period

(noun)

The punctuation mark that indicates the end of a sentence.

Related Terms

  • question mark
  • exclamation mark
  • indirect questions
  • interrogative

Examples of period in the following topics:

  • Ending Punctuation

    • Most commonly, these are periods, question marks, and exclamation points.
    • Periods are used at the end of declarative or imperative sentences.
    • Periods can also be used at the end of an indirect question.
    • Periods are also used in abbreviations.
    • Remember that if an abbreviation that uses a period comes at the end of a sentence you do not add a period—the period with the abbreviation serves as the ending punctuation as well.
  • MLA: The Works Cited Section

    • You should present the author information in the following order and format: the author's last name (capitalized), a comma, the author's first name, a middle initial if given, and then a period:
    • Next, you provide the year of the source's publication, followed by a period.
    • Finally, you provide the medium of publication (e.g., print, online, etc.), followed by a period.
    • List the page numbers of the article, followed by a period [note that the dash between the first and second numbers is an en-dash (–), not a hyphen (-) or em-dash (—)]:
    • Then, replace the author's name (or list of names) with three hyphens, followed by a period, for all but the first entry by that author:
  • APA: The References Section

    • You should present the author information in the following order and format: the author's last name (capitalized), a comma, the author's first initial, then a period, and finally their middle initial and period (if given):
    • After the author's name, you provide the year, inside parentheses, in which the source was published, followed by a period.
    • It may look odd, but make sure your period is outside the parentheses.
    • Finally, list the page numbers of the article, followed by a period [note that the dash between the first and second numbers is an en-dash (–), not a hyphen (-) or em-dash (—)]:
  • Conducting Research

    • If you're continuing your paper on 19th century scientific theories of life and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein, you will likely want to use books, essays, and possibly periodicals.
    • If you are starting a new paper whose topic is manufacturing changes in the United States from the 1960s to 1980s, you will likely want to use books, essays, periodicals, government sources, and possibly photographic essays.
  • Abbreviations and Acronyms

    • Abbreviations usually end with a period, particularly if they were formed by dropping the end of a word (the major exception being the use of acronyms).
    • When a sentence ends with an abbreviation, use only one period for both the abbreviation and the sentence.
    • In this example, it comes at the end of the sentence but there is only one period.)
    • This differs from abbreviations, which are normally written with periods in order to note the deleted parts of words.
  • Overall Structure and Formatting of an MLA Paper

    • However, they recommend that you title each heading with an Arabic numeral, followed by a period and a space, followed by the section title in title case.
    • Subsections should follow the same pattern, with additional numerals after the period (e.g., 1.2, 3.9).
    • It used to be convention to type two spaces after every period—for example:
    • MLA style in particular includes an explicit rule to use only single spaces after periods:
  • APA: Series and Lists

    • If this is the case, each element should end with a period, rather than a comma or semicolon, and should begin with a capital letter.
    • These numbers should be followed by periods, and the text of each element should be indented a further 0.5 inches from the beginning number.
  • Overall Structure and Formatting of a Chicago/Turabian Paper

    • It used to be convention to type two spaces after every period—for example:
    • Chicago style in particular includes an explicit rule to use only single spaces after periods:
  • MLA: Tables and Figures

    • ., formatted the same as a citation in your Works Cited section, except using commas instead of periods).
    • This source section should end with a period, and it should be formatted with a hanging indent (i.e., the first line should be flush with the left margin, and every subsequent line should be indented 0.5 inches).
  • Scholarly Sources

    • Primary sources are documents that were written or created during the time period under study.
    • They include letters, newspaper articles, photographs, and other artifacts that come directly from a particular time period.
    • In a history paper, it may be a historical document such as a letter, a journal, a map, the transcription of a news broadcast, or the original results of a study conducted during the time period under review.
    • Primary sources are valuable because they provide the researcher with the information closest to the time period or topic at hand.
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