Public Affairs Office

Punctuation

Commas, periods, and other punctuation such as question marks and exclamation marks are placed inside quotation marks:

We will examine "otherness," the foreign, and the "mysterious."

Punctuation that follows words in italics or bold face retains the style of the immediately preceding word.

Commas: we use the serial comma (also known as the Harvard comma): place a comma before "and" in a series of three or more items:

algebra, number theory, and computational complexity.

The serial comma is also used in an "or" series:

she may major in psychology, biology, or Spanish.

Hyphens: when you have an "-ly" adverb modifying an adjective, do not hyphenate between the "-ly" adverb and the adjective:

academically oriented program, newly furnished office

not:

freshly-painted walls, densely-written text

Compound adjectives: are usually hyphenated before a noun, especially if it improves clarity:

on-campus housing, part-time job, fourteenth-century fresco (spell out centuries if space permits).

Do not hyphenate these compounds if they stand alone:

He lives off campus. This job is only part time. Giotto was born in the thirteenth century.

Semicolons and colons: use a semicolon in a series of items if one or more of the items in the list contains a comma:

You should remember to pack an umbrella, in case it rains; a sweater, if it's cold; and a warm drink.

A semicolon links two closely related elements:

Sokol published this essay in Social Text last year and immediately exposed it as a hoax; the aftershocks are still being felt.

A colon is used to link two elements of which the second illustrates or amplifies the first:

His second book sold much better than the first: the publisher shipped 400,000 copies the first month alone.

Quotation marks: semicolons and colons are placed outside of quotes. Example:

He was called the "King of Portland"; his royalty was doubted by some, however.

Exclamation marks: it is always better to write forcefully to convey enthusiasm rather than to load your copy with exclamation marks.