Hi, I am working on Jeremiah for OT interp class and I was wondering how I should cite the page numbers on the footnote when I cite something
Hi, I am working on Jeremiah for OT Interp class and I was wondering how I should cite the page numbers on the footnote when I cite something from a e-book that does not have page numbers. For example, I am using the New American Commentary for Jeremiah through ProQuest Ebook Central.
Answer
There are a couple of ways to handle this, depending on your professor's preferences. First, note that the SBL Handbook of Style2 §6.2.25 gives the following instructions:
Since e-reader formats do not have stable page numbers, it is preferable to cite the print edition. However, if an alternative format is consulted, in lieu of a page number, include a chapter or section number in the citation, as in the example...
18. Reventlow, From the Old Testament to Origen, ch. 1.3.
21. Wright, David, King of Israel, ch. 5, “Evidence from Qumran.”
So, in your situation, you could cite it using information about the chapter/section in which the quotation is found, e.g.:
5. F. B. Huey, Jr. Jeremiah, Lamentations: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, NAC 16 (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1993), ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dtl/detail.action?docID=680788, Introduction, 1. The World of Jeremiah.
Note the addition of the actual chapter and section where a quote is found (in red) in the example above.
Second, an alternative would be to provide the URL directly to the page (without the citation of the «Introduction, 1. The Word of Jeremiah» location):
5. F. B. Huey, Jr. Jeremiah, Lamentations: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, NAC 16 (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1993), ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dtl/reader.action?docID=680788&ppg=17.
You get that page-specific link by navigating to the page in the ProQuest interface and clicking the "Share Link" icon (🔗) at the top of the page:
Ultimately, it is best to look up the page number in the print book, but the second best option is to cite the actual chapter name and section (as in the first Huey citation above). This is preferable to the direct URL link because a reader in your audience who only has access to the print edition can still find "Introduction, 1. The World of Jeremiah," but the link directly to the page would only work if the reader had access to the same ebook you did.
Ultimately, it's up to your professor. It's also best to be consistent throughout your paper no matter what you do.
Another note: If you use the citation tool (the little box with the " mark) to get a bibliographic entry, be wary of mistakes that these automatically generated citations can have. For instance, in the above example, here is the citation given automatically:
Huey, F. B., Jr.. Jeremiah, Lamentations : An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1993. Accessed October 27, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central.
This is not consistent with the SBL Handbook of Style2 in that it adds an access date (which is not necessary), and it does not cite the series title and number (e.g., NAC 16 - the abbreviation for the 16th volume of the New American Commentary series). The correct bibliographic entry should look like this:
Huey, F. B., Jr. Jeremiah, Lamentations: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture. NAC 16. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1993. ProQuest Ebook Central. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dtl/detail.action?docID=680788.