You might be inadvertently conveying ambiguity and confusion in your scholarly writing!
This sometimes happens when you use quotation marks without quoting anything. These are also known as scare quotes.
Scare quotes interrupt the reader’s flow. They obligate the reader to pause and consider what you (the writer) might mean by them.
This is because writers sometimes use scare quotes as a stand-in for further explanation. So, in addition to forcing the reader to pause in their reading, scare quotes sometimes become an unhelpful writing shortcut that takes the place of much-needed context or explanation.
Take, for example, the following sentences:
Before: The Inquisition prosecuted “heretics,” whose behavior challenged Catholicism.
After: The Inquisition prosecuted seeming heretics, whose behavior challenged Catholicism
Before: Cuba achieved “independence” from Spain in 1902.
After: While Cuba technically became independent from Spain in 1902, the new country remained occupied by the US military.
Before: Homosexuals were “deviants” who threatened accepted understandings of morality and citizenship.
After: Many physicians viewed homosexuals as “deviants” who threatened accepted understandings of morality and citizenship.
In #1, the writer puts scare quotes around “heretics” to indicate that just because the Inquisition prosecuted these individuals does not mean that they were guilty of crimes against Catholicism. In these cases, “seeming” or “so-called” can be added to the sentence to clarify the meaning.
In #2, the writer is using quotes to indicate that Cubans initially achieved a contingent independence, as the territory remained occupied by the United States, even after its independence from Spain. In this case, additional context (beyond a word or two) is necessary.
In #3, the writer mobilizes scare quotes to explain a historical viewpoint without seeming to adopt the language of the time. As an editor, I’m not opposed to the use of scare quotes around “deviant,” particularly if the term is used in the author’s sources. However, in the original sentence, accompanying the writer’s use of scare quotes is a lack of clarity about who held this view. My updated sentence reflects that it was physicians who held this viewpoint.
If your writing tends to include a lot of scare quotes, take some time to review your purpose for using them. They may reveal ambiguity that, once addressed, will improve your writing!