semicolon overuse

[IamAporcupine]

I am reviewing a student's dissertation.
He writes well, but he LOVES semicolons. I do not hate them myself, but he is clearly using them instead of full stops. He ends up with veeeeery long sentences.

Does anyone have a good link re. its correct use?

If he's using them to separate sentences which are linked in some way then that is fine. Maybe he used to comna splice as a kid and was corrected with semi-colons every time. However, it sounds like you having an issue with their overuse? So it's a style issue. Tell him to be more conscious of their use; they need to indicate relation between the sentences and can't be thrown in to look good.

I am the semi colon; I link equal sentences.

Backtoblack1

Glittermud definitely a style issue. It is science so most sentences are related and could be, in theory, linked.