ely used by scholarly authors writing about the Humanities since its first edition in 1971. It offers practical guidance on how to cite sources from medieval manuscripts to software and social media. Rules are provided to help working authors deal consistently with issues from quoting weights and measures ('5kg', or '5 kg'?) to the spelling of European city names ('Lyons', or 'Lyon'?). There is detailed advice on indexing and on the compilation of bibliographies, including thorny issues around how to alphabetize names.

While MHRA style is used by many journals and book series, it is also standard in many British universities as the style to follow for essays, dissertations, and doctoral theses. A Quick Guide allows new users to get started without fuss.

Scholarly practice evolves over time, and this 2024 revision is the result of close scrutiny by a joint panel of scholarly authors and editors. The aim was to clarify, to simplify, and to modernize, reflecting today's ubiquitous use of online resources.

The Guide is itself freely available online, and is fully Open Access, published under a Creative Commons licence. This print edition, which has now cumulatively sold over 50,000 copies, is made available as cheaply as is practicable.