Writing Center Tutorial - Grammar

Using Quotation Marks

1. Use quotation marks to enclose direct quotations and to set off titles (of short published works, essays, poems, articles, songs, etc.). Quotation marks may also be used to call attention to individual words or phrases.
2. Periods go inside the closing set of quotation marks unless a source is cited.
3. Commas are used inside the closing set of quotation marks to punctuate your sentence. Semicolons and colons go outside the closing set of quotation marks.
4. Question marks and exclamation points can go either inside or outside the quotation marks. Place them inside the marks if they belong to the quote. Place them outside the marks if they do not belong to the quote.
5. If the quote you are using is longer than four written or typewritten lines, use a block quote form (in which the quoted material is indented and single spaced, and quotation marks are omitted).
6. Try to avoid introducing every quote with the author says. Instead, try to work the quote into your own sentence.

Examples

1. In his essay "Television Kils", Joe Schmoe writes, "Television is the source of all evil" (Schmoe: 32).
2. Have you read "Television Kills"?
3. "Have you read it?" she asked.
4. She yelled, "Shut up!"
5. John demonstrates his "honesty" by never telling the truth.
6. Many people confuse the words "affect" and "effect".