Writing-Style on J. David Stark

The Odd Thing about Font and Line Sizes

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 12:00:00 +0000

When you select a font, you select its size in a unit called “points.” But the font face also affects the visual size of lines and type on the page.

How to Justify Your Title Page Text Blocks in No Time

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 12:00:03 +0000

You can save yourself a lot of time by letting Word handle title page formatting—particularly when you’re vertically justifying the title page text.

How to Prepare Your Title Page Text Blocks

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 12:00:00 +0000

If you delegate your title page formatting to Word, you can save time formatting. A key preparatory step is to properly segmenting your title page text.

How to Actually Format Your Title Page Text

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 12:00:00 +0000

If you delegate your title page formatting to Word, you can save yourself time spent formatting.((Header image provided by Etienne Girardet.)) You can also end up with a title page that’s more precisely formatted.

To start delegating your title pages to Word, there are four basic steps. The first of these is to capitalize and center your title page text.

Why You Need to Delegate Your Title Pages

Mon, 25 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000

You can space your title page content simply by entering blank paragraphs. But if you do so, you set yourself up for more work and at least three problems.

The Fundamentals of How to Format a Title Page

Mon, 18 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000

To pass your title page formatting off to Word, you need to start by understanding what SBL style requires in formatting your title page.

Authorities for SBL Style: School House Style

Mon, 27 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

The SBL Handbook of Style doesn’t include everything. There are seven main SBL style authorities, including your school’s house style.

Authorities for SBL Style: Publisher House Style

Mon, 20 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

The 𝘚𝘉𝘓 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦 doesn’t include everything. There are seven main SBL style authorities, starting with a publisher’s house style.

Starting sentences with "and" or "but"

Thu, 23 Feb 2017 14:00:35 +0000

The SBLHS blog has a helpful discussion on the use of “and” or “but” at the start of a sentence. And they are permissible. But one should use them sparingly.

For the full and very helpful post, please see the SBLHS blog.

Migne's "Patrologia Latina": Mystery solved

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 14:00:15 +0000

There’s some fun to be had in hunting up references to and citing instances where volumes from Migne’s Patrologia latina exist in different versions.

The folks at SBL Press have kindly resolved the mystery. Most significantly, SBL Press notes,

According to the Patrologia Latina Database … , PL’s printing history can be divided into two distinct periods. Jacques-Paul Migne initially published the 217 volumes of PL over a twelve-year period, 1844–1855. Migne reprinted volumes as needed for another decade, then sold the rights to the Paris publisher Garnier. Unfortunately, in February 1868 a fire destroyed Migne’s presses and printing plates, which meant that Garnier, which had begun reprinting some PL volumes in 1865, was the only source for future reprints—all of which were produced on plates other than Migne’s originals. These plates differed substantially in some cases and are considered in general “inferior in a number of respects to Migne’s own first editions.”

SBLHS student supplement and "ibid."

Fri, 27 Jan 2017 19:56:23 +0000

According to SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd ed., §§1, 3, 4.3.6, supports the use of “ibid.” From those descriptions, conventions look to be the same as for the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed., §14.29.

As an easy (and free) reference for students, SBL also provides a Student Supplement to the SBLHS. One of the courses I’ve been teaching has a comparatively heavier emphasis on getting to know the nuts-and-bolts of SBL style. And a keen-eyed student, pointed out that page 4 of the Student Supplement has consecutively numbered footnotes 78 and 79. Both notes are for the same source, but the second (note 79) does not use the “ibid.” notation.

Fun with multiple editions of Migne's Patrologia Latina

Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:26:59 +0000

There are a pair of references in Cranfield’s ( affiliate disclosure) and Moo’s ( affiliate disclosure) Romans commentaries to comments by Ambrosiaster about the origin of the Christian community in Rome, and I’ve been curious to give this reference a look. Both authors cite the reference as found in J.-P. Migne’s Patrologia latina, vol. 17, col. 46 (Cranfield, xiii, 17n2; Moo, 4n7).