Title: Punctuation - Columns

Punctuation

What do we mean by effective punctuation?

A speaker can vary their speed or tone of voice to convey meaning, and can pause to create separation between ideas.

In writing, the use of punctuation indicates separation or connection between the elements of a sentence, and distinguishes different sentences within the text.

Effective use of punctuation can clarify ideas, make a text easier to read, demonstrate your skill as a writer, and create textual variety with sentences of different lengths.

Example:         This article, although interesting, was not relevant to my essay.

In this sentence, the commas are used to indicate the separation between essential and non-essential information. Note that the clause contained by the commas could be removed and the sentence would still be grammatically correct.

- Punctuation is very important!
- Punctuation can be the difference between a nice family lunch and cannibalising a relative. Can you match the explanation to the sentence?
- Let's eat, grandma!
- Let's eat,grandma!
- It's time for lunch.
- She looks delicious.
Q: she looks delicious
A: She looks delicious.
Q: it's time for lunch
A: It's time for lunch.

Effective punctuation in academic writing: full stops and commas

Explore the drop down menus for some information about each type of punctuation:

Full stop .

Mark:  .

The full stop indicates the end of a sentence.

Students love learning about punctuation.

Comma ,

Mark: ,

1) The comma separates items in a list.

Students bought snacks, water bottles and sunscreen.

2) The “Oxford comma” is often used before and in academic texts to avoid any misunderstanding of the number of things in the list.

The twins, Anne, and Julie went to the lecture.

(Refers to 4 different people - without the final comma it could be referring to 2 twins called Anne and Julie)

3) The comma is used with numbers higher than 999.

There were 1,000 students who preferred to stay on campus.

4) The comma is used for introductory words or phrases.

According to my lecturer, referencing is not difficult.

5) The comma is used after dependent clauses.

If a dependent clause comes before the main clause, it needs to be separated by a comma.

6) The comma is used for sentence elements providing additional information which can be easily removed without interfering with the meaning.

Despite the warning, students missed several classes.

Drag the commas and full stops into the correct places in this text from a student essay:

Q: In this digital era[...] technological markets are constantly expanding with new devices[...] products and services available on a regular basis[...]
A: ,; ,; .
Q: Technology being brought to class must be used with the purpose of being an educational tool[...]  In this way[...] it would increase students’ interest in the subject (Heagney[...] 2017)[...] When used as an educational tool[...] it promotes a higher level of concentration[...] engagement and interaction in the class[...] This will help students perform better academically as it increases their interaction with study materials[...]  As such[...] technology benefits education[...]
A: .; ,; ,; .; ,; ,; .; .; ,; .

- Drag commas and full stops into the correct places in this text from a student essay:
- Technology being brought to class must be used with the purpose of being an educational tool

In this way        it would increase students’ interest in the subject (Heagney       2017)

When used as an educational tool       it promotes a higher level of concentration

engagement and interaction in the class

This will help students perform better academically as it increases their interaction with study materials

As such         technology benefits education
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Effective punctuation in academic writing: confusing colons and semi-colons

Explore the drop down menus for some information about each type of punctuation:

Colon :

Mark:   :

1) The colon is used to introduce a list or series.

There are three crucial aspects of writing a good academic sentence: the focus on one main point, appropriate word choices and correct punctuation.

2) The colon is also used before an explanation or elaboration.

The factory fire was devastating: almost 1,000 workers and over 40 office staff have been displaced.

Semi-colon ;

Mark:  ;

1) The semi-colon can be used to connect two closely independent clauses which could also be written as separate sentences. The use of the semi-colon indicates their close relationship.

Career popularity comes and goes; however, there will always be a need for teachers.

2) The semi-colon can be used in lists where the items in the list are very long or already contain commas.

Two main themes emerged: girls had a lack of confidence with, but not competence in, ICT; and boys had more interest in ICT, particularly game related activities.

- Drag commas and full stops into the correct places in this text from a student essay:
- Technology in schools has been shown to have a variety of unfavourable effects on students       a negative impact on grades in quizzes, projects and exams      a lack of exposure to learning interpersonal skills leading to poor socialisation       and distraction in their learning processes.
- :
- ;
- Overuse of technology can prevent proper socialisation       learning interpersonal skills is a key part of growing up.
Q: ;
A: ;
Q: :
A: :
Q: ;
A: ;
Q: ;
A: ;

Effective punctuation in academic writing: marks and dots

Explore the drop down menus for some information about each type of punctuation:

Double quotation marks " "

Mark: “  ”

Quotation marks enclose the exact words that are being quoted.

Finally, “constant, regular evaluation … to adapt to the changing needs of groups” was also recommended (Leder et al., 1996, p.793).

Ellipsis (or dot-dot-dot) ...

Mark: ...

The ellipsis indicates that something has been left out of a sentence.

Finally, “constant, regular evaluation … to adapt to the changing needs of groups” was also recommended (Leder et al., 1996, p.793).

Note: when you use these, make sure that leaving out words doesn't change the author's intended meaning.

Parentheses or brackets ( )

Mark:   (  )

Parentheses enclose in-text citation details such as author name and date of publication or any additional information.

Weisgram and Bigler (2007) suggested this may have been due to “the physical appearance or mannerism of the female presenters [which] led some girls to endorse gender stereotypes about women in science” (p. 267).

Square brackets [ ]

Mark: [ ]

Square brackets indicate that something has been added to the original words of a quotation, usually to make it grammatically correct or to clarify the quotation in the sentence or context that it is quoted.

Weisgram and Bigler (2007) suggested this may have been due to “the physical appearance or mannerism of the female presenters [which] led some girls to endorse gender stereotypes about women in science” (p. 267).

- Punctuation and citation
- In-text citations and entries in a list of references should be made according to your recommended style guide. Punctuation is an important part of this.
- In-text citation

Podorova et al. (2015) believe that “referencing is easy if you know how to follow the style guide” (p. 101).
- Reference list entry

Podorova, A., McLeod, A. B., & Ford, A. (2015). Referencing tips and tricks. Super useful academic literacy journal, 13(1), 11-27. doi: 123456789101
- Note that we usually leave no space before and one space after full stops, commas, colons and semi-colons. Also pay attention to the use of capital letters with names and titles.

- Quick tips
- Punctuation is important in referencing. Ensure you understand the correct referencing punctuation for both in-text and reference list citations in your discipline.
- Remember the difference between colons and semi-colons.,
- Remember that commas are not used to combine sentences. Commas are used to separate sentence elements. Commas are never used between subject and predicate.