 | The MHRA Style Guide OnlineA Handbook for Authors and Editors • Third Edition |
From Chapter 11, 'References'
11.2 Forms of Reference
Except when the author–date system (see 11.4) is used or when full details are given in a separate bibliography, the first reference to a book, article, or other publication should be given in full and later references in an easily identifiable abbreviated form (see 11.3).
Full references should be given as in the following examples of monographs, edited volumes, and editions of texts (a commentary follows):
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(i) |
Tom McArthur, Worlds of Reference: Lexicography, Learning and Language from the Clay Tablet to the Computer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 59. |
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(ii) |
Jean Starobinski, Montaigne in Motion, trans. by Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), p. 174. |
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(iii) |
H. Munro Chadwick and N. Kershaw Chadwick, The Growth of Literature, 3 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932–40; repr. 1986), i, p. xiii. |
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(iv) |
José Amador de los Ríos, Historia crítica de la literatura española, 7 vols (Madrid: the author, 1861–65; repr. Madrid: Gredos, 1969), vi (1865), 44–54. |
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(v) |
Debra Linowitz Wentz, Fait et fiction: les formules pédagogiques des ‘Contes d’une grand-mère’ de George Sand (Paris: Nizet, 1985), p. 9. |
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(vi) |
Approaches to Teaching Voltaire’s ‘Candide’, ed. by R. Waldinger (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1987), pp. 3, 10, 27. |
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(vii) |
Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. by Joseph R. Strayer and others, 13 vols (New York: Scribner, 1982–89), vi (1985), 26. |
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(viii) |
Carlos Fuentes, Aura, ed. by Peter Standish, Durham Modern Language Series: Hispanic Texts, i (Durham: University of Durham, 1986), pp. 12–16 (p. 14). |
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(ix) |
Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters, ed. by Thomas H. Johnson, 2nd edn (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), pp. 194–97. |
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(x) |
Boswell: The English Experiment 1785–1789, ed. by Irma S. Lustig and Frederick A. Pottle, The Yale Edition of the Private Papers of James Boswell (London: Heinemann; New York: McGraw Hill, 1986), pp. 333–37. |
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(xi) |
The Works of Thomas Nashe, ed. by Ronald B. McKerrow, 2nd edn, rev. by F. P. Wilson, 5 vols (Oxford: Blackwell, 1958), iii, 94–98 (pp. 95–96). |
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(xii) |
Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Sämtliche Werke, ed. by Rudolf Hirsch and others (Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1975– ), xiii: Dramen, ed. by Roland Haltmeier (1986), pp. 12–22. |
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(xiii) |
Sophocles, Fabulae, ed. by H. Lloyd-Jones and N. G. Wilson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), pp. 59–118. |
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(xiv) |
Cornelius Tacitus, Opera minora, ed. by M. Winterbottom and R. M. Ogilvie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975), pp. v–x. |
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(xv) |
Thomas Mann, Doktor Faustus: Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn erzählt von einem Freunde, Stockholmer Gesamtausgabe der Werke (Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer, 1947). |
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(xvi) |
Luke Syson, with Larry Keith and others, Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan (London: National Gallery Company, 2011). |
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(xvii) |
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. by Theodore Silverstein (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984). |
The information should be given in the following order:
1. Author: The author’s name should normally be given as it appears on the title page; forenames should precede surnames and should not be reduced to initials. However, classical names should be given in the nominative form even if the genitive is used on the title page: see examples (xiii) and (xiv). The names of up to three authors should be given in full; for works by more than three authors the name of only the first should be given, followed by ‘and others’ (see examples (vii) and (xvi)). If the author’s name is included within the title (as, for example, in editions of ‘Works’), or if the book is an edited collection or anthology, the title will appear first (see examples (vi), (vii), (ix)–(xi)).
