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Parentheses, Dashes, Slashes, and Italics

Remember this article is concerned only with academic writing, which is extremely formal.

Parentheses

• encloses material that is of minor or secondary importance to the sentence, use vary sparingly

"Since I am from Florida, I bought a winter coat before coming to Louisville (someone told me that they often have snow).

Dashes

• inserts a comment or highlights material-use only in moderation

" Learning Greek in J-term-who wouldn't remember that experience-was a challenge."

• marks a sudden change in tone

  "Mother's suggestions were unsolicited-although helpful."
  

Slashes separates alternatives

• The writer should try to circumvent the use of slashes as they are awkward to read and can be misleading.

  "We are going to the movies and/or to dinner."

• Shy away from the slash he/she when trying to avoid gender specific language. It is usually better to rewrite the sentence.

  "A student needs to study for many hours in order for him/her to earn an A." This construction is awkward. Usually the pronoun can be left out, or the sentence can be rewritten.
  

Italics

• used to designate titles of entire works such as books, magazines, newspapers, and journals*

  "A New Handbook of Christian Theologians is an excellent resource for short synopses of the theology of the major Christian theologians."

*These can also be underlined. Chicago documentation style allows either underlining or italics while APA requires underlining for paper manuscripts. Basically, it is essential that you be consistent within the text.

• used for words used as words

"The word piety is commonly misunderstood to mean religiosity rather than its true meaning: spirituality."

• used for emphasis and especially for discussing the meaning of a specialized term

  "Thomas Paine said that the very founding principles of our nation are at stake."
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