When should one use a section sign (§)?

When I asked this on English.SE, the question was closed; it was suggested that I ask on Writers.SE instead. To be clear, I mean the section sign § (utf-8: 0xC2 0xA7), which is available via \S in LaTeX, § in HTML, and Compose+s+o in the X Window System.

In the main text of a scientific article, I write out the word "section", e.g., "In Section 3, I review the details of". For references, I like to specify a section to make the reference more specific and use the section sign, e.g., "as in Smith & Bloggs (1994, §8.2.5)".

Is this usage wrong or otherwise discouraged? I prefer using the symbol for brevity; a reference like "Smith & Bloggs (1994, Section 30.1.5)" seems awkward to me. However, one of my co-authors, who is usually right about grammar and style, disagrees.

If using the symbol in this way is wrong, then when should one use the section sign, if ever?

I could probably sidestep the issue by referring instead to pages. Is this preferred under standard citation practices?

posted over 13 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

Warrick‭

1 reputation 1 0 0 0