Library Home Page: SBL Handbook of Style: Chapters & Other Parts of a Book

Chapters and Other Parts of a Book

SBL follows CMS/Turabian and indicates that when citing an individual section of larger work such as a volume of essays or a reference work, the author and title of the individual section must be given before the title, and in some cases the editor, of the larger work.

Parts of Single-Author Books

Sometimes you may use only a single chapter or essay from a larger book by a single-author. In those instances, cite the specific chapter used rather than the entire book as demonstrated below.

B: Cone, Steven. "The Image of God." In Theology from the Great Tradition, 263-274. New York: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2018.

N: Steven Cone, "The Image of God," in Theology from the Great Tradition (New York: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2018), 270.

6.2 12 Article in an Edited Volume

When citing an individual section in an edited book, give the author's name followed by the title of the individual section in quotation marks, followed by in the book title and the page numbers where the item is found. If the larger work has an editor, list the editor(s) after the book title and prior to the publication information.

6.3.6-7 Article in Encyclopedia or Dictionary

When citing an individual article from an encyclopedia or dictionary, follow the format of a journal article rather than a book. Give the author's name followed by the title of the individual section in quotation marks, followed by the encyclopedia or dictionary abbreviation as found in SBL. End the citation with the volume and page numbers where the item is found. The editor and publication information is not included in either the footnote or the bibliography.

Here is an example for citing a specific article in a theological encyclopedia:

B: Morris, L. L. “Death.” NBD 265-267.

N: L. L. Morris, “Death,” NBD 266.

In section 6.2.7, SBL provides specific examples for citing articles from a lexicon or theological dictionary such as the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.

The bibliography entry should cite the full theological dictionary information with no reference to a specific word. For footnotes, SBL recommends citing the entire title and page range when citing a word or family of words. However, when citing a specific word, use the single word and just the page that word is discussed. The footnote should use the appropriate abbreviation as found in SBL. However, the "Student Supplement for the SBL Handbook of Style, Second Edition" notes to use complete title throughout for items where an abbreviation is not found in SBL.

The following example is for a single word.

B: Kittel, Gerhard, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-1976.

N: K. G. Kuhn, “Maranatha,” TDNT 4:466-472.

Many theological dictionaries also have abridged counterparts such as the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament abridged edition, frequently referred to as Little Kittel: SBL notes that the abridged versions are not typically cited in scholarly work. If you choose to use the abridged work, check with your professor and write out the complete title as in the following example.

B: Kittel, Gerhard, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translated and abridged by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985.

N: K. G. Kuhn, "μαράνα θά"Theological Dictionary of the New Testament abr., 564.

Chapters & Essays from an eBook

Citations for a chapter or essay in an ebook or an article from an online reference work such as Sage Knowledge should be formatted according to 6.2.12 and also include information about where the item was found online including the DOI, URL, or name of the database. A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is preferred when available as shown in the example below.

B: Matheson, Victor. "Poverty Gap Index." In Encyclopedia of World Poverty, edited by Mehmet Odekon, 844-845. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412939607.n547.

N: Victor Matheson, "Poverty Gap Index," in Encyclopedia of World Poverty, ed. Mehmet Odekon (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2006), http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412939607.n547.

When using only a chapter of an ebook found via eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), Ebrary, or PsycBOOKS when a DOI is not available, SBL recommends using the permanent URL. LCU permits using the name of the database at the end of the citation with professor permission. Both examples are shown below.

B: Burns, John S, (Jack). "Organizational Leadership on the Sea of Complexity." In Organizational Leadership : Foundations and Practices for Christians by Donald C. Simmons, John R. Shoup, and Jack Burns, 121-143. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014. https://library.lincolnchristian.edu:2443/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=685004&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_121.

N: John S, (Jack) Burns, "Organizational Leadership on the Sea of Complexity." In Organizational Leadership : Foundations and Practices for Christians by Donald C. Simmons, John R. Shoup, and Jack Burns (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 125. https://library.lincolnchristian.edu:2443/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=685004&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_121.