Orientation for Paper Writers
Check The SBL Handbook of
Style: For Ancient Near Eastern,
Biblical and Early Christian Studies, edited by Patrick H. Alexander et al.
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999) and follow its orientation regarding capitalization,
formatting your bibliography, footnotes, references to ancient and modern
sources (including spellings and abbreviations of ancient documents) and on
other issues as well. You will also want
to familiarize yourself with the editing and proofreading marks listed in
Appendix J of the Handbook since they may be used by your professor.
Here are a few issues that
are frequently overlooked:
1.
Use
one-inch (1) margins.
2.
Use
size 12 font New Times Roman for English text and an equivalent size for Greek
and Hebrew fonts in the main text.
Footnotes may be written in size 10 font (or equivalent).
3.
The
main text should be double-spaced but footnotes and block quotes may be
single-spaced.
4.
Be
sure to paginate your paper.
5.
Do
not leave your parentheses orphans!
References in parenthesis following a clause or sentence should be
included within the punctuation of that clause or sentence. Do not leave your parentheses sitting between
sentences:
Incorrect:
Paul says he is “crucified with
Christ.” (Gal 2:20) That is why he ….
Correct:
Paul says he is “crucified with
Christ” (Gal
6.
Do
not place words in parentheses that are essential to the sentence structure
(including Greek or Hebrew words).
Incorrect:
“John uses the word (avga,ph), which means ‘love.’”
Correct:
“John uses the word avga,ph, which means ‘love.’”
Correct: “John
uses the word for love (avga,ph) because he
wants to stress….”
7.
Greek
and Hebrew words do not need to be placed in quotes.
Incorrect:
“John uses the word “avga,ph,” which means ‘love.’”
Correct:
“John uses the word avga,ph, which means ‘love.’”
8.
When
your quotation is not followed by a reference in parentheses (unlike the
example above) the closing quotation marks should be placed outside (after) a
comma or period. Question marks are
placed outside (after) the closing quotation unless they reflect the original
author’s question. Colons and semicolons
are placed outside (after) the closing quotation marks (see SBL Handbook paragraph
4.1.5):
Incorrect:
Paul says he is “crucified with Christ”. That is why he ….
Correct:
Paul says he is “crucified with
Christ.” That is why he ….
Incorrect: Paul
says he is an “apostle”, not that he is a bishop.
Correct:
Paul says he is an “apostle,” not
that he is a bishop.
9.
Beware
of common grammatical errors.
Incorrect: “He
was suppose to go away.”
Correct: “He was supposed to go away.” (The past participle is
required, as in “She was seen”; or “He was considered a genius.”
10. Verify that prepositions are used
correctly:
Incorrect: “There is a contrast between the darkness with the
light.”
Correct:: “There is a contrast between the darkness and the light.”
Or: “The darkness is contrasted with the
light.”