Bibliographies: Further Advice

The 'Basic Tutorial' introduced some of the key principles in compiling a bibliography, but there are several other points you should note:

  1. Multiple Authors: Where you cite works with multiple authors, the names of only the first author should be reversed. For instance:
    Musson, Anthony, and W. M. Ormrod, The Evolution of English Justice...
  2. Works by Anon; edited collections: These can be alphabetised either by title or by the name of the editor(s). Whichever method you use be consistent. Where you alphabetise works by editor, the editor's name should be followed by ', ed.,' for a single editor, or ', eds,' for multiple editors.
  3. Works with the author's name in the title:These can be alphabetised either by title, by editor or by adding the author's name to the title. For instance:
    McNeillie, Andrew, ed., The Essays of Virginia Woolf, Volume I: 1904-1912 (London: Hogarth Press, 1986) [This is the preferred MHRA form]

    Or

    Woolf, Virginia, The Essays of Virginia Woolf, Volume I: 1904-1912, ed. by Andrew McNeillie (London: Hogarth Press, 1986)
  4. Alphabetising: When alphabetising works in a bibliography, we ignore the definite and indefinite articles (the, a, an). So The Song of Roland would be listed under 's'.
  5. Multiple works by the same author: Where your bibliography contains multiple works by a single author, a long dash should be substituted for the author's name after its first appearance, and the works should be arranged in alphabetical order. For instance:
    Scattergood, John, 'The Cook's Tale', in Sources and Analogues of the 'Canterbury Tales' I, ed. by Robert M. Correale and Mary Hamel (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2002), pp. 75-92
    —— Manuscripts and Ghosts: Essays on the Transmission of Medieval and Early Renaissance Poetry (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006)
    —— Reading the Past: Essays on Medieval and Renaissance Literature (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1996)

Exercise: A Bibliography >>>