Mystery Punctuation

Today's topic: Mystery Punctuation

Let's face it--they're confusing.  Those exotic punctuation marks, like dashes, hyphens, brackets, and ellipses.  When should we use them?  What are they for?  What on earth is the difference between a dash and a hyphen?  Let's tackle these confounding punctuation marks one by one.

#1: Ellipses.  Ellipses (... or ....) let the reader know that you've left out some text.  What you may not know is that there are two different types of ellipses--the three dot and the four dot.  Use three dots when you're omitting text from the middle of a sentence.  Example:

Original sentence: She finished her paper, with a great deal of tooth-grinding and frustration, before midnight.
Your quote: She finished her paper...before midnight.

Use four dots when you're omitting text in two or more sentences.  The first dot is the period at the end of the first sentence.  This indicates to the reader that the omitted text includes the end of one sentence and the start of a new one.  Example:

Original sentence: She didn't like to bring her boyfriends home to meet her parents.  To her eternal embarrassment, they always grilled the poor guy about everything from his grades to his driving history.
Your quote:  She didn't like to bring her boyfriends home to meet her parents...they always grilled the poor guy about everything from his grades to his driving history.

As the APA Style Blog points out, when using four dot ellipses, some people like to capitalize the first word after the dots.  This is fine as long as what follows the ellipses is an independent clause (complete sentence), but personally I don't see the point.  I suppose it's a style choice.  Example:  "She didn't like to bring her boyfriends home to meet her parents...They always grilled the poor guy about everything from his grades to his driving history."

These are the basics for using ellipses.  For a few additional details (using ellipses with other punctuation, like semicolons), see this post from the APA Style Blog: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/04/ellipseswhen-and-how.html

#2: Dashes.  You're going to hate me for this, but please don't shoot the messenger when I tell you that there are actually two kinds of dashes, en dashes and em dashes.  Insanely complicated?  Perhaps.  But I don't make the rules. 

According to the 6th edition APA handbook (and many other style guides), an en dash should be used for (examples borrowed from the APA Style Blog:http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/09/computer-editing-tip-en-dashes.html):

• items of equal weight (e.g., test-retest, male-female, the Chicago-London flight),
• page ranges (e.g., in references, "...Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 718-729."), and
• other types of ranges (e.g., 16-30 kHz).

As required by Murphy's Law, most keyboards do not have an en dash key (en dashes are slightly longer than hyphens).  The APA handbook says you can just use a single hyphen instead, but if you are a perfectionist and want to use a proper en dash, there is a way to create one.  Just click on the link above (the APA Style Blog entry about en dashes) to learn the trick.  For simplicity's sake, I've just used the hyphen key here.

Em dashes are longer than en dashes.  Like the en dash, the em dash is mysteriously missing from most modern keyboards.  APA allows the use of two hyphens to create an em dash, but you perfectionists can click here if you want to learn how to create a "real" em dash: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/09/computer-editing-tip-em-dashes.html

Em dashes are used, in the words of the 6th edition APA handbook, to "set off an element added to amplify or to digress from the main clause."  In other words, use the em dash to set off a bit of text in order to draw the reader's attention to it.  Examples:

She went to check on Mr. Simpson--his white count was worrying her--and then headed to the break room.

No one ever gives me honest feedback on my papers--except you.

Note that in the second sentence, you could eliminate the em dashes and write "No one but you ever gives me honest feedback on my papers."  The author would choose an em dash if s/he wanted to emphasize the text that follows.  The sentence is a little more complimentary to the person addressed, a little more emphatic, with the em dash. Be careful not to overuse em dashes, though.  They can add emphasis and grab the reader's attention, but they can also be distracting, and they can sometimes be a bit too informal for scholarly writing.

#3: Hyphens.  Use hyphens in the following circumstances (list and starred examples borrowed from the Purdue OWL):

• To join two or more words which combine to form an adjective, when the two-word adjective comes before a noun.

• ball-peen hammer
• caramel-coated chocolates (yum)
• four-lane highway

• Note that when this kind of word combination comes AFTER a noun, the words should not be hyphenated. Example: The chocolates were caramel coated.

• To create compound numbers

• I was twenty-eight when I got my graduate degree.
• My brother will be forty-five next week.

• With prefixes like "ex," "self," and "all," and suffix "elect"

• ex-wife
• self-possessed
• all-encompassing
• president-elect

• Between a prefix and a capitalized word (as in anti-American*)
• With figures or letters (mid-1960s, T-shirt*)
• To avoid confusion or an awkward combination of letters

• re-sign a contract (vs. resign from one's employment)*

• To divide words at the end of a line if necessary--make the break between syllables

• For line breaks, divide already-hyphenated words only at the hyphen.

These are the basics.  For a few more fine details on using hyphens for line breaks, see the Purdue OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/576/01/

#4: Brackets. Use brackets in the following circumstances:

• Around statistics inside parentheses (in APA style).  Example (from the APA Style Blog):

• (See Figure 3 for the results from the control group [n=8]; compare with results from the Pink Floyd listening group [n=23] and the Beatles listening group [n=41].)

• To clarify text in a quotation.  Examples:

• Original: This renowned psychologist piloted a revolutionary new therapeutic technique.
• Quote, in which you want to identify the psychologist: This renowned psychologist [Jane Doe] piloted a revolutionary new therapeutic technique.

