Punctuation is important: it helps the reader to understand your writing, as well as showing that you have taken care with the presentation of your work. Mistakes in punctuation can change the meaning of a sentence, so it is a good idea to make sure you are using standard punctuation.
Full stops mark the end of a sentence. As we saw in Section 4, a sentence should have at least a subject, a verb, and an object. So, you can put a full stop when you have a complete short sentence, or you can make a longer sentence by linking another short sentence and then putting the full stop. (See Section 4 on sentence structure , and Section 3 on parts of speech .)
Don't use a comma to join two sentences. Either keep the two sentences as separate, or join them with a linking work such as "and".
|
"The results of the research were inconclusive, more research is needed." |
X Wrong |
|
"The results of the research were inconclusive and more research is therefore needed." |
√ Right |
in Section 4 we looked at the structure of sentences. As a general rule, you should not separate the Subject, the Verb, and the Object with commas. So, don't do anything like this:
| Smith | , | carried out | some research. | X |
| {Subject} | {Verb} | {Object} |
| Smith | carried out | , | some research. | X |
| {Subject} | {Verb} | {Object} |
This is good:
| Smith carried out some research. | √ |
The same rule applies (of course) when the subjects, verbs and objects are longer, such as here:
| Smith and Jones and their students (2020) | carried out | a great deal of research into the data that came from the questionnaire. | √ |
| {Subject} | {Verb} | {Object} |
Again, notice that there are no commas between the Subject and Verb, and the Verb and Object.
It is therefore useful to think of sentences as made of "blocks": a subject block, a verb block, and an object block. Together these form a short sentence block (sometimes called a "clause"). The short sentence blocks can then be joined together to make longer sentences (sometimes called "complex" or "compound" sentences), like this:
We study all night and we sleep during the daytime.
The key is that you should notice what are the Subject, the Verb, and the Object parts of your sentence.
If you look at this sentence, you can see that it is basically made of two short sentences. You can notice this because there are two verbs ("study" and "sleep") and there are two subjects ("we" and "we"). The word "and" is in the middle, so that is another sign that this sentence is made of two "blocks". The table below shows the structure of this sentence.
| We | study | all night | and | we | sleep | during the daytime |
| Subject | Verb | Object | Linking word | Subject | Verb | Object |
| Short Sentence |
Linking word (and/or punctuation such as a colon, comma, or semi-colon) |
Short Sentence | ||||
| <= Long sentence (also called "complex" or "compound" sentence) => | ||||||
Where the short sentences join, you choose what linking word and/or punctuation you want to put, including a comma, but you might also choose a full stop, a colon, or a semi-colon - it depends on the meaning you want to communicate.
You can use linking words to link up the two short sentences, such as "and", "but", "or", "so", "nor", "for", "yet", and many other possible words.
There are no short forms in academic writing - e.g. put "did not", NOT "didn't". So, you will not need apostrophes for short forms.
Never use apostrophes to show plurals. (It is a common mistake.) For example:
| "Smith wrote two article's in 1999." | X |
| "Smith wrote two articles in 1999." | √ |
Look at the following example.
"Smith's two articles in 1999 discussed Green's proposals."
"The articles of Smith" = Smith's articles
"The proposals of Green" = Green's proposals
"White and Brown's (2019) article" = the article of White and Brown (2019)
If there is more than one name, and one thing belongs to them both, only put the <'s> after the final name.
NOT White's and Brown's article.
If you want to show possession for a plural noun, you usually put the apostrophe after the s.
"The respondents' answers" = the answers of the respondents
There is more than one respondent, so it is plural respondents. To make this plural word possessive, add the apostrophe AFTER the s.
If a singular word ends with an s, such as "James", you can make the possessive in two ways: James's or James '. You choose, but be consistent.
Quotation marks show the actual words in the source. When the words in the quotation fit with the words in your sentence, you don't need to put any other punctuation, just the quotation marks.
When you use a reporting verb ("said", "maintained", "argued", etc.), you need to put a comma before the opening quotation marks:
Smith said, "The only way is up".
When the quotation does not fit in to the structure of your sentence, you need to put a colon <:>before the opening quotation marks:
This is the text on Kitchener's poster: "Your country needs you".
Do not use quotation marks for indented quotes. When the quote is long, put it on a new line and indent it, without quotation marks. For example:
|
Orwell begins his novel 1984 with the lines: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. Orwell was writing in 1948, and originally he had wanted the title to be just that... |
Colons have three main functions.
There are many uses for water: hydration, lubrication, fish, swimming, hiding submarines, and floating boats.
This is the text on Kitchener's poster: "Your country needs you".
The colon is used only when the words in the quote do not fit in to the sentence containing it. Compare it with the sentence below where the words in the quote fit in to the overall sentence structure.
Smith found that "boil in the bag chips had limited market penetration".
Here, the quotation fits in with the structure of your sentence, so it does not need any extra punctuation apart from the quotation marks.
The professional video camera was not used on this occasion: it was too heavy.
The part after the colon doesn't have to be a sentence (long or short). It can be a phrase or a noun, for example:
The expedition made one major discovery: a new species of beetle.
One way of thinking of the semi-colon is as a compromise between a full-stop and a comma; it is a strong comma or a weak full-stop. It does not require a capital letter after it. It is used in two main ways.
1. When you want to show that two sentences are closely linked:
Clearly, in Macbeth Shakespeare was exploring themes of appearance and reality; a number of other plays share these themes, notably Hamlet.
2. Instead of a comma in complicated lists to make them clearer for readers. The following example has two semi-colons:
Team members were asked to bring the following equipment: matches, at least one box, for lighting a fire; sensible shoes, which should be strong and comfortable; and a medical kit containing plasters, bandages, a thermometer, and an aspirin.
You can't introduce a list with a semi-colon: use a colon for that, as in the above example.
As a general rule, don't ask questions in academic writing (though there are some exceptions).
It is better to write:
"This essay will discuss the reasons for the outbreak of World War I." √
rather than:
"What are the reasons for the outbreak of World War I?" X
One exception is the Research Questions in, for example, a project, report, or thesis.
Another exception is when you are giving a direct quote of a sentence which uses a question mark. For example:
"When Juliet asked, 'wherefore art thou Romeo?' she was not referring to his location."
If you have used a questionnaire which contains questions, then it is correct to put the question mark at the end of a question. when you bring it into your writing.
UEFAP Punctuation page: UEFAP is is a great site for writing at university. This page covers punctuation.