2. Title: The title should be given as it appears on the title page (although very long titles may be suitably abbreviated) and italicized. A colon should always be used to separate title and subtitle, even where the punctuation on the title page is different or (as often happens) non-existent. For books in English and German, capitalize the initial letter of the first word after the colon and of all principal words (in German, all nouns) throughout the title (see examples (i), (ix), (x), and (xv)); for titles in other languages, follow the capitalization rules for the language in question (see 6.4 and example (v)). If figures occur in titles, these should also be italicized (see example (x)). Titles of other works occurring within the title should be enclosed in quotation marks (see examples (v) and (vi)). For books (usually older works) with alternative titles, punctuation before and after ‘or’ should be as follows:
The Queen; or, The Excellency of her Sex
All for Love; or, The World Well Lost
3. Editor, Translator, etc.: The names of editors etc. should be treated in the same way as those of authors (as set out above) with regard to forenames and number to be given; they should be preceded by the accepted abbreviated forms ‘ed. by’, ‘trans. by’, ‘rev. by’ (see examples (ii), (vi)–(xiv), and (xvii)). For multi-volume works where there is more than one editor or a group of editors involved, the information should be conveyed as in examples (vii), (x), and (xii); but see example (xi), where only one editor is involved.
4. Series: If a book is part of a numbered series, the series title and the number (in arabic numerals) should be given (see example (viii)). However, the name of the series may be omitted if it is unnumbered, unless the series title itself conveys important information (see examples (x) and (xv)). Series titles should not be italicized or put between quotation marks.
5. Edition: If the edition used is other than the first, this should be stated in the form ‘2nd edn’, ‘5th edn’, ‘rev. edn’ (see examples (ix) and (xi)).
6. Number of Volumes: If the work is in more than one volume, the number of volumes should be given in the form ‘2 vols’ (see examples (iii), (iv), (vii), (xi)). Foreign equivalents, such as ‘tome’, ‘Band’, ‘tomo’, should usually be rendered as ‘vol.’.
7. Details of Publication: The place of publication, the name of the publisher, and the date of publication should be enclosed in parentheses; a colon separates the place from the publisher, a comma separates the publisher from the date. Any detail of publication which is not given in the book itself but can be ascertained should be enclosed in square brackets, e.g. ‘[Paris]’, ‘[1987]’. For details that are assumed but uncertain, use the form ‘[Paris(?)]’, ‘[1987(?)]’. If any detail is unknown and cannot be ascertained, the following abbreviated forms of reference should be used: ‘[n.p.]’ (= no place), ‘[n. pub.]’ (= no publisher), ‘[n.d.]’ (= no date). Do not use square brackets in a reference for any other purpose (for example, when the reference is already in parentheses), otherwise the impression may be conveyed that the information in square brackets is uncertain.
In giving the place of publication, the current English forms of place-names should be used where these exist (e.g. Geneva, Milan, Munich, Vienna; see 3.1.1). Frankfurt am Main can be abbreviated to Frankfurt a.M. The two-letter abbreviated forms of names of American states (see 4.5) should be included if there is danger of confusion (e.g. Cambridge, MA; Athens, GA). These are not required if the name of the state appears in the name of the publisher (e.g. Athens: University of Georgia Press). For books published by the same publisher in more than one place, it is normally sufficient to refer only to the first. Place of publication should be omitted only when (as, for example, in a bibliographical article) there are likely to be a great many references to books published at one place. In these circumstances, provide an early note in the form of ‘Place of publication of all books cited is London [or Paris, etc.] unless otherwise stated’.
The name of the publishing house (preceded by a colon) should be given without secondary matter such as an initial definite article, ‘& Co.’, ‘Ltd’, or ‘S.A.’. ‘Press’, ‘Verlag’, ‘Editorial’, etc. are usually omitted where the name of the house is that of its proprietor or founder.
Thus for example:
Éditions de la Femme, Harvester Press, Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, Blackwell, Mellen, Laterza, Mitteldeutscher Verlag
It is not normally necessary to include forenames or initials of publishers, unless there are two or more with the same surname:
Brewer (not D. S. Brewer)
Heinemann (not William Heinemann)
Where a publisher’s name includes ‘and’ or ‘&’, the conjunction should be given in the form which appears on the title page:
Thames and Hudson; Grant & Cutler
A book which has more than one place of publication and a different publisher in each place should be referred to as in example (x).
Details of facsimile reprints of old books should be given as in example (iii) where the original publisher is responsible for the reprint, and as in example (iv) where different publishers are involved. Example (iv) also illustrates the appropriate form of reference to a work published by its author.
