1. Omit needless words, and be clear.
- Avoid passives and nominalizations.
- Avoid convoluted sentences and paragraphs.
- “Don’t try to dress up your writing.” Don’t try to sound smart.
- Everything from your paper’s title to its introduction, thesis, headings, and conclusion should clearly indicate what and how you are arguing. Is your approach inductive, deductive, or a mix? (See Don Carson’s advice about two ways to approach writing a dissertation.)
- Be more specific than “points” or “things.”
- Correct typos. Read your draft aloud, and then make your computer read it aloud. Sometimes your ears will hear errors your eyes miss.
- Place only in the right spot (usually right before what it modifies).
- See “Six Useful Books on Writing.”
2. Cite sources in footnotes and the bibliography correctly.
Follow The SBL Handbook of Style (2nd ed.).
- For names and places of presses, see pp. 76–82.
- Wrong: Wheaton: Crossway Publishers, 2016
- Right: Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016
- Consult the “Student Supplement.”
- Use the author’s published name. If the book’s title page lists the author as D. A. Carson, then don’t write Donald A. Carson or Don Carson.
Also, if a book is available in print, cite actual page numbers—not Kindle locations.
3. Use the hyphen (-), en dash (–), and em dash (—) correctly.
- Hyphens: half-baked idea; one-third
- En dashes
- References: Rom 1:16–17 (not Rom 1:16-17)
- Pages: 113–14 (not 113-14)
- Dates: 1980–2016 (not 1980-2016)
- Em dashes: “Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?” (Rom 2:3).
- Update on 11/1/2016: See “Hyphens, En Dashes, and Em Dashes” at the SBL Handbook of Style blog.
4. Use only one space between sentences.
The two-space rule accommodated manual typewriters.
5. Capitalize words correctly.
For headline-style capitalization (e.g., in headings of a research paper), follow the Chicago Manual of Style, which says this in 8.157:
The following rules, though occasionally arbitrary, are intended primarily to facilitate the consistent styling of titles mentioned or cited in text and notes:
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- Capitalize the first and last words in titles and subtitles (but see rule 7), and capitalize all other major words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and some conjunctions—but see rule 4).
- Lowercase the articles the, a, and an.
- Lowercase prepositions, regardless of length, except when they are used adverbially or adjectivally (up in Look Up, down in Turn Down, on in The On Button, to in Come To, etc.) or when they compose part of a Latin expression used adjectivally or adverbially (De Facto, In Vitro, etc.).
- Lowercase the conjunctions and, but, for, or, and nor.
- Lowercase to not only as a preposition (rule 3) but also as part of an infinitive (to Run, to Hide, etc.), and lowercase as in any grammatical function.
- Lowercase the part of a proper name that would be lowercased in text, such as de or von.
- Lowercase the second part of a species name, such as fulvescens in Acipenser fulvescens, even if it is the last word in a title or subtitle.
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The most common word I notice students capitalize incorrectly is the word is. It should be Is (not is) in headline-style capitalization.
For theological words follow The SBL Handbook of Style (pp. 37–52). For example,
- biblical (not Biblical)
- covenant (not Covenant)
- Gospel (not gospel) when it refers to the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John
- gospel (not Gospel) when it refers to good news
- kingdom of God (not Kingdom of God)
- Messiah (not messiah)
- messianic (not Messianic)
- temple (not Temple)
And don’t capitalize pronouns referring to deity.
6. Abbreviate correctly.
Follow ch. 8 in The SBL Handbook of Style (pp. 117–260), especially for books of the Bible (pp. 124–25). For example,
- Gen 3:16 (not Gen. 3:16 or Genesis 3:16)
- Rom 3 (not Rom. 3 or Romans 3)
Two exceptions: Spell out the book name if (1) a chapter (or chapter and verse) does not follow it or (2) it comes first in the sentence. For example,
- Right: Paul wrote Romans in about AD 57.
- Wrong: Paul wrote Rom in about AD 57.
