Punctuation

I think that punctuation can make a large difference in the meaning of a text and the way it is interpretted. When completing a close reading of a piece of literature I always look at how the punctuation affects meaning. In classrooms, as teachers, generally we are just happy to have students punctuating at a level of basic correctness, but at the college level, or in any advanced form of writing, people need to pay attention to how they punctuate. Purposeful mistakes can be just as impactual as correct use of grammar. My own style of academic writing is vastly different than my style of personal or creative writing. In my creative pieces I like sentence fragments, dangling gerunds or participals, etc. when they improve the piece's rhythem and don't detract from its meaning, but in my academic writing this would be considered unacceptable. The key to purposeful punctuation is not only to use punctuation in a way that benefits the piece, but also to know when it is acceptable to experiment and when the rules should be followed strictly.