Academic writing

Only use abbreviations when you want to avoid lots of repetition of a lengthy or common phrase in an essay. Ensure that the first time you introduce the abbreviation it is given in brackets following the full use of the phrase it represents. For example:

The National Health Service (NHS) was founded in 1948. This ensures the reader knows what the abbreviation refers to and that your work remains easy to follow.

 E.g. and i.e. In general, old-fashioned Latin abbreviations are to be avoided. However, you may find yourself using:

• e.g. (exempli gratia) ‘for example’ - to precede single or multiple examples

5. A variety of apples can be used (e.g., Cox, Braeburn, Granny Smith).

• i.e. (id est) ‘that is’ - to explain or specify something further

5. For a dry cider, an apple like the Kingstone Black (i.e., a bitter-sharp variety) is best.

They are often found used in brackets and may be followed by a comma. Just think of the full English phrase when using them and punctuate in the same way.

Capital Letters are used for:

• Beginning sentences

• Following a full stop, exclamation or question mark

• They are not used following commas, full or semi-colons

• Beginning direct speech (not usually part of academic writing)

• First person (I, as in ‘I will argue that...’)

• Days, months and religious/political days (Wednesday, 31st May, Diwali, May Day)

• Languages (Urdu, Italian, Yoruba)

• Places: towns, counties, cities, countries (Wigan, Yorkshire, Bath, Scotland)

• Titles, specific roles, organisations or institutions (Managing Director, Government, Parliament)

 • If you are writing in general, when the title does not refer to a specific person, organisation or institution, capital letters are not needed.

Example: Plato’s Socrates discusses different forms of government in the dialogues.

• Names (also called proper nouns) and titles (Arctic Monkeys, Berlin Wall, Tudor, First World War)

Note: the short linking words in titles do not need capitals (Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Girl with a Pearl Earring).

The 1960s were a period of radical changes in morality.

In the '60s, public morality underwent radical changes.

1960s' morality was quite different to that which had gone before.

- In the first sentence, '1960s' is a plural referring to all the years between 1960 and 1969, so there is no apostrophe.

- In the second sentence there is a contraction with '19' missed off. The apostrophe replaces the missing numbers.

- In the third sentence, what is being referred to is the morality of the 1960s, so the apostrophe indicates possession.  

It is worth remembering that words may end with 's' because they are plurals, and not because they indicate ownership or contraction. Look at what the word is doing and apply an apostrophe only if appropriate.