A reference to a work in several volumes published over a period of years but now complete should state the number of volumes and give inclusive dates of publication and the date of the volume specifically referred to where this is not the first or last in the series (see examples (iii), (iv), (vii)). However, the date of the first or last volume should be given if it was published out of sequence. If a work in several volumes is incomplete and still in the process of publication, the date of the first volume should be stated followed by a dash and a space, and the date of the individual volume being cited should be added in parentheses after the volume number (see example (xii)). In some instances (for example, if each volume of a set has a different editor) it may be more appropriate to give publication details only for the volume cited.
8. Volume Number: In a multi-volume work the number of the volume referred to should be given in small capital roman numerals, followed where necessary by the title and editor of the volume (if any) and by the year of publication in parentheses (see examples (iv), (vii), (xii)). It is very rarely necessary to insert ‘vol.’ before the volume number.
9. Page Numbers: If a volume number is not cited or if it is distant (as in example (xii)), ‘p.’ or ‘pp.’ should be inserted before the page number(s). It is customary to omit ‘p./pp.’ when the volume number immediately or closely precedes (see examples (iv), (vii), (xi)), unless the page number(s) are also in roman numerals and a date does not intervene (see example (iii)). If an entry relates to several successive pages, the first and last page numbers of the span should always be stated:
pp. 201–09 (not pp. 201 ff.)
If it is necessary to indicate a particular reference within a page span, the specific page number(s) should be given in parentheses (see examples (viii), (xi)).
Note that ‘folio’, ‘recto’, and ‘verso’ are abbreviated thus:
fol. 3r, fol. 127v, fols 17v–22r
11.2.3 Chapters or Articles in Books
Full references should be given as in the following examples:
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(i) |
Martin Elsky, ‘Words, Things, and Names: Jonson’s Poetry and Philosophical Grammar’, in Classic and Cavalier: Essays on Jonson and the Sons of Ben, ed. by Claude J. Summers and Ted-Larry Pebworth (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982), pp. 31–55 (p. 41). |
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(ii) |
Fanni Bogdanow, ‘The Suite du Merlin and the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal’, in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History, ed. by Roger Sherman Loomis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959), pp. 325–35. |
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(iii) |
R. P. Calcraft, ‘The Lover as Icarus: Góngora’s ‘‘Qué de invidiosos montes levantados’’ ’, in What’s Past Is Prologue: A Collection of Essays in Honour of L. J. Woodward, ed. by Salvador Bacarisse and others (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1984), pp. 10–16 (p. 12). |
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(iv) |
Luis T. González-del-Valle, ‘Lo interpersonal en Presentimiento de lobos: un estudio de los modos de transmisión’, in Estudios en honor de Ricardo Gullón, ed. by Luis T. González-del-Valle and Darío Villanueva (Lincoln, NE: Society of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies, 1984), pp. 141–53. |
When a second item from a volume previously mentioned is to be listed, use an abbreviated form, as in this example referring to the volume in (ii) above:
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(v) |
Eugène Vinaver, ‘The Prose Tristan’, in Arthurian Literature, ed. by Loomis, pp. 339–47. |
Similar conventions apply in the case of an article in an issue of a journal that has its own editor and a title:
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(vi) |
E. Glyn Lewis, ‘Attitudes to the Planned Development of Welsh’, in The Sociology of Welsh, ed. by Glyn Williams (= International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 66 (1987)), pp. 11–26. |
The information should be given in the following order:
Author’s name, exactly as it appears in the book (see 11.2.2, Author)
Title of chapter or article in single quotation marks
The word ‘in’ (preceded by a comma) followed by title, editor’s name, and full publication details of book as in 11.2.2
First and last page numbers of item cited, preceded by ‘pp.’
Page number(s), in parentheses and preceded by ‘p.’ or ‘pp.’, of the particular reference (if necessary)
A colon should be used to separate title and subtitle. For titles in English and German, capitalize the initial letter of the first word after the colon and all principal words (in German, all nouns) throughout the title (including the subtitle) (see examples (i)–(iii)); for titles in other languages, follow the capitalization rules for the language in question (see 6.4 and example (iv)). The titles of works of literature occurring within the titles of chapters or articles should be italicized or placed within quotation marks, whichever is appropriate (see examples (ii), (iii), (iv)). If quotation marks are used within the title, they should be double (see example (iii)), since single quotation marks will already have been used to enclose the title itself (see 9.3).
