Punctuation, Part 1

For this blog post I will list four topics from the "Punctuation" section in Rules for Writers I will read about and see how I can learn about them and improve on them in my writing.

Neutrality. "Question mark (black on white)". 17 July 2014 via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain 

  Topic 1:
The first topic that I read about in the "Punctuation" section was "The comma".  After reading this section, I learned more information about how to correctly use the comma.  Not that I had major difficulties during my project with this type of punctuation, but I found that the proper placement of them, makes the content of the paper transition in a smoother fashion.  In particular, I find that this sub-topic mentioned important features to using commas, such as placing them before a coordinating conjunction.  Prior to reading this section, I believed placing commas in certain sentences was necessary only to make a long sentence more readable and seem less "blocky".  Also, I found it interesting and important to take note of the use of comas to set off nonrestrictive elements, and not using them to separate restrictive ones.

Topic 2:
The second topic that I read about in this section was "The semicolon".  I have always had trouble when I should properly use semicolons in my papers.  After reading the sub topic, "Use a semicolon between independent clauses linked with transitional expression", I learned how to correctly place a semicolon when seeing a transitional expression (ie. in addition) appear between independent clauses.  The topic also included a section that described using a semicolon between items in a series containing internal publication, which I find helpful since I will read many publications for my future career in the field of science.  The section also provided helpful tips of avoiding the common misuses of the semicolon.  Some of the information here, I found is helpful in having myself learn the basics of when and when not to use semicolons.

Topic 3:
The third topic which I found that provided helpful new information to my writing knowledge was "Other punctuation marks: the dash, parentheses, brackets, the ellipsis mark, the slash".  The first sub-topic that I found that provided new knowledge to me is why a dash is used in writing.  They are used in order to either set off parenthetical material which is emphasized in the writing, set off appositives that contain commas, or introduce a list or any shift in the tone of the argument.  The use of parentheses in my papers in not a new idea for me.  What I did learn though from this section, is that is perfectly normal to use parentheses in your papers.  I always that it did not seem professional to use them, but in fact can be important if you want to enclose minor details about a specific term. Overall, the tips I learned from this section in the book will be helpful in some form in my writing in the future.

Topic 4:
The final topic which I read about in the "Punctuation" section was "Quotation marks".  Since I did not have major issues with this specific topic, I thought by reading about it, I could learn new information about it.  I noticed an interesting point, how direct quotations of someone's words, either being spoken or written, must always be in quotation marks.  Another quick tip on quotations was how to write long quotations.  When I was a less experienced writer, I never used to use long quotations for lines that were more than four lengths long.  Reading this sub-topic made clear to me that for any future papers that I will write, any quotation that is more than four lines long, must be used correctly and written without quotations (along with an indent).

Reflection: 
After Nicole Nelson's and Mark Mellott's drafts of project 3 I found that both did a good job on using correct punctuation rules.  For example in Nicole's draft, one instance where I believe she included a great use of an ellipse is, "The two boys involved were being charged as minors - despite rape being an adult crime. It seemed useless - until Anonymous got involved."  She emphasizes two key points in these two sentences, "rape being an adult crime" and "until Anonymous got involved".  The ability of using ellipses is something that I find interesting for me.  After reading different projects and seeing the use of ellipses, I will try to incorporate them into my papers in the future.

As for Mark's draft, he too utilizes the correct of punctuation forms.  Although these grammatical forms may not seem to be important for many writers, it is important technique for any informed writer to maintain.  When someone uses information that may seem complex for another person to read, that is alright.  But if this person uses information like and makes many grammatical and punctuation errors, these type of errors are most costly to someone's overall use of their paper.  Correct grammar, in my opinion, is one of the basic fundamentals in writing every person should make sure to be the air-tight part of their paper.  A good example of where Mark utilizes correct punctuation is "The wrong absorbent (organic instead of inorganic) was used in the suspect barrel."  Using parentheses seem for many writers to be a non-existent tool.  Personally for me, I do not use parentheses to often in my writing.  Mark does a good job explaining the words in his bullet point by providing an elaborate meaning to it.  This helps make his statement seem more technical without making it seem out to be too technical.