging
the sources of information and ideas
that you have used to write your coursework.

Why is it important?
Academic:
demonstrates that you have used a wide variety of relevant sources
lends credence to your arguments
expresses respect to your sources
Practical:
improves readability of your work
constitutes a record of sources used
Legal:
helps avoid plagiarism

Why is it important? (cont.)
‘Plagiarism can be defined as
using another person’s work or ideas
without appropriate acknowledgement
and submitting it for assessment,
as though it was one’s own work,
for instance through copying or paraphrasing’.
(Swansea University’s Code of Practice for
dealing with cases of unfair practice 2012/13)

What should I reference?
anything you refer to in your work, whether in
quotation marks or not.
direct quote
Lees and Overing recognise that medieval sources comprise largely a patriarchal
record, but believe ‘patriarchy may be persuaded to divulge many a secret if we
teach ourselves to interrogate it differently’.1
paraphrase
Lees and Overing argue that we might be able to remedy the paucity of evidence
about medieval women’s lives if we bring different assumptions to the process of
source examination.1
summarise
Lees and Overing challenge current scholarly approach to the medieval cultural
record.1
mention
The views of Lees and Overing1 were later supported by Steinberg.2

How do I reference?
Use a College approved referencing style!
Author-date
e.g. APA:
“We cannot comprehend women as a category without
considering the historical imbrication of class and gender”(Lees
& Overing, 2009)
Footnote
e.g. MHRA:
“We cannot comprehend women as a category without
considering the historical imbrication of class and gender”5
5. Clare A. Lees and Gillian R. Overing, Double Agents: Women and Clerical
Culture in Anglo-Saxon England (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2009), p.15.

How do I reference? (cont.)
citations =
(superscript numbers)
in-text =
footnotes =
end-text = reference list =
1
1.
2.
Bibliography
While Steinberg considers the cultural sources ‘limited and
fragmentary’, Lees and Overing assure us that ‘women’s
absence from the record can actually point to their presence’.
Lees, Clare A. and Gillian R. Overing, Double Agents: Women and
Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England, 2nd edn (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 2009)
Steinberg, Theodore L., Reading the Middle Ages: An Introduction to
Medieval Literature (Jefferson N.C.: McFarland, 2003)
__________________________________
Theodore L. Steinberg, Reading the Middle Ages: An
Introduction to Medieval Literature (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland,
2003), p. 124.
Clare A. Lees and Gillian R. Overing, Double Agents: Women
and Clerical Culture In Anglo-Saxon England, 2nd edn (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 2009), pp. 218-219.
2

How do I reference? (cont.)

Practicalities

Practicalities (cont.)

The devil in the detail
not just what but also how:
order
formatting
punctuation
Clare A. Lees and Gillian R. Overing, Double
Agents: Women and Clerical Culture in Anglo-
Saxon England, 2nd edn (Cardiff: University of
Wales Press, 2009), pp. 20 - 34.

The curious life cycle of references
footnote (later reference) Lees and Overing, pp. 50-67.
bibliography Lees, Clare A., and Gillian R. Overing, Double Agents:
Women and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon
England, 2nd edn (Cardiff: University of
Wales Press, 2009)
footnote (first reference) Clare A. Lees and Gillian R. Overing, Double
Agents: Women and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon
England, 2nd edn (Cardiff: University of Wales
Press, 2009), pp. 20-34.

Different types of publications...
...different references!
• books
• articles
• book reviews
• films, plays, broadcasts, recordings
• web pages, social media
• manuscripts, private correspondence
• theses & dissertations
• sacred texts
• etc., etc., etc.
•authored
•edited
•chapters / sections
•journal
•newspaper
•printed
•online

Edited book
Title first
ed. by
Medieval Conduct, ed. by Kathleen Ashley and
Robert L. A. Clark (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 2001), p. 10.

Chapter/section/article in an edited book
‘Chapter title’,
in Title of Book
pp. (page range)
Anna Dronzek, ‘Gendered Theories of Education in
Fifteenth-Century Conduct Books’, in Medieval
Conduct, ed. by Kathleen Ashley and Robert L. A.
Clark (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
2001), pp. 135-159 (p. 142).

Journal article
‘Article title’,
Journal Title,
vol No.issue No (year) no publisher
page range no pp.
T. F. Koestler, ‘Medieval Literature Made Easy’,
The English Journal, 20.1 (1931), 30-42 (p. 35).

Book Review in a journal
‘Review title’,
review of Title of Reviewed Work, by Author of Reviewed Work
John Bradley, ‘The Friends Project’, review of
Medieval Dublin I & II: Proceedings of the annual
symposia, by Sean Duffy, The Canadian Journal of
Irish Studies, 27.2 (2001), 133-134.

Newspaper article
‘Article title’,
Newspaper Title,
Dd Month yyyy, no brackets
section (where relevant)
Richard Ford, ‘Highest Rise in Violent Crime in
Seven Years’, The Times, 18 March 1997, section
Home News, p.8.

Film
Title first,
dir. by
(distributor, date)
The Name of the Rose, dir. by Jean-Jacques
Annaud (Columbia Pictures, 1986).