If a particular page within a chapter or article is to be indicated, the full page span should nevertheless be given in the first full citation and a reference to the particular page added in parentheses (see examples (i) and (iii)).
Reference to an article in a book which has previously been published in a journal should take one of the following forms:
Alfred L. Kellogg and Louis A. Haselmayer, ‘Chaucer’s Satire of the Pardoner’, PMLA, 66 (1951), 251–77 (repr. in Alfred L. Kellogg, Chaucer, Langland, Arthur: Essays in Middle English Literature (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1972), pp. 212–44).
Edwin Honig, ‘Calderón’s Strange Mercy Play’, in Critical Essays on the Theatre of Calderón, ed. by Bruce W. Wardropper (New York: New York University Press, 1965), pp. 167–92 (first publ. in Massachusetts Review, 3 (1961), 80–107).
The second form should be used if the collection of essays is more generally available than the individual journal (which may be old or obscure) or if reference is going to be made to several articles in the collection, thus facilitating the use of a short form for later references (see 11.3).
Other subdivisions in books, when separately cited, should be treated as seems appropriate according to this general pattern. Thus:
Troilus and Criseyde, in The Riverside Chaucer, ed. by Larry D. Benson, 3rd edn (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987), pp. 471–585.
Marqués de Santillana, Infierno de los enamorados, in Poesías completas, ed. by Miguel Ángel Pérez Priego, i, Clásicos Alhambra, 25 (Madrid: Alhambra, 1983), pp. 225–58.
The first reference should be given in full in a form similar to that in the following examples:
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(i) |
Richard Hillyer, ‘In More than Name Only: Jonson’s “To Sir Horace Vere”’, MLR, 85 (1990), 1–11 (p. 8). |
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(ii) |
L. T. Topsfield, ‘Jois, Amors and Fin’ Amors in the Poetry of Jaufre Rudel’, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 71 (1970), 277–305 (p. 279). |
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(iii) |
Victor Skretkowicz, ‘Devices and their Narrative Function in Sidney’s Arcadia’, Emblematica, 1 (1986), 267–92. |
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(iv) |
J. D. Spikes, ‘The Jacobean History Play and the Myth of the Elect Nation’, Renaissance Drama, n.s., 8 (1970), 117–49. |
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(v) |
Robert F. Cook, ‘Baudouin de Sebourc: un poème édifiant?’, Olifant, 14 (1989), 115–35 (pp. 118–19). |
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(vi) |
Eduardo Urbina, ‘Don Quijote, puer–senex: un tópico y su transformación paródica en el Quijote’, Journal of Hispanic Philology, 12 (1987–88), 127–38. |
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(vii) |
James Trainer, ‘Sophie an Ludwig Tieck: neu identifizierte Briefe’, Jahrbuch der deutschen Schillergesellschaft, 24 (1980), 162–81 (p. 179). |
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(viii) |
Carla Riccardi, ‘La prima “Colonna Infame”: l’Appendice storica e la copia’, Studi di filologia italiana, 42 (1984), 181–223. |
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(ix) |
Nathalie Z. Davis, ‘Beyond the Market: Books as Gifts in Sixteenth-Century France’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th ser., 33 (1983), 69–88. |
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(x) |
Delphine Denis, ‘“À la manière de”: le pastiche avant le pastiche’, Revue d’histoire littéraire de la France, 112 (2012), 7–18. |
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(xi) |
Peter Sillitoe, review of Adam Max Cohen, Wonder in Shakespeare (2012), MLR, 109 (2014), 781–83. |
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(xii) |
[Anon.], review of Damian Catani, Evil: A History in Modern French Literature and Thought (2013), Forum for Modern Language Studies, 50 (2014), 503–04. |
The information should be given in the following order:
Author’s name, exactly as it appears in the article (see 11.2.2, Author)
Title of article, in single quotation marks
Title of journal, italicized
Series number, in arabic numerals
Volume number, in arabic numerals
Year(s) of publication, in parentheses unless there is no volume number
First and last page numbers of article cited, not preceded by ‘pp.’
Page number(s), in parentheses and preceded by ‘p.’ or ‘pp.’, of the particular reference (if necessary)
The use of the colon to separate the title and subtitle in an article, the norms for capitalization within the title and subtitle, the treatment of the titles of works of literature occurring within the titles of articles, and references to particular pages within an article are, as the examples illustrate, treated in the same way as for articles in books (see 11.2.3). Note, however, that the page span of articles in journals is not preceded by ‘pp.’.
