Is it correct to use elipses in a formal essay? [closed]

Solution 1:

Ellipses have only one place in most formal writing: inside a direct quote. Then they have two uses: to reporting halting speech, and if you omit some words. But in the latter case they should be used only in non-controversial cases, as they can easily be used to subvert the original author/speaker's meaning (for example "these are... the droids you are looking for"). I suggest this means that they should be used sparingly, but use dwell they can aid clarity by omitting irrelevant material.

If the original contains a list of members of a class, and you want to cite that source to say that certain entities are members of that class, you may not want the entire list, but may need the first and last items. A toy example: "according to Smith the letters of the alphabet are 'a, b,... y, z'". This is similar to the mathematical use in a sequence, but of course in general lists aren't ordered, and not everything that can be elided is a list.

In your specific example, a comma would serve the meaning just as well. A harsh marker (if this is assessed work) or reader could interpret ellipses in the middle of a train of argument as "I can't be bothered with this step". Even when it's a trivial step you don't want to give that impression

Solution 2:

In a formal essay, you should not use ellipses. Ellipses are a form that is mostly used in fiction, as it implies a dramatic pause, would could both upset the serious tone of the essay and imply feelings towards the reader, which a formal essay is not intended to do. If you feel as if the ellipse is intended to provoke a feeling from the reader you should not add it. An essay should have the reader gather facts and have their own feeling of their interpretation of said facts. There are exceptions, such as using ellipses to partially quote a source. This is to say that I do not recommend you using ellipses when creating parts that are not direct sources and could be used to attempt to provoke emotion from the reader.

Solution 3:

Generally I would have said no, but I’ve noticed that the extensive use of ellipses was a distinctive feature of middlebrow historian Bruce Catton’s work. See, for example, page 26 of this best-seller of the 1950s, where he begins a paragraph(!) with them. So maybe I would say, use them, if you have a distinctive narrative style.