Punctuation

One of the main misconceptions is using & to replace "and".

Ampersands are informal; therefore, if it's part of an official company name, the best practice is to use it instead of changing it to "and".

CORRECT USE: Homburg Centre for Health & Wellness
INCORRECT USE: President & Vice-Chancellor

When it comes to spacing around ampersands, you put a space on both sides of the "& ." The only exception is a company name like AT&T.

Additionally, you can use ampersands with certain abbreviations that everyone generally agrees upon, such as:

• "Q&A" - "questions and answers"
• "R&D" - "research and development" 

Only use a single space between the end of the punctuation in the previous sentence and the beginning of the next one.

The CLARI network spans Nova Scotia, combining the talents and resources of its seven founding partners. Those partners include Acadia University, Cape Breton University, Mount Saint Vincent University, St. Francis Xavier University, Saint Mary’s University, Université Sainte-Anne and the Nova Scotia Community College’s 13 campuses.

Adding two spaces after a period can cause inelegant line breaks in electronic documents and web pages and should be avoided.

Use a serial/Oxford comma to complete a list in series (differentiate element of series vs subject changes). pg 381

Put commas between the elements of a series but not before the final and, or or nor.

Example
Students, faculty, staff and community

This rule can be ignored in cases where there would be obvious confusion. In this case, there is a need for a comma after "a wife."

Smith is an accomplished runner, a wife, and a mother to three busy children.

Use commas before clauses introduced by the conjunctions and, but, for, or, nor, or yet if subject changes.

Example
“Between 1940 and 1970, Saint Mary’s established itself in teacher education, purchased the first computer in Atlantic Canada, and became coeducational.”

Use a comma to separate an introductory clause from a short, complete sentence in quotations.

Example
The President replied, “I have nothing to add to what I said at the Dauphinee Centre.”

Em/En-Dashes

The correct style for an em-dash is a single long dash with no offsetting spaces. Do not use en-dashes or hyphens as substitutes. For example: "When the research grant came—a month later after she was awarded it—the Saint Mary’s researcher no longer needed it."

For example:

“SMUSA—an organization that includes over 50 student societies—strives to maximize the positive university experience for Saint Mary’s students.”

Our house style is to use em-dashes sparingly to set off clauses requiring special emphasis. To avoid overuse of dashes, break one long sentence into two shorter ones. Additionally, a comma, bracket, semi-colon, or colon usually does the job with more precision and elegance.

Use an en-dash (with no offsetting spaces) only to indicate numerical range. Do not use em-dashes or hyphens as substitutes.

For example:

"Summerby-Murray has served in a number of senior academic roles, including the Dean of Social Sciences at Mount Allison University (2003–2010)."

OVERALL RULES FOR DASHES:

• Use dashes to set-off mid-sentence lists punctuated by commas. For example: The professors will discuss the common problems—syllabus lengths, textbook accessibility and enrollment—before going into meeting with the president.
• Use dashes when commas (generally preferable) would create confusion. For example: The courses—English and Philosophy—were cheap.
• Use a tight dash to introduce sections of a list.

For example:

Highlights of the course on Tuesday:

-the psychology of happiness

-coping mechanisms when individuals are feeling depressed

• Use a dash to mark a sharp break in a word or sentence. For example: The student has been laughed at, ignored—but the professor is boring them.
• Use a dash to attribute to a quotation. For example: 
  • Use a dash to attribute to a quotation. For example: “Oh, I kept the first for another day!”—Robert Frost
• Do not use dashes with colons, semicolons and commas.

Hyphens are used in compound words, or hyphenated names, without spaces on either side:

• ten-year-old child
• well-being half-hour program
• post-secondary education
• part-time job
• Jones-Smith
• nineteenth-century literature (here, nineteenth-century is an adjective)

Do not use hyphenation for nouns: “in the Twentieth century…”).

The abbreviated word for cooperative education is hyphenated, for example co-op.

Periods and commas always appear within double quotation marks. Colons, semi-colons and dashes always appear outside quotation marks. Questions and exclamation marks appear outside, unless they are part of the quotation.

Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes and double quotation marks for “scare” quotes. Scare quotes are quotation marks used around a word or phrase when they are not required to elicit attention or doubts. For example, Professor Huckabee has done a lot of research on “global warming” and “self actualization” in different parts of the world.

 No quotation marks are used around block quotes.

Single quote example: “The students said, ‘We don’t want to go,’ but I told them they had to,” the professor said.
Most “normal” people like to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Do not use quotation marks for word emphasis.

Ellipses are three consecutive periods with no spaces between, before, or after-are used to indicate that words have been omitted from the body of a quotation or at the end of a sentence to indicate that the sentence does not end.  Avoid using ellipses to begin a quotation.

Examples:

“The first part of the book…was very much spent assessing projects.”
Shakespeare professed his love of paintings, music… (NOTE: if using ellipses at the end of a sentence, there are four periods)

Terminal punctuation should follow the final parentheses when inside running the text.

In the case of a block quote (a quotation that spans more than four lines of a text), the terminal punctuation should be placed before the parentheses.

Example:

…the end. (Johnson, 212)

Square brackets are used to indicate changes made to the original quotation.

Example

(e.g., “The Tuders [sic] … “), or to enclose any translations (e.g., “awoke [reveille]…”).

If you need to change the first letter of a quotation, use square brackets to set off the letter you have changed.

Example:

“[U]sually…” or “[u]sually…”

Italics should be reserved for any non-English words (and, in some cases, book titles, see “Titles”) AND for author’s emphasis within a quote.

For example:

The website says that, “An Arts degree is a great way to strengthen your mind [emphasis added].”

Use a semicolon to clarify a series that includes a number of commas. Include a semicolon before the conjunction.

A slash may be used in fractions or as a substitute for the word per.  Do not use slashes to designate time periods: hyphens should be used instead (1994-95). Do not use the slash to replace the word or, and do not use the “he/she” or “s/he” construction (see Gender).

Do not underline text on web pages as it indicates a link. Find another way of adding emphasis depending on the context.

Use bold sparingly to emphasize text. Too much bold text reduces emphasis rather than increasing it.

Simple, yet effective formatting can be effectively done within the body of a story with bullets. This is especially true on web documents which are typically scanned quickly rather than closely read. Bullets can be either long or short, but should always follow a parallel structure.

Punctuation and capitalization in short bullets of a few words should be eliminated:

We offer a wide variety of health services. Here are just a few:

• women's health services (pap smear, breast exam)
• allergy injections
• contraception
• STD testing and treatment
• limited minor surgical procedures 
• immunization advice and vaccines 
• basic medications/prescriptions

If the material is longer or would stand on its own in a sentence, uppercase the first letter of the first word in each bullet and use periods at the end of each one:

For a positive co-op experience, you need a plan. To accomplish that you should:

• Meet with your Academic Advisor to incorporate work terms into your academic timeline.
• Regularly connecting with your Employment Development Officer so they can assist you in exploring job opportunities, completing job applications, accessing supports for resume/cover letter writing and troubleshooting issues.