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SBL Style, Second Edition: References: Books

General Format

References are entered in two places. The Bibliography goes at the end of your paper, and the Notes are the in-text citation in the body of your paper.

The Bibliography has the full citation information.

  • Single-spaced with an extra space between entries.
  • Alphabetize entries and use a hanging indent.
  • See the examples in the boxes below.

Notes are either endnotes (at the end of the body of the paper) or footnotes (bottom of each page)

  • Formatting is the same for endnotes or footnotes. But use only one or the other, not both.
  • Numbered notes are coordinated by superscript numbers in the body of text.
  • Notes are indented one tab.
  • The first time you cite a source, use the Full note as indicated below; subsequent times, use the Shortened Note form.

Books 

Last name, First name. Title. City: Publisher, date.

Barker, Margaret. The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and its Influence on Christianity. Nashville: Abingdon, 1988.

 

Full note:

3. Margaret Barker, The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and its Influence on Christianity (Nashville: Abingdon, 1988), 51.

Shortened note:

4. Barker, The Lost Prophet, 30.


Books with a translator

Last name, First name. Title. Translated by translators name. City: Publisher, date.

Koch, Klaus. The Growth of the Biblical Tradition: The Form-Critical Method. Translated by S. M. Cupitt. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1969.

 

Full note:

5. Klaus Koch, The Growth of the Biblical Tradition: The Form-Critical Method, trans. S. M. Cupitt (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1969), 147.

Shortened note:

6. Koch, Growth of the Biblical Tradition, 97.


Commentaries

Last name, First name. Title. Commentary series volume #. City: Publisher, date.

Note: Not all series will number the different commentaries in the series. Only include a volume number when one is indicated.

Goldingay, John. Daniel. Revised ed. Word Biblical Commentary 30. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2019.

 

Full note:

7. John Goldingay, Daniel, revised ed. WBC 30 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2019), 269.

Shortened Note:

8. Goldingay, Daniel, 171.


Chapter within a Book

Last name, Fist name. "Title of chapter." Pages ##-## in Title of Book. Edited by name of editor. City: Publisher, date.

Bergsma, John S. "The Relationship between Jubilees and the Early Enochic Books (Astronomical Book and Book of the Watchers)." Pages 36-51 in Enoch and the Mosaic Torah: The Evidence of Jubilees. Edited by Gabriele Boccaccini and Giovanni Ibba. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2009.

 

Full note:

9. John S. Bergsma, "The Relationship between Jubilees and the Early Enochic Books (Astronomical Book and the Book of the Watchers)," in Enoch and the Mosaic Torah: The Evidence of Jubilees, eds. Gabriele Boccaccini and Giovanni Ibba (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2009), 41.

Shortened note:

10. Bergsma, "Relationship between Jubilees and the Early Enoch Books," 43.


E-Books

Available via the internet

Last name, First name. Title. City: Publisher, date. DOI or stable link if available.

Killebrew, Ann E. and Margreet Steiner, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Archaeology of the Levant: c. 8000-332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199212972.001.0001.

 

Full note:

11. Ann E. Killebrew and Margreet Steiner, eds. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: c. 8000-332 BCE (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199212972.001.0001.

Shortened note:

12. Killebrew and Steiner, Archaeology of the Levant.

Available via specific platform or reader

Last name, First name. Title. City: Publisher, date. Platform or Reader format.

Knohl, Israel. Messiahs and Resurrection in The Gabriel Revelation. London: Continuum, 2009. Kindle edition.

 

Full note:

13. Israel Knohl, Messiahs and Resurrection in The Gabriel Revelation (London: Continuum, 2009), Kindle edition, ch. 1.1.

Shortened note:

14. Knohl, Messiahs and Resurrection, ch. 1.1.

Since e-book readers do not always conform to the page numbering of print editions, it is best to include a chapter and section number (see above) in your citations.