There are so many different ways that one can choose to write the date in everyday life that knowing which one to use in the context of academic writing can be difficult. Although your meaning will probably be understood however you choose to write the date, there is one uniform way that it should be written in academic papers.
Some like to write out the date in full, with ‘th’, ‘rd’ or ‘st’ after the date in superscript, like this:
Thursday, 23rd October
Some like to write out the date with dots and only the final two figures of the year:
23.10.14
Other like to separate the day, month and year with dashes, including all four numbers in the year:
23/10/2014
Although all of these options are perfectly acceptable in correspondence like emails, and are easily understood by the reader, none of them are correct in an academic context.
The correct way to write the date is in the order: day, month, year. There should be no superscript ‘th’, ‘st’ or ‘rd’ following the date number, and no commas separating any of the elements of the date. Although the rules concerning numbers in academic writing stipulate that numbers below one hundred should be written out as full words, this should be ignored when writing the date, which is always written in number form.
The correct way to write the date: Thursday 23 October 2014.
Including the day of the week is usually unnecessary, and it should be omitted unless you think that including it adds to your meaning. For example, you might leave in the day of the week if you are discussing ‘Friday 13 July’, as this specific day and date has connotations of being unlucky (or lucky for some!).
Be aware that the date order is shifted in American English, where it is written month, day, year. The fact that the day and month are swapped around can lead to confusion, especially if written in number form, so do be aware of this!
If you would like some more advice about academic writing, or would like to have a 500 word sample of your own paper proofread for free, get in touch with the professionals at Proofread My Document today!
Some like to write out the date in full, with ‘th’, ‘rd’ or ‘st’ after the date in superscript, like this:
Thursday, 23rd October
Some like to write out the date with dots and only the final two figures of the year:
23.10.14
Other like to separate the day, month and year with dashes, including all four numbers in the year:
23/10/2014
Although all of these options are perfectly acceptable in correspondence like emails, and are easily understood by the reader, none of them are correct in an academic context.
The correct way to write the date is in the order: day, month, year. There should be no superscript ‘th’, ‘st’ or ‘rd’ following the date number, and no commas separating any of the elements of the date. Although the rules concerning numbers in academic writing stipulate that numbers below one hundred should be written out as full words, this should be ignored when writing the date, which is always written in number form.
The correct way to write the date: Thursday 23 October 2014.
Including the day of the week is usually unnecessary, and it should be omitted unless you think that including it adds to your meaning. For example, you might leave in the day of the week if you are discussing ‘Friday 13 July’, as this specific day and date has connotations of being unlucky (or lucky for some!).
Be aware that the date order is shifted in American English, where it is written month, day, year. The fact that the day and month are swapped around can lead to confusion, especially if written in number form, so do be aware of this!
If you would like some more advice about academic writing, or would like to have a 500 word sample of your own paper proofread for free, get in touch with the professionals at Proofread My Document today!