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I've been having major trouble trying to find if the following paragraph's MLA in-text citation is correct. My main issue is that the in-text cite is supposed to cite both Leviticus 16, and Leviticus 23:26-32, but IDK how for 1: to cite two portions of the Bible in 1 citation like that, and for 2: IDK if I'm supposed to omit the "verse" section after the "chapter" one if I'm just citing the entire chapter. Can you guys help me?

Here's the paragraph:

The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is a solemn day where the Israelites tried to atone for their sins by doing certain rituals, including fasting, repenting, and giving sacrifices. The Israelites were to stop any other activity (New King James Version, Lev. 16, 23.26-32).

Here's its "Works Cited" citation:

New King James Version. BibleGateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NKJV. Accessed 18 November 2020.

Note: I'm just a 13-year-old doing this for school, so cut me some slack when it comes to how the text itself is worded.

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  • Hey Josh! Welcome to Writing S.E! I think that this question will better suit the English S.E under the tag citation. Nov 20, 2020 at 22:27
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    @Alexandrang Questions about how to correctly cite something are perfectly on-topic here. It might be suited for English.SE as well, but that doesn't make it off-topic here.
    – F1Krazy
    Nov 20, 2020 at 22:39
  • Welcome to the site, Josh! Writing critiques are off-topic here anyway, so you shouldn't have to worry about anyone criticising your example paragraph.
    – F1Krazy
    Nov 20, 2020 at 22:42

1 Answer 1

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Perdue's OWL is a great source for MLA guidelines.

For the in-text citation:

In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse.

For the multiple citations, you separate with semicolons, it's not necessary to repeat the book name, so your citation should be:

(New King James Version, Lev. 16; 23.26-32)

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html

For the works cited:

Italicize “The Bible” and follow it with the version you are using.

So your citation should be:

The Bible. New King James Version. BibleGateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NKJV. Accessed 18 November 2020.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_books.html

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