This document discusses the appropriate use of hyphens, brackets, and slashes in scientific writing. It provides examples of how to use hyphens to join compound words and prefixes, brackets to add information in quotes or parentheses, and slashes to indicate "or", fractions, measurements, dates, and website addresses. The goal is for students to learn when and how to properly employ these punctuation marks in their own scientific writing.

2. SUBJECT NAME: ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: LECTURER, MS FARHANA TABASSUM

3. SCIENTIFIC WRITING- HYPHEN, BRACKETS & SLASH
•LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
•By the end of this lecture students will be able to
use hyphen, brackets and slash appropriately in
scientific writing.

4. USES OF HYPHEN (-)
•The hyphen connects two things that are intimately
related, usually words that function together as a single
concept or work together as a joint modifier (e.g., tie-in,
toll-free call, two-thirds).

5. HYPHENS IN COMPOUND WORDS
•A compound consists of two or more words that
combine to make a new meaning.
•Compounds can be correctly written as
separate words (fairy tale)
 with hyphens ( fairy-tales, load-bearing ) as
one word (proofreading).

6. COMMON ONE-WORD COMPOUNDS
• alongside, another, aftermath, anybody, background,
beforehand, bookmaker, bypass, brainstorm, cannot,
commonplace, downpour, elsewhere, everywhere,
everything, however, input, keyboard, keypad, mainland,
meantime, meanwhile, moreover, nevertheless,
rattlesnake, roadblock, scarecrow, somewhat,
spokesperson,

7. USES OF HYPHEN.
Use a hyphen to join most that form a compound noun
I. Most truck transport is undertaken by owner-drivers.
II. Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece.
III. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper was my mother-in-
law.
IV. The transport minister gave the go-ahead for the road
project.

8. USES OF HYPHEN
• Use a hyphen to join most words that form a compound
adjective (descriptive word) to make a single meaning
before or after the noun it is describing.
Research shows that accident-prone people are likely to
be distracted and stressed.
There is an alarming rise in self-induced injuries among
young teenagers.
It is a well-established fact that the teenage years can be
emotionally turbulent.

9. USES OF HYPHEN
• Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single
adjective before a noun:
• Examples:
I. a one-way street,(11) chocolate- covered peanuts
II. well-known author
• However, when compound modifiers come after a noun,
they are not hyphenated:
• Examples:
I. The peanuts were chocolate covered.
II. The author was well known

10. HYPHEN WITH PREFIXES
• Hyphen is used to avoid vowel confusion
• de-ice,
• de-emphasise,
• pre-eminent,
• re-enter,
• anti-aircraft,
• semi-official
• To avoid consonant confusion
• Shell-like

11. USES OF HYPEN
• Hyphenate all words beginning with the prefixes self-, ex-
(i.e., former), and all-.
• Examples:
• self-assured
• ex-mayor
• all-knowing

12. USES OF HYPEN
• Suffixes are not usually hyphenated. Some exceptions: -
style, -elect, -free, -based.
• Examples:
• Modernist-style paintings
• Mayor-elect Smith
• sugar-free soda
• oil-based sludge

13. HYPHENS IN WRITTEN NUMBERS
• Numbers 21 to 99 in words
• twenty-seven; four hundred and fifty-five; thirty-six
thousand
• Fractions in words
• one-quarter; three-halves; two and three-quarters

14. USES OF HYPEHNS.
•Hyphenate compound adjectives that involve
numbers
The 48-year-old film star; three-year-old children;
the five-part series; a 21-gun salute; the fifth-storey
apartment.

15. USES OF HYPEN
• When writing out new, original, or unusual compound
nouns, writers should hyphenate whenever doing so
avoids confusion.
• Examples:
I. I changed my diet and became a no-meater.
(No-meater is too confusing without the hyphen)
11.The slacker was a video gamer.
• (Videogamer is clear without a hyphen, although some
writers might prefer to hyphenate it)

16. THREE GENERAL RULES FOR USING A HYPHEN
TO EXPRESS DATES, YAERS AND NUMBERS
Use a hyphen when you use: Examples
a prefix preceding a date post-1929; pre-1770
‘century’ as part of a compound
adjective
sixteenth-century art (but art
created in the sixteenth
century)
the suffixes ‘fold’ or ‘odd’ after a
number
2000-odd people attended the
rally; the purpose of the project
was three-fold

17. TYPES OF BRACKETS
•[ ]: square bracket
•( ): parentheses
•{ }: brace or curly bracket
•< >: angled/pointy bracket or inequality sign

18. PARENTHESES: ( )
• Parentheses (singular: parenthesis), which can also be
called 'round brackets', 'open brackets', or just 'brackets'
in British English, are used to separate parenthetical (i.e.
non-essential) information from the main text.
This example (which was written in January) is intended
to illustrate the use of parentheses.

19. PARENTHESES: ( )
•Parentheses are sometimes used to enclose
examples of what the main text is discussing.
Example: The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania) used to be part of the Soviet Union.