Only the main title of a journal should be given. Any subtitle and the place of publication should be omitted unless they serve to distinguish between two journals of the same name. An initial definite or indefinite article should be omitted except when the title consists of the article and one other word, e.g. La Linguistique. If the journal title is abbreviated to initials, full stops should not be used (see example (i) and 4.4). The titles of journals should be abbreviated only when the abbreviation is likely to be familiar to all readers (e.g. PMLA), otherwise the title should be given in full. If there are to be several references to the same journal, an abbreviated title should be indicated after the first full reference (e.g. French Studies (hereafter FS)) or in a preliminary list of abbreviations. For the proceedings of learned societies, etc., the name of the organization should be italicized as part of the title (e.g. Proceedings of the British Academy).
The volume number should be given in arabic numerals, no matter what the style preferred by the journal (e.g. Medium Aevum, 58, not lviii). The number should not be preceded by ‘vol.’. If a journal has restarted publication with a new numbering, this should be indicated by e.g. ‘n.s.’ (= ‘new series’) or ‘5th ser.’ before the volume number (see examples (iv) and (ix)).
If the separate issues of a journal cover an academic year rather than a calendar year, this should be indicated as in example (vi). If the publication of a volume of a journal has been considerably delayed, the actual year of publication should be given in square brackets after the official year (e.g. 1983 [1987]).
The month or season of publication or the part number of an issue of a journal may be omitted if the volume as a whole is continuously paginated; but it can be helpful to include this information, and in any case it must be given if the part numbers are paginated individually, as in these examples:
Lionel Trilling, ‘In Mansfield Park’, Encounter, 3.3 (September 1954), 9–19.
José Luis Pardo, ‘Filosofía y clausura de la modernidad’, Revista de Occidente, 66 (November 1986), 35–47.
E. Iukina, ‘Dostoinstvo cheloveka’, Novyi mir, 1984, no. 12, 245–48.
For the formulation to be used in referring to a journal article in an issue that has its own editor and a title, see 11.2.3, example (vi).
11.2.5 Articles in Newspapers and Magazines
References to articles in newspapers or magazines (periodical publications other than scholarly journals) require only the date of issue (day, month, and year), the section where relevant (e.g. ‘Reviews section’, ‘section G2’), and the page number(s) (but note that these may vary between editions); volume or part numbers should not be included:
Michael Schmidt, ‘Tragedy of Three Star-Crossed Lovers’, Daily Telegraph, 1 February 1990, p. 14.
Jonathan Friedland, ‘Across the Divide’, Guardian, 15 January 2002, section G2, pp. 10–11.
Jacques-Pierre Amette, ‘Thé et désespoir’, Le Point, 8 October 1989, p. 18.
Carlos Bousoño, ‘La ebriedad de un poeta puro’, El País, 21 May 1989, p. 17.
Initial ‘The’ or ‘A’ is normally omitted when citing English-language newspapers and magazines, with the exception of The Times. The date of issue (with the month always in English) should be given between commas, not parentheses, and the page number(s) should be preceded by ‘p.’ or ‘pp.’. Otherwise the method of citation is the same as for other articles (see 11.2.3 and 11.2.4).
11.2.6 Theses and Dissertations
The titles of unpublished theses and dissertations should be in roman type within single quotation marks; capitalization should follow the conventions of the language in question (see 6.4). The degree level (where known), university, and date should be in parentheses:
R. J. Ingram, ‘Historical Drama in Great Britain from 1935 to the Present’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of London, Birkbeck College, 1988), p. 17.
Diedrich Diederichsen, ‘Shakespeare und das deutsche Märchendrama’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Hamburg, 1952), p. 91.
Mary Taylor, ‘The Legend of Apollonius of Tyre in Spanish and French Literature before 1500’ (unpublished master’s thesis, University of Manchester, 1977), pp. 45–47.
James-Louis Boyle, ‘Marcel Proust et les écrivains anglais’ (unpublished thesis, University of Paris, 1953), p. 22.
