• 3-minute read
• 5th April 2022

How to Cite a Podcast in MHRA Referencing

If you’ve referred to a podcast in your writing, you’ll need to know how to cite it correctly. This useful guide will explain how to cite podcasts using MHRA referencing.

Citing a Podcast in MHRA Referencing

MHRA referencing uses superscript numbers in the text that correlate to footnotes. The superscript numbers are always placed after final punctuation, like this:

MHRA is a form of referencing commonly used in the arts and humanities.¹

The footnotes then provide the source information at the bottom of the page. In the case of podcasts, you should use the following format:

n. Author First Name Last Name, “Title,” Publication Title, Year Published [accessed Date Month Year].

In practice, a footnote citation for a podcast would look like this:

1. Ira Glass, “The Other Mr. President,” This American Life, 2022 [accessed 2 March 2022].

If you were to refer to the same podcast again, you would use a shortened footnote citation. For a podcast, this will consist of just the author’s name. If you were to cite more than one podcast by the same author, you would cite the author’s name followed by a shortened version of the title. For more information on repeat citations in MHRA, see our blog post. 

Pinpoint Citations for Podcasts in MHRA

In general, MHRA does not require you to give pinpoint citations for audiovisual sources. However, if you want to quote a podcast or point the reader to a precise point in one, you can include a timestamp at the end of the footnote.

Have a look at this example of a footnote with a timestamp:

2. Louis Theroux, “Oliver Stone,” Grounded, 2021 [accessed 3 March 2022], 00:15:57.

This timestamp shows that you are citing something that occurs at 15 minutes and 57 seconds into the podcast. This detail allows the reader to pinpoint the exact location you are referring to.

Podcasts in an MHRA Bibliography

In addition to the footnotes, any podcast cited in your work should be included in a bibliography at the end of the document. The format for citing a podcast in the bibliography is the same as in the footnote citations, with the following exceptions:

1. There is no period at the end of the bibliography entry. 
2. If the bibliography entry goes beyond one line, the subsequent lines should be indented with a hanging indent.
3. Pinpoint citations are not needed in bibliography entries.
4. The first name and last name of the author are reversed, allowing MHRA bibliographies to be ordered alphabetically by author. 

Here are the bibliography entries for the podcasts cited above:

Glass, Ira, “The Other Mr. President,” This American Life, 2022 [accessed 2 March 2022]

Theroux, Louis, “Oliver Stone,” Grounded, 2021 [accessed 3 March 2022]

Expert MHRA Proofreading

We hope this post has helped you cite podcasts using MHRA referencing. However, if you need any extra help or would like an MHRA expert to check your work, our proofreaders are available 24/7. You can even submit a 500-word document to be proofread for free!