SBL citation style
Additional notes
Author-date citations: 6.5
"Authors writing in the social sciences may elect to use an author-date form of citation rather than the more traditional note-based system described above. The primary purpose of author-date style is to eliminate cumbersome notes while still facilitating source references that do not interrupt the flow of the main text to a major degree" (6.5, p. 104). For more information on author-date citations, see 6.5, on p. 104–108.
Capitalization of titles in English: 6.1.3.3
"In English titles, all words should be capitalized except articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions (the first and last words in the title or subtitle are, however, capitalized regardless of their part of speech)" (6.1.3.3, p. 73).
Capitalization of titles not in English: 6.1.3.4
"For titles in languages other than English, the general rule is to capitalize only the first word of the title or subtitle and any words that would be capitalized in a normal sentence. For most languages, only proper nouns (but not proper adjectives) are capitalized" (6.1.3.4, p. 73).
Date: 6.1.4.5
"The use of n.d. (no date) in place of the year in the publication details should be avoided. In the case of unpublished manuscripts, use the date of the version consulted or the last modified date in the case of electronic files" (6.1.4.5, p. 83).
Ibid.
Ibid. does not appear in the Index to the SBL Handbook, yet Chicago style allows for it. See the Chicago Manual of Style, 14.29, on p. 669.
Quotation marks: 4.1.2
"SBL practice, in keeping with long-standing American style and CMS, calls for placing quotation marks, whether double or single, outside periods and commas" (4.1.2, p. 14).
Abbreviations: 8.1
The SBL Handbook of Style offers an extensive lists of abbreviations for journals, series, and other standard reference works. If a work is included in these lists, use the abbreviation listed. Note that SBL italicizes abbreviations of journal titles (e.g., JBL) but does not italicize the abbreviations of series (e.g., JSOTSup) (8.4, p. 171).
Example
- Footnotes: JBL, JSOTSup
- Bibliography: Journal of Biblical Literature, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series
If a work is not included in the SBL abbreviation lists, use complete titles throughout or include a list of additional abbreviations on a separate page at the beginning of the paper (after the title page and before the main text).
