Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Step1
Put periods and commas inside the quotation mark. This is the most common mistake writers make. The exception to this is the Modern Language Association (MLA) format, which calls for the period to be outside the quotation.
Step2
Place semicolons and colons outside of the quotation mark. Unlike periods and commas, semicolons and colons need to be excluded from the quote.
Step3
Include exclamation points and question marks inside the quotation mark if they are part of the text you are quoting. For example, read this sentence: Sally picked up the phone and asked, "What are you doing today?" The question mark goes inside the quotation because Sally is being quoted as asking the question. Now, read this sentence: Have you heard the saying, "Don't cry over spilt milk"? In this example, the question mark goes outside the quote because the quote is not a question.
Step4
Include quotation marks if you are writing exactly what someone said. A direct quote always has quotations. For example, if you are writing that Billy said Texas is large, you would write: "Texas is large," Billy said. Or, Billy said, "Texas is large." Regardless of how you quote Billy, the period is always inside the quotation mark.
Step5
Utilize single quotation marks when you write a quotation inside another quotation. Here is an example sentence: "I always ask Rebecca, 'What are you having for lunch today?' and she lists the foods," said Anne. In this example, double quotation marks are being used for the entire quote, while single marks are used for the inside quotation.
Step6
Use quotation marks with short published works, such as poems, songs and short stories and parts of larger published works, such as newspaper articles, magazine excerpts, book chapters or specific episodes from TV and radio.