- Right: Romans 3:21–26 is the most important paragraph in the Bible.
- Wrong: Rom 3:21–26 is the most important paragraph in the Bible.
- Right: First Corinthians 13 is about love.
- Wrong: 1 Cor 13 is about love.
7. Punctuate correctly.
For example,
- Add a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses.
- Use the Oxford comma. (Yes, I just linked to Wikipedia. It’s not all bad.)
- Don’t place footnote numbers before punctuation such as a comma, semicolon, or period.
- Add quotation marks after a period or comma.
- Right: I answered, “Chipotle.”
- Wrong: I answered, “Chipotle”.
- Add a comma after the abbreviations “e.g.” (for example) and “i.e.” (that is) but not for “cf.” (confer or compare).
- Add commas around nonrestrictive or nonessential clauses (e.g., The apostle Paul, who wrote thirteen letters, was prolific) but not around restrictive or essential clauses (e.g., The author who wrote Romans was prolific).
- Don’t put “ff.” after verse references (e.g., Rom 3:21ff.). Specify the precise range (e.g., Rom 3:21–26).
- Jesus’s (not Jesus’). Moses’s (not Moses’).
- If you isolate a Greek word or phrase and if the single word or the final Greek word in a phrase has a grave accent in its context, change the grave accent to an acute accent in your quotation (e.g., not γὰρ but γάρ).
8. Footnote what translation you are using the first time you quote Scripture.
For papers (and journal articles), say something like this: “Scripture quotations are from the ESV.” Or “Scripture quotations are from the ESV, unless otherwise noted.” (I know—the previous sentence has both a nominalization and a passive. It’s legit rule-breaking.)
Anecdote: In my first PhD seminar with Don Carson at Trinity, a student was defending his paper before the class, and Don asked him something like this: “Why do you use your own rigidly form-based translation in your paper? That is a very MDiv-ish thing to do. Why not simply use one of the standard translations like the NIV or ESV and then diverge from that when you think helpful?”
9. Evaluate others fairly.
Critique a book or article on its own terms. Don’t criticize an author merely because they didn’t write the book you wish they would have written; critique a book or article based on what its author intended it to be. Here’s a good diagnostic question to ask yourself: Would you critique an author differently if they were in the room listening to you evaluate them?
Related:
- Aaron Armstrong, “How to Write a Great Book Review”
- Tim Keller’s 6 Principles for How to Argue When You Disagree
10. Be above reproach about plagiarizing.
Don’t present specific arguments that aren’t original to you as if they are. Usually when seminarians plagiarize material to some degree, they don’t intend to. Understand what plagiarism is so that you don’t do it.
Related
- How to Write a Theology Essay
- Ten Things You Should Never Do in a Theological Research Paper
- Should Seminaries Require Students to Write So Many Academic Research Papers? John Frame Says No (The comments after the article are thoughtful.)
- The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation by Bryan Garner
- This is the rubric I use for grading papers (based on a 10-point scale where 90–100 = A, 80–89 = B, etc.):
Nice list, Andy. If I may interact briefly:
1. Bravo for good old Strunk and White.
4. Interesting explanation from Slate magazine; I know the rule was different when I was growing up, but I never knew there was an actual explanation for it.
5. Also, King of kings and Lord of lords (not King of Kings and Lord of Lords).
7. I’m inclined to agree. Interestingly, however, the same Slate article you cite for #4 features a link to another article that argues against placing periods and commas inside quotation marks.
11. “Only” is the world’s (well, the English language’s) most misplaced modifier. Place it immediately adjacent to the word it is actually modifying.
Thanks, Layton. And I’m grateful that you more than any of my professors trained me to write. Thank you for giving me such helpful and detailed feedback on my writing. (Note to others: Layton Talbert taught me six undergraduate courses and four seminary courses, and he served as a final reader for my BJU dissertation.)
Re #11: Yes, I should have included that! I frequently mark that when I grade papers. And I learned it from you.
