It is an expression used to replace a detail that has been mentioned previously, to avoid falling into redundancy. It has a Latin origin and its meaning is reduced to "himself" or "the same". Specifically, it is a pronoun and it is common to observe it in essays, thesis or monographs, that is, all academic writings, because it is a cultism; the accepted abbreviation for the term is "id. " Bibliographic references, for example, are also from the contexts in which the "idem" can be found, especially to mention sources that had already been on a previous occasion.
When this happens in a text as such, the footer is used, in which the referenced citation is mentioned once more. If so, the ditto can be at the beginning or it can be placed in an individual phrase. However, this may vary, as it can also be included within the text, on texts that include topics that must be mentioned a considerable number of times.
If a work has the same author or a response is repeated on a spreadsheet, likewise, the ditto is placed to avoid, like the other cases, having it as an element that causes redundancy. It should be noted that the ditto can only be used when what is going to be expressed is exactly the same as what was previously said. Likewise, the signs of the ditto are the two quotation marks (“), their use being more common than that of the word itself.
