The line for subsequent works by same author in Bibliography is more than 3 em dashes

[JohnDave Medina]

In the bibliography, where there is more than one work by one author, the subsequent mentions of that author are supposed to be represented by three em dashes (--- --- --- without spaces). sbllatex generates what seems to be about 4 em dashes instead of three.

[JohnDave Medina (johndavemedina)]

After surfing the internet, I was able to find a fix, which I added before \sloppy in sblessay.cls. My bibliography section looks like this:

\renewenvironment{thebibliography}[1]
     {\begin{center}
        {\vrule width \z@ height .825in depth \z@
           \headingfontfamily\sbl@bibliographyname}
        \vspace*{0.5\baselineskip}
      \end{center}%
      \list{}%
           {\itemindent -0.5in
            \leftmargin 0.5in
           }%
% Create proper 3 em dash for subsequent works by same author - Added 28 August 2010
      \renewcommand{\bysame}{\leavevmode\rule[.5ex]{3em}{.5pt}}
      \sloppy
      \clubpenalty4000
      \@clubpenalty \clubpenalty
      \widowpenalty4000%
      \sfcode`\.\@m}
     {\def\@noitemerr
       {\@latex@warning{Empty `thebibliography' environment}}%
      \endlist
      \if@restonecol\twocolumn\fi}

I'm not sure exactly why it works like that, but it works (at least as far as I can tell on my own machine).

[David Purton (dcpurton)]

Ah! I confess I could never find any documentation to tell me how wide
it should be. Using an em measurement makes sense though, since it will
be font size independent. At present, it is set to 0.7 in. It is defined
in sbl.bst (just search for "bysame" and replace 0.7in with 3em. I think
I just picked 0.7in because it looked alright :) There is also a
\thinspace between the horizontal line and the period in the current
code - again just because I felt it look nicer, but looking at the SBLHS
it seems they just have it flush.

Anybody else got any comments on this?

I'll change it to your suggested code, unless someone else complains
bitterly.

cheers

dc

On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 02:52:05AM -0000, JohnDave Medina wrote:
> After surfing the internet, I was able to find a fix, which I added
> before \sloppy in sblessay.cls. My bibliography section looks like this:
>
> \renewenvironment{thebibliography}[1]
> {\begin{center}
> {\vrule width \z@ height .825in depth \z@
> \headingfontfamily\sbl@bibliographyname}
> \vspace*{0.5\baselineskip}
> \end{center}%
> \list{}%
> {\itemindent -0.5in
> \leftmargin 0.5in
> }%
> % Create proper 3 em dash for subsequent works by same author - Added 28 August 2010
> \renewcommand{\bysame}{\leavevmode\rule[.5ex]{3em}{.5pt}}
> \sloppy
> \clubpenalty4000
> \@clubpenalty \clubpenalty
> \widowpenalty4000%
> \sfcode`\.\@m}
> {\def\@noitemerr
> {\@latex@warning{Empty `thebibliography' environment}}%
> \endlist
> \if@restonecol\twocolumn\fi}
>
> I'm not sure exactly why it works like that, but it works (at least as
> far as I can tell on my own machine).
>

--
David Purton
<email address hidden>

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to
strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
                                 2 Chronicles 16:9a