20. PARENTHESES: ( )
• Sometimes the writer wants to add a comment of her
own.
• Such a comment can be parenthetical in relation to the
main message of the text, that is, it does not add any
extra information about the subject matter as such, only
the writer's personal opinion or reflections.

21. CONT…
• Example: People who use too many parentheses and
footnotes in their texts (I have to admit that I am one of
them) are usually perfectionists.

22. PARENTHESIS
• In written documents of various types, parentheses are
also used around numbers and letters in connection with
various lists, numbered examples in a text such as this
one, etc.
Example: Before we reach a conclusion, we have to take
into consideration (i) his age, (ii) his CV, and (iii) his
reputation.

23. PARENTHESIS
• In academic writing, parentheses are also used (in some
reference systems) both when we refer to our sources in
the text and in our reference lists or bibliographies.
Example: Parentheses also enclose cross-references.

24. SQUARE BRACKETS: [ ]
• It is used when we want to add something to, or
somehow change, emphasise, or comment on a direct
quotation from some other source.
• Sometimes we want to add a piece of information in
order to help the reader better understand the quotation.

25. SQUARE BRACKETS: [ ]
Example: According to Harris (2005:63), "the
Scandinavian countries [Denmark, Norway and Sweden]
have sound economies."

26. SQUARE BRACKETS: [ ]
Sometimes we have to change the capitalisation or add a
pronoun in order for the quoted material to be
grammatically appropriate or understandable in its new
context.
EXAMPLE: According to Harris (2005:63), "[T]he
Scandinavian countries have sound economies."
EXAMPLE: According to Harris (2005:63), this is partly
due to "[their] being rich in natural resources."

27. USES OF SQUARE BRACKET
• Square brackets can also be used when you want to point
out to the reader that you have added italics, underlining,
boldface, etc. in order to emphasize some part of the
original text.
• (16) According to Harris (2005:63), "the Scandinavian
countries, including Iceland, have sound economies." [my
emphasis]

28. USES OF SQUARE BRACKET
• We can also use square brackets if we want to insert
parenthetical information inside another parenthesis.
In his recent work (which has [unfortunately] not been
published yet), Professor Watson discusses the usefulness
of square brackets.

29. USES OF SLASH(/)
• The slash (/) is also known as: forward slash, stroke, oblique.
• You should use the slash with care in formal writing.
• EXAMPLES: Mary had a little lamb/ little lamb, little
lamb/ Mary had a little lamb/ whose fleece was white
as snow.

30. USES OF SLASH(/)
• 1. A slash is often used to indicate "or":
I. Dear Sir/Madam (Sir or Madam)
II. Please press your browser's Refresh/Reload button. (Refresh
or Reload)
III. The speech will be given by President/Senator Clinton.
(President Clinton or Senator Clinton)
IV. Mary will eat cake / fruit. (Mary will eat cake, or Mary will
eat fruit, or Mary will eat cake and fruit.)

31. USES OF SLASH(/)
•2. Use a slash for fractions:
1/2 (one half)
2/3 (two thirds)
9/10 (nine tenths)

32. USES OF SLASH(/)
•3. Use a slash to indicate "per" in measurements of
speed, prices etc:
I. The speed limit is 100 km/h. (kilometres per hour)
II. He can type at 75 w/m. (words per minute)
III. The eggs cost $3/dozen. ($3 per dozen)
IV. They charge €1.50/litre for petrol. (€1.50 per litre)

33. USES OF SLASH(/)
•4. People often use a slash in certain abbreviations:
This is my a/c number. (account)
John Brown, c/o Jane Green (care of)
n/a (not applicable, not available)
w/o (without)

34. USES OF SLASH(/)
•5. A slash is often used in dates to separate day,
month and year:
I. On credit card: Expires end 10/15 (October 2015)
II. He was born on 30/11/2007. (30th November 2007 )
III. It was invented on 11/30/2007. (November 30th,
2007 )

35. USES OF SLASH(/)
•6. The slash is used to separate parts of a website
address (URL) on the Internet, and to separate folders
on some computer systems:
•www.example.com/writing/slash.htm
•file:///Users/mac/tara/photos/image.jpg

36. SPACE BEFORE AND AFTER SLASH
• Spaces before slashes should be avoided.
• The only time it’s acceptable to use a space after a slash is
when breaking up lines of a poem, song, or play, or when
used to separate phrases or multi-word terms for ease of
reading.
• Word War I/ First World War

37. REFERENCES
• https://www.enago.com/academy/how-to-use-brackets-in-academic-writing-some-
common-rules/
• https://awelu.srv.lu.se/grammar-and-words/punctuation/brackets/
• https://www.englishclub.com/writing/punctuation-slash.htm

38. STUDENTS LEARNING OUTCOMES
The students are able to use hyphen, brackets and slash
appropriately in scientific writing.