Web page
(date published or last updated)
< URL >
[accessed dd Month yyyy]
(para. X of Y)
Tom James, Overview: The Middle Ages,1154-1485
(2011),
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/ov
erview_middleages_01.shtml> [accessed 20 June
2015] (para. 3 of 75).

Manuscript
town where held,
archive/library/institution,
collection name,
manuscript number.
Records (primarily originals) concerning England, France and Flanders, Henry III–Henry IV
(1216–1413), including the declaration of King Richard II of England (1377–99) for quelling
the insurrection led by Wat Tyler, 1381 (f. 137). 15. A petition of Bernard de
Trenqualeon, to Edward II; for redress against the French king. (Fr. on vell.) 1324. 12.
London, British Library, Cotton MS Caligula, D III,
fol. 15.

Electronic content - ebook
Platform name ebook.
Clare A. Lees and Gillian R. Overing, Double Agents:
Women And Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England,
2nd edn (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2009), pp.
20-34. Ebrary ebook.

Electronic content – e-journal article
< DOI >
or
< stable URL > [accessed dd Month yyyy]
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/803066> [accessed 8
June 2015]
T. F. Koestler, ‘Medieval Literature Made Easy’,
The English Journal, 20.1 (1931), 30-42 (p. 35)

The second mention
shortest intelligible form
(usually author(s) and page numbers)
if necessary – add title in a shortened form

The second mention
Authored book
and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England, 2nd edn
(Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2009), pp. 20-34.
Lees and Overing, pp. 50-67.
Lees and Overing, Double Agents, pp. 50-67.

The second mention
Edited book
Medieval conduct, ed. by Kathleen Ashley and Robert L. A.
Clark, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001), p.
10.
Medieval conduct, p. 21.

The second mention
Chapter/section/article in an edited book
Anna Dronzek, ‘Gendered Theories of Education in Fifteenth-
Century Conduct Books’, in Medieval Conduct, ed. by
Kathleen Ashley and Robert L. A. Clark (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 2001), pp. 135-159 (p. 142).
Dronzek, p. 147.

The second mention
Journal article
T. F. Koestler, ‘Medieval Literature Made Easy’, The English
Journal, 20.1 (1931), 30-42 (p. 35).
Koestler, p. 39.

The second mention
Book review in a journal
John Bradley, ‘The Friends Project’, review of Medieval Dublin
I & II: Proceedings of the annual symposia, by Sean Duffy,
The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, 27.2 (2001), 133-134
(p. 133).
Bradley, p. 134.

The second mention
Newspaper article
Richard Ford, ‘Highest Rise in Violent Crime in Seven Years’,
The Times, 18 March 1997, section Home News, p.8.
Ford, p. 8.

The second mention
Film
The Name of the Rose, dir. by Jean-Jacques Annaud
(Columbia Pictures, 1986).
The Name of the Rose.

The second mention
Web page
Tom James, Overview: The Middle Ages,1154-1485 (2011),
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/overview_mi
ddleages_01.shtml> [accessed 20 June 2015] (para. 3 of
75).
James, (para. 12 of 75).

The second mention
Manuscript
London, British Library, Cotton MS Caligula, D III, fol. 15.
Cotton MS Caligula, D III, fols. 16-17.

The Bibliography
starts on a new page
alphabetical by Authors’ Surname
double spaced
hanging indents (Ctrl+Tab)
Ager, Richard, The Art of Information and Communications Technology for
Teachers (London: David Fulton, 2000)
Apter, Michael John, The New Technology of Education (London: Macmillan, 1968)
Reksten, Linda E., Using Technology to Increase Student Learning (Thousand
Oaks: Corwin Press, 2000)

References in the Bibliography
First Author’s Surname, Forename/s, (Second Author - unchanged!)
no specific page mentions
no final full stops
listed only once
and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England, 2nd edn (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 2009), pp. 20 - 34 .
Lees, Clare A.

References in the Bibliography (cont.)
Name/s of Editor/s (first one inverted)
ed., / eds,
Medieval Conduct, ed. by Kathleen Ashley and Robert L.
A. Clark (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
2001), p. 10.
Ashley, Kathleen and Robert L. A. Clark, eds, Medieval
Conduct (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
2001)

Two further concepts
James, cited in Nalbantian,3 makes the point that…
_____________________________
3. William James, Principles of Psychology, (New York: Dover
Publications, 1950), p.239, cited in Susan Nalbantian, Memory
in Literature: From Rousseau to Neuroscience (Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), p.22.
1. background reading
2. secondary quoting

For help...
... see your Subject Librarians!
Arts and Humanities Library Subject Team:
Dr. Ian Glen
Bernie Williams
Siân Neilson
Carine Harston
artslib@swansea.ac.uk

Fancy a go?
Go to:
LibGuides >
Arts & Humanities >
Modern Languages and Translation Studies guide >
Referencing tab >
Referencing in the MHRA Style box (on the right) >
MHRA exercises tab >
Have a go link (click to download a copy)

Referencing in the MHRA Style

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Featured

Featured (20)

Referencing in the MHRA Style