08.3 Notes and Bibliographies: General Rules

08.3.1 Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes are used: (1) to give references to sources (books, articles or unpublished documents) from which you have derived facts, opinions or quotations; (2) to add comments, evidence of facts stated in the text, allusions to the differing views of other authors, and similar material which is not part of the argument but which supports it indirectly, and which would interrupt its flow if included in the main text.

If you are quoting already-quoted words (e.g. when the book you are reading quotes an ancient source), do not pretend that you were reading the original source, but describe it, and indicate that it was “cited by” or “translated by” [place where you read it]. See §8.4.9 below.

Notes are to be indicated in the text by a superscript numeral. Where practicable, the numeral should be placed at the end of the sentence (after the final punctuation) rather than after the first word to which it applies in the text.

Complete publication data must be supplied in the first note to a particular source. As a concession to space, standard abbreviations for journal and series titles should be used, and the phrases “edited by” and “translated by” abbreviated. Subsequent references to that source should use a short title and omit the author’s initials (as illustrated below).

08.3.2 Bibliographies

The essay must be accompanied by a bibliography of books, articles and other sources which have been consulted by the student for writing the essay (the Bible need not be included).

The bibliography should be entitled a “Bibliography of Sources Cited,” and any work not cited or engaged with in the body of the essay should not appear there. However, students may append a secondary list of “Other Works Consulted,” with discretion used to ensure that works listed there directly pertain to the topic of the essay.

The main differences between the presentation of an entry in a bibliography and a reference appearing in a note is that in the former the author’s surname is placed first, which facilitates the listing of the bibliography in alphabetical order. For other differences see the examples in §8.4.

Bibliographies should be listed alphabetically (see below), though it is customary to separate primary and secondary documents where relevant. Multiple works by a single author are listed alphabetically by title in the author–title system, and by date in the author–date system. There is no need to retype the author’s name; a five en line followed by a full stop will suffice.

08.3.3 Arranging Bibliographies Alphabetically

The capitalization and alphabetization of entries in indexes and bibliographies can be very complicated, especially when compound and foreign names are involved. See the SBL Handbook, 73–76, 112–116. Three helpful hints are:

i. Surnames that include the particles de, van, van der or von are not listed under the particle unless the name belongs to an English speaker. Compare the following two alphabetical series:

iii. Most Spanish authors and some English-speaking authors have double surnames:

08.3.4 The Key Elements of a Reference

The sequence of information in a reference is as follows. Most references will only include some of this information. There must be enough to enable the reader to find the exact source quickly in a library.

◊ Author or (if no author) editor; ◊ title of chapter or article; ◊ title of book or journal; ◊ editor and/or translator; ◊ edition (if not the 1st); ◊ no. of volumes; ◊ series title and number; ◊ city; ◊ publisher; ◊ date; ◊ electronic source information; ◊ full stop.

i. Author or Editor

Full names rather than initials should be used if possible; a space should be left between initials; ancient works may be listed under the name of either the ancient author or the modern editor, with the same practice adopted for all ancient works cited.

ii. Title

Regardless of the way it is printed in the source, a colon should precede every subtitle unless the title ends with a question or exclamation mark. Titles and subtitles in English should be fully capitalized (i.e. all words except articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions).

For the capitalization of titles in foreign languages, see the SBL Handbook, 73–76.

Primary sources should be cited, parenthetically, inside the final punctuation, except in the case of a block quotation (§8.2.1). If the translation is important, insert it following the reference. For example:

          From Luke’s point of view, “the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21 NRSV).

iii. Series Title

Series titles are capitalised but not italicised.  In units with a CT prefix, e.g. Doctrine, Ethics, Church History, it is not customary for series titles to be included in references.  If there is a series title, it should be omitted.

iv. Publisher

The publisher’s name should be abbreviated—unless ambiguity or awkwardness would result—by the omission of Press, Publishing Company, and the like, and by the use of an ampersand instead of and (e.g., T. & T. Clark). Hence: Hendrickson (not, Hendrickson Publishers); Cerf (not, Editions du Cerf); Eerdmans (not, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company). Exceptions: Oxford University Press (and other university presses); Scholars Press; Free Press; JSOT Press. See the SBL Handbook, 76–82.

v. Place and Date of Publication

List only the first place when several are mentioned, even if the second is linked to a second publisher. If the place is not well known, add a reference to the state or country. The decision you make will depend on the readership. Thus, “Homebush Bay, N.S.W.” would suffice for local readers; “Chico, CA” would be necessary for most readerships. (For abbreviations of the states of the U.S.A. use the two-letter postal abbreviations as given in the SBL Handbook, 118).

Where the place of publication cannot be found, the abbreviation “n.p.” (no place) is used. Where the date of publication is unknown, use “n.d.” (no date), or else estimate the century or decade, e.g. “18--?” or “196-?” Where there are no page numbers, also use “n.p.” (no pages).

vi. Volume and Page Numbers

All numerals should be Arabic, with volume and page numbers separated by a colon (e.g., 1:96–97). Do not use f. and ff., but give actual page ranges. Examples of such ranges—separated by an en dash—can be found in §8.2.4 above.

vii. Electronic source information

Information about the electronic format cited (PDF e-book; Kindle edition, etc.) always goes at the end of a reference. For online publications a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is preferable to a URL. There is no need to provide an access date, and URLs must never be hyphenated. Divide them at a dot or slash if necessary.

Finding the DOI for an article. Many articles do not have a DOI, but if they do it should be printed on the first page of the article PDF. Alternatively, go to CrossRef.org and click on the “search metadata” tab on the homepage. Enter details of the article’s title and author into the search box. A DOI is a number beginning with 10. To convert it to a URL, http://dx.doi.org/ is placed in front of it (e.g., http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/660696).