On capitalizing pronouns referring to deity, students should make sure they follow the standard of their particular school. The seminary I attend says pronouns referring to deity should be capitalized except for the reflexive form (himself).
Also, on Jesus’ vs Jesus’s, I have seen both in academic textbooks. I know I was really thrown for a loop reading Beale’s New Testament biblical theology text, because he used Jesus’s, while almost every other text I have read in the 39 credit hours I have completed used Jesus’.
1. Right, students should follow their school’s policy. But I’d argue that if a school requires students to capitalize pronouns referring to deity, they should change their policy. (Read this.)
2. Jesus’s vs. Jesus’: I am following The SBL Handbook of Style. Publishers have their own styles, but The SBL Handbook of Style is the academic standard for biblical studies.
As to capitalizing pronouns referring to deity, allow me to put a case to you–Job 9:30-31. If you can read Hebrew, you know the pronoun is singular and therefore Job is (almost certainly) complaining (in the OT sense) not against his friends’ persistent accusations but his perception of God’s apparent determination to treat him as though he has sinned. If you read the KJV, the singular pronoun is clearly signified by the translation “thou” and the meaning is clear in a way that the modern, generic “you” leaves the reader uncertain as to whether Job is talking about God or his friends (I suspect most would assume the friends to be a safer guess). If you read the NASB, the modern generic pronoun is capitalized (You), clarifying for the reader the intent of the original text. That’s just one example from a biblical (note the lower case:) text.
My personal grading policy is simply to be sure that whether a student chooses to capitalize or not, he does so consistently. My personal writing practice is to capitalize, and it has nothing to do with being superstitious or super-pious, or even showing respect (though that’s really not a bad thing, is it?). It is purely for the sake of unmistakable clarity. So, whether I write that Job’s speech about God suggests that he was being unrighteous, or that Job’s speech about God suggests that He was being unrighteous, matters (it seems to me). Because both statements are, in fact, true, whether the “he” is Job or God. So which do I mean? Capitalization is a simple device (practiced by God’s people for a very long time) that provides immediate and consistent clarity in theological writing. I certainly wouldn’t insist that others practice it, but I’d prefer if others allowed me to without (sometimes) condescending and manufactured “explanations” for why it’s done:).
Fair enough. There are always tradeoffs in translations. (E.g., I remember your lecture that pointed out that the KJV is more precise when it uses the singular thee/thou and the plural you while modern translations use the ambiguous you for both the singular and plural.)
The best argument I’ve heard for not capitalizing pronouns for God was from Doug Moo. I think it was during a Q&A, and he was explaining why the NIV doesn’t capitalize pronouns for deity. His argument was that capitalizing pronouns for deity makes it harder to do biblical theology when reading messianic passages from the OT such as David’s psalms or Isaiah’s servant songs.
Andy,
When you pray out loud, do you say “in Jesus’ name” or “in Jesus’s name”? I started using “Jesus’s” in writing but was a not happy writing it out like that when writing a prayer.
I usually say “in the name of Jesus.”
I agree that “JEE-suhs-iz” (phonetic pronunciation) sounds awkward.
Andy, thanks for adding the rubric. It helps.
I was stuck for a little while this morning when I first read this post. Although all ten of these are certainly common errors, I really don’t expect my (undergraduate) students to even know that #3 is something to consider. I would probably expect grad students to know, but not undergrads.
But anyway, if that is just one possible issue under the “Presentation” category, then this makes much more sense. I can’t imagine misplaced em dashes accounting for the only issues of presentation that might occur in most student papers.
Where do you place the question mark when asking a question that ends with a direct quote?
For example: Do you agree with his statement, “Time is money?”
Or do you write: Do you agree with his statement, “Time is money”?
The direct quote was not a question, so it seems inappropriate to include it in the quotation marks, perhaps leading readers to think that the direct quote was a question. However, it looks strange to place it after.
Correct:
Do you agree with his statement, “Time is money”?
Thanks! Good to finally know.