Punctuation

Apostrophes in names ending in s

To show belonging, add a possessive apostrophe and the letter s (‘s) to names ending in s.

Write

We’ve postponed Ken Jones’s lecture.

Don’t write

We’ve postponed Ken Jones’ lecture.

Brackets (parentheses)

Format brackets in the same type (italics, bold) as the text either side of the brackets, not the text within the brackets.

Example

Professor Kim Scott (That Deadman Dance)

Commas

Don’t use serial commas (a comma before and) unless it’s necessary for clarity.

Write

We’ve scheduled eight lectures, two seminars and four workshops.

Don’t write

We’ve scheduled eight lectures, two seminars, and four workshops.

Don’t use commas between a person’s position and their name unless referring to the position generically. If the latter, place a comma before and after the name.

Write

  • Centre Director Professor Susan Ashe will present the keynote.
  • The centre’s director, Professor Susan Ashe, will present the keynote.

Don’t write

  • Centre Director, Professor Susan Ashe, will present the keynote.
  • The centre’s director Professor Susan Ashe will present the keynote.

Dashes

En dashes are used to show a span or range, such as a range of values or a financial year. Use the word to instead of an en dash for most spans of numbers. Don’t mix en dashes and phrases.

Write

  • The bookshop is open from 9am to 5pm.
  • We’ll close the facility for about six weeks between March and July.

Don’t write

  • The bookshop is open 9am to 5pm.
  • The bookshop is open from 9 am – 5 pm.

Use en dashes:

  • in technical content and tables where there are numerous spans and ranges of numbers
  • for geographical spans.

Example

The Bunbury–Busselton high-school student population.

Ellipses (…)

An ellipsis indicates the omission of words from quotes. Use three full stops with a space before and after the ellipsis. Don’t include a full stop if the ellipsis is at the end of a sentence.

Example

John Curtin wrote, “The great University … should look ever forward; for it the past should be but a preparation for the greater days to be”.

Email salutations and sign-offs

See Formatting.

Exclamation marks

Use exclamation marks sparingly. While they can express enthusiasm, when used abundantly, they suggest the writer is ‘over-emotional’, and the text becomes irritating to the reader.

Hyphens

Use hyphens to join two words that make compound adjectives.

Examples

  • full-time staff
  • well-known researcher
  •  high-quality course
  • world-renowned journal
  • first-year student

Compound nouns consisting of an adjective followed by a noun are usually written as two words.

Examples

  • full stop
  • red tape

If you are unsure whether to use a hyphen for a compound word or phrase, refer to the Macquarie Dictionary.

Don’t hyphenate compound adjectives with an adverb that ends in ‘ly’.

Write

This is a carefully written essay.

Don’t write

This is a carefully-written essay.

Use hyphens to link compound adjectival phrases.

Examples

  • Our lab has up-to-date equipment.
  • We checked all six-year-old children for symptoms.

There are instances when a second hyphen is necessary; for example, when a prefix is inserted before a phrase that is already hyphenated.

Example

Non-English-speaking countries

Quotes

Use double quotation marks for quotes and single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

Use current tense (Chloe explains, not Chloe explained).

If a quoted phrase is followed by the speaker’s name (i.e. Chloe explains), end the quote with a comma, then closing quotation marks, as per the examples below.

Include the person’s title, first name and surname at the first mention, and use a pronoun wherever possible thereafter (he, she, they). Use their first name occasionally for clarity or to avoid too much repetition of he/she/they.

Examples

  • “The first quote should end with a comma and an attribution,” says John.
  • “I heard Dr Wran say, ‘The funding has been brought forward’, and began drafting my application,” Chloe explains.
  • Team leader Professor Chris Kirkland says the timing raises the possibility that the Earth’s oldest asteroid impact may have helped lift the planet out of a deep freeze.
  • “Yarrabubba has been recognised as an impact structure for many years, but its age wasn’t well determined,” he explains.

Semicolons

Do not use semicolons in bullet/number lists.

Use semicolons in run-on and complex lists in sentences.

Examples

  • Most participants were from Donnybrook, Western Australia; Sunraysia, New South Wales; and Goulburn Valley, Victoria.
  • The results were: adult females, 76%; adult males, 21%; and juveniles, 3%.
  • We’ve used several sources, including current practice in media communications; Sanderson analytics, which has updated modelling for this release; and results of national corpus surveys.

Spans

Use an en-dash, not a hyphen, for geographic spans.

Examples

  • The March–April period.
  • The Bunbury–Busselton stretch of highway.

Symbols

Symbols are internationally recognised representations of units of measurement, words and concepts.

Avoid using symbols in general text. Use them in tables (and other cases where space is limited) and in scientific documents as appropriate.

Per cent (%)

Use the symbol % rather than per cent or percent. Do not place a space between the number and the symbol.

Ampersand (&)

Do not replace and with the symbol & unless the ampersand is:

  • in a pair known as a single entity (for example, salt & pepper)
  • part of a formal title or name (for example, Smith & Son).

Greater than (>), less than (<)

In general, use the phrases greater than and less than. Use the symbols where space is limited (diagrams, tables). Place a space between the symbol and the number (for example, > 90%).