CLASSICS 308 / JEWISH 432: Sex and Violence in the Ancient Near East (Fall 2025) : Writing & Citing

Before you begin your research, you should determine how you will be citing your sources. Different disciplines use different methods of attribution, and the style you prefer or are the most familiar with might not be appropriate for this class. But not to worry: there are many resources available through the Libraries and the Writing Center that can help you cite your sources correctly, no matter the style.

MLA or SBL?

For this class, you have been asked to write according to either the MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines or the SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) guidelines. MLA is a flexible format used in many humanities disciplines, while SBL is a more specialized format found most commonly in scholarship related to the Bible. Both formats have full style guides that are available through the Library:

• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 8th ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2016. (Print resource)
• Student Supplement for the SLB Handbook of Style, Second Edition. Atlanta, Georgia: SBL Press, 2015. (Online resource; start here)

  • The SBL handbook of style : for biblical studies and related disciplines. 2nd ed. Atlanta, Georgia: SBL Press, 2014. (Online resource)

If you choose to use MLA formatting, you may also wish to visit the Writing Center's MLA Documentation Guide for tips and guidance.

If you choose to use SBL formatting, Concordia University has created a quick citation guide that you may wish to use.

General Resources

No matter what style guide you choose to follow, these resources might be helpful to you:

• Writing Center at UW Madison: The Writing Center provides in-person and online help with the writing process and citing sources.
• UW-Madison's Writer's Handbook: These handouts will help you form citations and will give you information about grammar, punctuation, style, and academic writing in general.
• Citing Sources Guide: This is a guide to citing sources in various citation styles.

Both the MLA and the SBL have special guidelines for citing the Bible. In general, unlike citations for most modern sources, a citation for the Bible will not include a page number. Instead, it will contain a book, chapter number and a verse number. How that information is formatted will depend on what citation style you are using.

Citing the Bible using MLA

Parenthetical citations

The first time you provide a parenthetical citation for the Bible, your citation should begin with the name of the edition you are using in italics, followed by a comma, then the specific book, chapter, and verse you are referencing. MLA requires you to place a period between the chapter and the verse.

(HarperCollins Study Bible, Prov. 31.8)

In this example, I am citing verse 18 of chapter 31 of Proverbs. Because it is the first time I am citing this Bible in my paper, I have also included the title, HarperCollins Study Bible, in italics at the front of the citation.

If your future references all come from the same version of the Bible, you can omit the name of the edition from all other citations. You should only provide the book, chapter, and verse.

(Ezek. 1.5-2.8)

In this example, I am citing everything from verse 5 of chapter 1 to verse 8 of chapter 2 of Ezekiel. You can use a dash in this way when you would like to cite larger sections of the text. Because this is not my first time citing this specific Bible in my paper, I have omitted the title of the Bible from the citation.

You should also use the standard abbreviation for the book of the bible you are citing, followed by a period. You can find a list of abbreviations in the Oxford Dictionary of the Bible (link to online resources; you may need to log in with your NetID to access it). Note the use of "Prov." in place of "Proverbs" and "Ezek." in place of "Ezekiel" above.

Finally, MLA requires a period between chapter and verse number. 

Works Cited Page

When listing the Bible on your works cited page, you should identify it the same way you did in your initial parenthetical citation.  The citation should include the title of the Bible in italics, the name of the editor (if one has been given), and the book's publication information. Thus, an MLA citation for the HarperCollins Study Bible would look like this:

The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version Including the Apocryphal. Edited by Harold W. Attridge, et al. HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.

Citing the Bible using SBL

Note that SBL is based in part on the Chicago Manual of Style. It therefore preferences footnotes over parenthetical citations. Students unfamiliar with the Chicago Manual of Style and the use of footnotes may wish to choose to follow the MLA style guide instead.

In-text Citations

When you provide you first footnote for a particular version of the Bible using SBL, you should begin by noting the book of the Bible you are referencing (abbreviated using the standard abbreviations listed in the SBL handbook; do not put a period after the abbreviation). Then provide the chapter and verse number, separated from each other by a colon. Finally, note the name of the version you are referencing (do not italicize it).

¹Prov 31:8 NRSV

In this example, I am citing verse 8 of book 31 of Proverbs. Because it is the first time I am citing this Bible in my paper, I have also included the version, NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), at the end of the citation.

In subsequent citations, you do not need to include the version of the Bible, only the book, chapter, and verse. 

²Ezek 1:5-2:8

In this example, I am citing everything from verse 5 of chapter 1 to verse 8 of chapter 2 of Ezekiel. You can use a dash in this way when you would like to cite larger sections of the text. Because this is not my first time citing this specific Bible in my paper, I have omitted the title of the Bible from the citation.

Works Cited

SBL does not typically require authors to provide a full citation for the Bible in their works cited page.

Citing ancient texts is also a little bit different from citing modern texts.

Parenthetical Citations and Footnotes

Regardless of whether you are using MLA or SBL, when writing in-text citations for ancient authors (whether they are parenthetical citations or footnotes), you will not be citing by page number the way you normally would for a modern text. Instead, for ancient authors, you typically cite by line number. For example:

Homer, Iliad 12.382

In this example, I am citing line 382 of book 12 of the Iliad. Note the period between the book number and the line number. 

Aeschylus, Agamemnon 260-263

In this example, I am citing lines 260-263 of the tragedy Agamemnon by Aeschylus. You can use a dash in this way to indicate that you are quoting or paraphrasing multiple lines.

Plato, Gorgias 448b

Plato's works are almost always cited using a special number and letter combination, called "Stephanus numbers." These numbers are generally given in the margins of Plato's texts the same way line numbers would be, although they don't refer to "lines" the way the above examples do. They actually refer to the pages and columns of an authoritative edition of Plato's works that was printed in 1578. You can learn more about Stephanus numbers here.

Abbreviations

Many classical works and authors have standard abbreviations that you may want to employ. You can find a list of these abbreviations in the Oxford Classical Dictionary (links to online resource; you may need to use your NetID to access) in the section titled "Abbreviations used in the Present Work." If I were using abbreviations in the above parenthetical citations, they might look like this:

Hom. Il. 12.382

Aesch. Ag. 260-263

Pl. Grg. 448b

If you choose to abbreviate an author's name or the name of a work, you should only use the standard abbreviations described in the Oxford Classical Dictionary; you should never make up your own abbreviations. You should also use abbreviations consistently throughout your paper.

More Information

For a more specific look at how SBL handles ancient authors, see sections 6.1.2.2, 6.2.4, and 6.4.2 in the SBL Handbook of Style.

As for MLA, outside of the differences noted above, you should treat ancient texts and authors the same way you would treat any work you are citing.