Modern Humanities Research Association Style

The official style system used by the School of Humanities at Flinders University is that of the Modern Humanities Research Association, or MHRA. This system has been designed specifically to cater to the referencing and citation requirements of disciplines in the humanities. Please note that MHRA style differs to varying degrees from those systems used in study skills texts often recommended to students, such as Iain Hay, Dianne Bochner, Carol Dungey, Making the Grade: A Guide to Successful Communication and Study (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997).

This style guide has been prepared in accordance with the MHRA system, and should give you all of the detail you need for the correct style and presentation of essays in the School of Humanities. Should you require more detail, the complete MHRA Style Guide is available online. Please note, however, that this document takes hours to print out, and is much more effectively consulted online.

The MHRA offers guidance for both the note system and the author-date system of citation. In general, a note system is far preferable in the humanities, because it allows the inclusion of more information than merely a bibliographical reference: in humanities disciplines bibliographical references are often complemented by a comment or observation by the writer. Nevertheless, an author-date system may be the style of choice in some humanities disciplines: check with your department.

There are two common general systems of referencing – “note” sytems and “in-text” (author-date) systems. Do not mix referencing systems. Select either “note" or “in-text”.