Note that American universities distinguish between a master’s ‘thesis’ and a doctoral ‘dissertation’:
Barbara Jean Trisler, ‘A Comparative Study of the Character Portrayal of Celestina and Other Golden Age Celestinesque Protagonists’ (unpublished master’s thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1977), p. 4.
William Eugene Simeone, ‘Sir Richard Fanshawe: An Account of his Life and Writings’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1950), pp. 166–79.
If a published abstract of an unpublished thesis or dissertation is known to exist, the information should be given:
Jon Vaden Anderson, ‘A Woman’s Work: Feminist Tensions in the Victorian Novel’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas Christian Univ., 1997; abstract in Dissertation Abstracts International, 58 (1997), 880a).
The first full reference to a play or long work should indicate the edition used (see 11.2.2 (xi)–(xiii)). Small capital roman numerals should be used for the numbers of acts of plays, and for the numbers of ‘books’ and other major subdivisions. Smaller subdivisions (scenes, cantos, chapters, etc.) and line numbers are usually indicated by arabic numerals. Later references and the identification of quotations should be given in the form: Macbeth, iii. 4. 99–107, Samson Agonistes, i. 819. Note that figures in references should be separated by full stops (not commas) and spaces, e.g.
The Merchant of Venice, ii. 3. 10; The Faerie Queene, iii. 8. 26; Paradise Lost, ix. 342–50; Aeneid, vi. 215–18; Inferno, iii. 9; City of God, xix. 2
References should be in the following form: Isaiah 22. 17; ii Corinthians 5. 13–15. Note that books of the Bible are not italicized; roman numerals are used for the numbers of books, arabic numerals (separated by a full stop) for chapters and verses.
Names of repositories and collections should be given in full in the first instance and an abbreviated form should be used for subsequent references. The degree of abbreviation which may be acceptable will depend upon the frequency with which a particular repository, collection, or manuscript is referred to and upon any possible ambiguities. The names of manuscript collections should be given in roman type without quotation marks and the citation of manuscripts within collections should be according to the system of classification of the repository.
The following examples show a suggested method of citation for first references and possible models for later references. Note that, because of the danger of ambiguity, the abbreviations ‘fol.’ and ‘fols’ are preferred to ‘f.’ and ‘ff.’. The abbreviated and superscript forms for ‘recto’ and ‘verso’ are also preferred.
First reference: London, British Library, MS Cotton Caligula D III, fol. 15
Later references: MS Cotton Caligula D III, fols 17v–19r
First reference: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 277
Later references: MS Bodley 277
First reference: Sheffield Central Library (CL), MS Fitzwilliam E.209
Later references: Sheffield CL, MS Fitzwilliam E.209
First reference: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), MS fonds français 1124
Later references: BnF, MS f. fr. 1124
First reference: Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana (BRF), MS 2306
Later references: BRF, MS 2306, fol. 10r
First reference: Paris, Archives Nationales (AN), H.486 bis. 172
Later references: AN, H.486 bis. 172
11.2.10 Private Correspondence
The copyright of all forms of private correspondence (including emails) belongs to the sender, and permission is needed (even for the recipient) to quote from it.
Material published online, whether at news websites, as part of electronic journals, or found only on personal web pages, should be cited as carefully as material published in print form. Similarly, authors should exercise the same discretion in considering the quality and value of material published on the Internet as they would for material published by more traditional means.
In general, the location of online resources should be given either by DOI or by URL, but not both. Transmitted messages, such as tweets or emails, are an exception (see 11.2.15 below), but blog posts are not.
DOIs, or Digital Object Identifiers, are analogous to ISBNs for books, and are intended to provide a persistent reference. Papers in electronic journals often have DOIs, as do many OECD and European Union publications; but blog postings and personal material will not. If a DOI is cited, no date of access need be quoted, since it is a reliable long-term reference (see 11.2.12, example (i)).
URLs, or Universal Resource Locators, are the addresses used by web browsers. Properly they can refer not only to regular and authenticated web pages, introduced ‘http://’ and ‘https://’ respectively, but also files on FTP servers (‘ftp://’) and other resources: this prefix is called the ‘protocol’, and should always be included. (In some browsers the presence of an initial ‘http://’ may be concealed by the address bar, but will reappear after a copy and paste: it is part of the address regardless.)
