Punctuation. Need help?

Question

For example, if I am saying:

The term ethnocentrism is commonly defined as...

what punctuation marks would I use around ethnocentrism. Would it be 'ethnocentrism' or "ethnocentrism"?

Thanks.

P.S. I don't know if it's different for different countries, but I am from Australia, if that changes anything.

Answer 1

Single quotation marks are usually used for emphasizing a word "within" a quote.  For example:

Tom said, "Could you explain the meaning of the word 'ethnocentrism' to me, please?".  

In the above example, single quotation marks are being used to emphasize the word  "ethnocentrism" because the word is in the middle of a quote from "Tom".  Whereas in the sentence I just wrote, double quotation marks are used because the words being emphasized are not within a quote.

Answer 2

G'day. I wouldn't put any quotation marks around the word at all. But you you really wanted to I'd use 'ethnocentrism' as the "..." are for when you are writing what someone is saying.