Note that you can't just say [Jane Doe] piloted a revolutionary new therapeutic technique.  You have to leave the original author's text intact.  You add the brackets for clarification, but you're not taking text away.  If you want to take text away, use ellipses (see above).

• To indicate, with the Latin word "sic," that an author you are quoting made an error--either in grammar or spelling or in fact.  Example: Doe wrote, "he had planned to borrow his sisters [sic] car."  (In this example, there should be an apostrophe before the final "s" in "sisters.") 

I hope this post has helped to clarify the proper use of some of the more confusing punctuation marks.  As always, happy scribbling!

More Meaningful Reading

Today's topic: Critical Reading

Critical reading means using critical thinking skills as we read.  It is a crucial step toward better writing (and, of course, better understanding of the material we read).  Many people underestimate the importance of close, careful reading.  This can lead to ineffective, shallow, or even plagiarized use of source material.  In this week's post, I offer you some quick tips for better reading.

1.) Play devil's advocate.  Don't automatically accept what you read at face value.  Granted, much of what you will read for class is peer-reviewed and published, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's perfect.  Flex your brain and put the author's arguments to the test.  Have an internal dialogue with him or her.  Ask questions like:

• What reasons does the author give to support his or her point of view?  Do these stand up to scrutiny?
• How current and reliable are the author's references?
• What objections might be raised to the author's point of view?
• Does the author seem to have an agenda?  What might that mean for the validity of his or her point of view?
• What are the author's qualifications?
• What are the author's unstated assumptions?  Are they acceptable?
• What are the gaps in the literature?  What's missing?  What other research should be done in this area?

This kind of inquiry is a crucial skill.  It can be especially important if you are preparing to write a literature review.  In that case, you'd need to consider some additional questions to critique the articles you are reading.  Here are a few examples, borrowed from Dr. Susan Frazier's terrific PowerPoint presentation on lit reviews (available on the Blackboard Writing Resources site):

• What are the results?  Are they credible?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the study?
• Is the problem/area significant?  It is relevant?
• Is the theoretical framework appropriate and clearly explained?
• Are gaps in knowledge clearly identified?
• Does the research purpose and specific aims/research question logically arise from the review of the literature?
• Are the chosen design and sample size appropriate and justified?

These are just a few examples, by no means a comprehensive list.

2.) Read meaningfully--analyze and synthesize.  As I've said before, good writing goes beyond simple summary and explanation.  Good writing involves analysis and synthesis of ideas, and the same is true of good reading.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, synthesis is the process of combining elements and drawing conclusions accordingly.  Nurses do it every day as they care for patients.  For example, let's say that an ER triage nurse is confronted with three patients.  One has terrible abdominal pain and is sweating profusely.  One has a high fever and has been throwing up.  One has a stab wound to the shoulder.  The nurse would have to look at 1.) the details of each patient's case--not only signs and symptoms, but also age, gender, medical history, etc.--and combine that information with 2.) her education--the knowledge she gained in nursing school and 3.) her experience--the knowledge and instincts she has gained from years of experience treating patients.  The nurse needs all three of these elements in order to make an informed decision.  This is a real-life example of synthesis.

Synthesis is also a vital part of reading and writing.  Since I mentioned literature reviews earlier, and since I know a lot of writers struggle with this kind of manuscript, let me offer this definition of lit review from M. Ling Pan's 2004 book Preparing Literature Reviews (I added the boldface for emphasis):

"...a synthesis of the literature on a topic.  To create the synthesis, one must first interpret and evaluate individual pieces of literature.  Then, the ideas and information they contain must be integrated and restated in order to create a new, original written work" (Pan, 2004, p. 1).

This process of interpretation, evaluation, and integration is true for literature reviews.  It is also true in many, many other types of writing.  That process of synthesis begins as you read through your source material.

 As you read, consider:

• How do this author's ideas compare with those of other authors who have written on this topic?
• How do the author's ideas compare with my own personal experience? 
• How do they compare with the experiences of my classmates, and the ideas I've heard in class discussions?  
• How do they compare with my professor's point of view?

You can also consider the context in which the author is writing--historical context, political context, healthcare-policy context, etc.  Think about the relationships between the ideas the author is expressing and the ideas of others.   

3.) Take good notes--you might even try using freewriting and/or clustering techniques as you read.  See my earlier post on conquering writer's block for specifics on freewriting and clustering.  It's crucial to take good notes as you read.  You can make these as formal or informal as you like; what works for one writer won't work as well for another.  The point is to write down your thoughts and questions and opinions as you go.  If something catches your attention, it can be a good idea to stop there and do a quick, five minute freewrite or cluster about it.  This can help ward off writer's block before you even get to the writing stage.  It can help you narrow down a topic, work out the answer to a puzzling question, decide whether you agree or disagree with the author's point, or finally come to understand a concept that eluded you until now.

In a nutshell, read meaningfully.  Don't take everything you read as gospel.  Ask questions, and think about how the ideas you're reading about might relate to other ideas.  If you can become a better reader, you will be well on your way to becoming a better writer as well. 

I hope you found this post helpful.  Happy scribbling!