COMPUTER SYSTEMS RESEARCH
Elements of Technical Writing
2005-2006

  • Useful rules of punctuation: (from Elements of Technical Writing by Blake and Bly)
    1. Rule 1: Hyphenate two words compounded to form an adjective modifier
    2. Rule 2: Hyphenate two adjacent nouns if they are both necessary to express a single idea
    3. Rule 3: In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each except the last
    4. Rule 4: Omit the period at the end of a parenthetical expression within a sentence; retain it if the entire parenthetical expression stands alone as a sentence.