When citing a URL, take care to follow the format exactly and remember that addresses are case-sensitive. Where there is any choice, give the shortest appropriate form. For example, avoid a URL followed by long query strings (a question mark plus one or many ID numbers) if, in fact, the address works without these. Do not quote URLs from services such as tinyurl or bitly which abbreviate other URLs (for example, to fit into a tweet): quote the originals.
URLs are used for ephemera as well as lasting resources, and it is not uncommon for pages to move within a domain name (for example, for a news story to move within news.bbc.co.uk), to change domain name altogether, or to be taken down without warning. Because of this, a date of access should always be given when quoting a URL (for example, ‘[accessed 12 July 2012]’). Before submitting copy for publication, any URLs in it should be checked and if necessary updated, particularly if they are left over from drafts written months or years previously.
URLs are sometimes much longer than DOIs. When submitting a URL as part of word-processed copy, do not include line breaks or hyphenation, however ugly the result may look: leave it to the typesetter to deal with. When typesetting a URL, it may be necessary to divide the address over two lines. This should always be done after a forward slash, and hyphenation should not be used.
As far as possible, follow the style used for printed publications as detailed above. Information should be given in the following order:
Author’s name
Title of item
Title of complete work/resource
Publication details (volume, issue, date, page span if paginated)
Full address (Universal Resource Locator (URL)) or DOI of the resource (in angle brackets)
Date at which the resource was consulted (in square brackets)
Location of passage cited (in parentheses)
For example:
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(i) |
Els Jongeneel, ‘Art and Divine Order in the Divina Commedia’, Literature and Theology, 21 (2007), 131-45 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/litthe/frm008> |
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(ii) |
Richard Lee, ‘The Rebirth of Inherited Memories’, MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities, 4 (2009), 18-24 <http://www.mhra.org.uk/ojs/index.php/wph/article/viewFile/73/70> [accessed 1 May 2012] |
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(iii) |
Steve Sohmer, ‘The Lunar Calendar of Shakespeare’s King Lear’, Early Modern Literary Studies, 5.2 (1999) <http://purl.oclc.org/emls/05-2/sohmlear.htm> [accessed 28 January 2000] (para. 3 of 24) |
If a URL is given which is not based on a DOI, then give also the date on which the relevant section of the resource was last accessed; this will ensure that the accuracy of your reference will not be undermined by any subsequent changes to the resource. Example (i) has a DOI, so needs no access date.
Where section numbers or numbered paragraphs appear in the original document, they can be used to give the location of a citation. Do not attempt to infer page or line numbers from on-screen documents since they may vary according to the browser used.
For ebooks, give the place of publication (which would be based on the location of the offices of the publisher), the publisher, the year, and an indication of the kind of digital file, giving page numbers or section details only if these are fixed and stable. For example:
Nicolas Jacobs, Early Welsh Gnomic and Nature Poetry (London: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2012), p. 10. Google ebook.
Online databases may be unique electronic publications, or they may provide collections of electronic versions of existing printed publications. For the latter it is preferable, wherever possible, to cite the details of original print editions (see also 11.1).
The first example refers to an article in an online encyclopedia:
Kent Bach, ‘Performatives’, in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy <http://www.rep.routledge.com> [accessed 3 October 2001]
The following is a reference to an individual poem included in a full-text online database:
E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings, ‘maggie and milly and molly and may’, in Literature Online <http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk> [accessed 5 June 2001]
In the final example a complete book of poetry with its original pagination has been included in a database forming part of a larger resource:
Davis McCombs, ‘Star Chamber’, in Ultima Thule (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), p. 4, in Database of Twentieth-Century American Poetry in Literature Online <http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk> [accessed 20 September 2000]
Given the rapid developments in social media in recent years, it is impossible to predict which media will be in common use in five or ten years’ time, but the guidelines given here are intended to serve as a model that could be adapted to future media.
