Biblical & Theological Resources

You may recognize the term "bibliography" from papers you've written: your instructors have likely required that you include a bibliography at the end of your papers that list all the sources (whether referenced or not) that you used while researching and writing your paper.

Bibliographies are a complete list of all the sources an author referenced while writing his/her own text. It is important for you to write a full bibliography for your academic papers (unless your instructor specifies otherwise) because you must give proper credit for the ideas you use.

Bibliographies are also useful research sources in their own right: often you can find your first few good sources by looking in the bibliographies of your required course readings (individual chapters may have bibliographies/reference lists, or there may be a bibliography/reference list at the end of the book).

If you can find keywords from your research topic in a dictionary or encyclopedia, there are usually bibliographies at the end of each article which can provide sources for further reading. This is often the most useful part of a dictionary article, because it points you directly to some key, influential works on the topic.

Most theological and biblical assignments will require you to use Chicago-style citation (sometimes called Chicago/Turabian) or SBL citation style. Be sure to check your syllabi to make sure you are using the correct format for your assignments. These resources will help you learn to cite your sources properly in Chicago format. 

• The Chicago Manual of Style Online: This is the official, up-to-date resource for learning to write Chicago-style citations. If you have any questions about citing different sources in Chicago style, refer to this source first! We also have a physical copy of this guide behind the library's front desk. 
• The SBL Handbook of Style: This is the official, up-to-date resource for learning to write SBL-style citations. If you have any questions about citing different sources in SBL style, refer to this source first! We also have a physical copy of this guide behind the library's front desk. 
• Ambrose University Citation Basics: Here is a video of a Student Academic Success workshop on citation basics.
• Ambrose University List of Citation Styles: This is a guide by SAS to many citation styles. It contains links to helpful resources to help you learn Chicago/Turabian style citations.

Remember that when you access a source through the Ambrose library catalogue, you can usually copy-paste a citation for it. You will still need to double-check that the citation is correct, but it lays a foundation for you to edit. Find more information here in the "cite" tab: Tools & Tips - Using the Library Catalogue

You can also come up to the library circulation desk and ask to check out one of the citation style guides we have on Reserve or make an appointment with Learning Services.