How to Write an Exegesis Paper with Library Resources: Document Your Sources Correctly

The worst thing you can do in your paper is to quote someone else without showing from where you got the quotation. This is called plagiarism and it is a serious violation of academic policy at most schools. In order to avoid plagiarism, you need to give credit where credit is due.  There are multiple ways to provide documentation for the sources of the information you have found in your research.  Your professor may require you to follow a specific format, such as that of the Modern Language Association or the American Psychological Association.  In biblical studies, however, the most common formats for documenting your sources are three related formats:

• The Chicago Manual of Style (call number: Z253.U69 2003)
• A Manual of Style for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian (call number: LB2369.T8 1996)
• The SBL Handbook (call number: PN147.S26 1999)

The second of these, by Kate Turabian, is commonly known as "Turabian." The Turabian format is a simplified form of that found in the Chicago Manual of Style. The SBL Handbook is a simplified form of Turabian, used not only by the Society of Biblical Literature, but by many publishers with small modifications.

These formats address two primary elements: footnotes and bibliography. A footnote tells a reader the specific location, including page number of a source you are citing in some way at a specific point in your paper. A bibliography is a list of all the secondary literature you have cited in your paper. An example of a footnote and bibliography entry in Turabian is as follows:

Footnote
³ F.F. Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Waco, TX: Word, 1982), 46.

Bibliography entry
Bruce, F. F. 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Waco, TX: Word, 1982.

There are specific formats for footnotes and bibliography entries for books, journal articles, newspaper articles, DVDs, and more, so you need to find the correct format for every item you are citing. While some professors may allow you to take whatever approach you want to documenting your sources, others can have stringent requirements. If you are unsure, check with your professor. If your professor does not have a requirement, it is best in biblical studies to use the SBL Handbook or Turabian style because most things you read will do the same thing.