Blog postings should be cited by URL, as in 11.2.11 above. Many blogs support Permalinks, URLs designed to be stable and human-readable, and this should be the form quoted where possible, even if it recapitulates much of the title:
Stephen Andrew Hiltner, ‘On Press with “The Paris Review”’, <http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/03/01/on-press-with-the-paris-review/> [accessed 3 March 2012]
Short postings to social networks, such as Twitter or Facebook, should be given in full, with the same spelling and punctuation used in the original, and if necessary with an indication of the medium such as ‘(tweet)’; @handles and #hashtags should be preserved. Care should be taken to identify the original rather than an echo such as a retweet. Postings should be identified by the writer and date, but time of day is unnecessary, and no URL is given. The writer should be identified by both real name and, in parentheses, the username or handle being used, unless the handle alone is identifiable as it stands. For example:
Sarkozy’s campaign office made regular use of social media to push talking points from his stump speech, tweeting, for example: ‘“J’ai besoin de vous. J’ai besoin de votre courage. J’ai besoin de votre énergie. J’ai besoin de votre enthousiasme.” #Bordeaux’ (@NicolasSarkozy, 3 March 2012).
Email is not a social medium in the same sense. Authors should exercise great discretion in quoting from private emails, postings made to members-only mailing lists, text messages, or online conversations in chat-rooms (unless as part of an interview being published). These are essentially private communications and are subject to the same ethical and legal rules as personal letters. The consent of the writer is needed, even if the recipient is the person publishing the quotation. If an email is quoted from, the writer should be identified by real name alone, that is, not by email address, and an indication such as ‘(email to the author, 30 April 2012)’ should be added to indicate the medium.
11.2.16 Recordings, Films, Digital Media, and Software
Reference to recordings of music or speech should incorporate the following items, as relevant: composer or author; title of piece and/or compilation, in italics; artist, orchestra, conductor, etc., separated by commas; recording company, CD reference, and date in parentheses.
Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto no. 5, Mitsuko Uchida, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, cond. by Kurt Sanderling (Phillips, 462 586-2, 1998).
Ballads of Love and Betrayal, Joglaresa, dir. by Belinda Sykes (Village Life, 01013VL, 2001).
Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood, read by Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce (LPF 7667, 1992).
First names of composers, artists, conductors, may be omitted if not deemed necessary.
For films, the reference should include, as a minimum, title, director, distributor, date, e.g.:
The Grapes of Wrath, dir. by John Ford (20th Century Fox, 1940).
Names of artists may be given after that of the director. First names may be omitted if not deemed necessary. If a video reference is available, it should be added at the end.
References to material published on CD or DVD should follow the format outlined in 11.2.1–11.2.3, but with the addition at the end of the phrase ‘[on CD]’, ‘[on DVD]’, etc., as appropriate.
References to online digital media should include the author, the title in italics, the type of source, the title of the website, the date of publication, the URL, and the date of access, e.g.:
Gabriel Dominato, Morceaux de conversation avec Jean-Luc Godard, online video recording, YouTube, 10 January 2013, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XcuHub-S8o> [accessed 10 October 2014].
References to software should provide the author or designer (if identifiable), the title in italics, the date, and the platform, e.g.:
Emily Short, Galatea (2000), Z-machine.
Id Software, Doom (1993), MS-DOS and subsequently other platforms.
Neil McFarland and Ken Wong for Ustwo, Monument Valley (2014), iOS and Android.
References to television or radio broadcasts should give the title of the specific programme, if there is one, in single quotation marks, and the title of the series in italics, together with the date and (if relevant) the time of transmission. For example:
‘Green Shoots from the Arab Spring’, Analysis, BBC Radio 4, 12 November 2012.
Newsnight, BBC2, 2 November 2012, 10.30pm.
References to works of art should include at least the name of the artist (if known), the title of the work in italics (see also 7.4 above), its date (if known), and the medium of composition. Titles should normally be given in their most customary English-language form. Depending on the medium, the dimensions (in cm), and a current physical location or source may also be given. When giving dimensions, note the use of a multiplication sign, not a lower case ‘x’, and the space around it. For example:
Piero della Francesca, The Flagellation, c. 1455, oil and tempera on panel, 59 × 82 cm, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino.
Henry Moore, Reclining Woman: Elbow, 1981, bronze, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds.
Ansel Adams, Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, photograph, from Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras (San Francisco: Grabhorn Press, 1927).
Alphonse Mucha, Bières de la Meuse, 1897, colour lithograph, 154.5 × 104.5 cm <http://www.muchafoundation.org/gallery/browse-works/object/46> [accessed 11 December 2014].
Contents • Back to 11.1 General • Forward to 11.3 Later References • Index