Word meaning "impractical, didactic, theoretical"

I am in search of a word which I'm not sure exists. What is a good way to describe something which:

— has little to no consequence

— is possibly important in theory

— would be considered good form to do correctly

Here's an example. Suppose you are writing an essay for a professor who really cares about formatting. You italicize a section of words and also italicize the period which follows, even though the period should not have been italicized. Obviously nobody can tell whether a period is italicized or not, but if your professor opened your essay in a word processor, they might note that you had italicized incorrectly.

Solution 1:

Your example suggests 'pedantry' (n.), which is practiced by 'pedants' (n.pl.), who are called 'pedantic' (adj.):

ped·ant·ry
1. The ostentatious display of academic knowledge, or undue attention paid to minor details or formal rules: His detailed research was dismissed as pedantry.
2. An instance of pedantic behavior: grew tired of his pedantries.

[pedantry. (n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011). Retrieved February 21 2016 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pedantry . Bold emphasis mine.]

Funny you should ask on this site, where practicing pedants produce prolix pedantries.

Solution 2:

You could say it's academic, which means that what you have done serves no practical benefit but has been done purely in the interest of being strictly accurate or correct.

Academic

• Having no important consequence or relevancy: The debate about who is to blame has become academic because the business has left town.

• Hypothetical or theoretical and not expected to produce an immediate or practical result; an academic discussion; an academic question

_TFD