See C3 in the Quick Editing Guide for more on editing quotation marks.
For more on quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, see Ch. 12, D3–D5 in the Quick Research Guide, or Chs. 31 and 34 in A Writer’s Research Manual.
Quotation marks always come in pairs: one at the start and one at the finish of a quoted passage. In the United States, the double quotation mark (“) is preferred over the single one (‘) for most uses. Use quotation marks to set off quoted or highlighted words from the rest of your text.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” wrote Martin Luther King Jr.
| 25a | Use quotation marks around direct quotations from another writer or speaker |
For capitalization with quotation marks, see 29j.
Enclose someone’s exact words in quotation marks.
Anwar al-Sadat reflected the Arab concept of community when he said, “A man’s village is his peace of mind.”
For punctuation of direct and indirect quotations, see 21r.
Use an indirect quotation to credit and report someone else’s idea accurately. Do not use his or her exact words or quotation marks.
Anwar al-Sadat asserted that a community provides a sense of well-being.
| 25b | Use single quotation marks around a quotation inside another quotation |
Sometimes you may quote a source that quotes someone else or puts words in quotation marks. When that happens, use single quotation marks around the internal quotation (even if your source used double ones); put double quotation marks around the larger passage you are quoting.
“My favorite advice from Socrates, ‘Know thyself and fear all women,’” said Dr. Blatz, “has been getting me into trouble lately.”
When you quote directly, use the exact words of the original writer or speaker; set them off with double quotation marks. When you change a direct quotation into an indirect quotation (someone else’s idea reported without using his or her exact words), be sure to reword the quotation. Do not repeat the original wording from a source.
| DIRECT QUOTATION | Pascal said, “The assignment is on Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian writer.” |
| INDIRECT QUOTATION | Pascal said that the assignment was on Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian writer. |
| DIRECT QUOTATION | Jean asked, “How far is it to Boston?” |
| INDIRECT QUOTATION | Jean asked how far it was to Boston. |
NOTE: Use a period, not a question mark, with questions in indirect quotations.
| DIRECT QUOTATION | Antonio said, “I think you are mistaken.” |
| INDIRECT QUOTATION | Antonio said that he thought I was mistaken. |
| 25c | Instead of using quotation marks, indent longer quotations |
Suppose you are writing an essay about the value of a college education. You might include a paragraph like this:
In his 2004 commencement address at the College of William & Mary, comedian Jon Stewart advised students to look beyond academic definitions of success:
For more on the MLA and APA styles, see section E in the Quick Research Guide and Chs. 36–37.
College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don’t worry about your grade, or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency, which I imagine, after going through the program here, is quite strong...although I’m sure downloading illegal files...but, nah, that’s a different story.
Indenting the passage shows it is a direct quotation without adding quotation marks. In MLA style, indent quotations of five lines or more by one inch. In APA style, indent quotations of forty words or more by about one-half inch. In both, double-space the quoted lines, and cite the source.
Follow the same practice if you quote four or more lines of a poem.
Phillis Wheatley, the outstanding black poet of colonial America, often made emotional pleas in her poems:
Attend me, Virtue, thro’ my youthful years
O leave me not to the false joys of time!
But guide my steps to endless life and bliss.
Greatness, or Goodness, say what I shall call thee,
To give me an higher appellation still,
Teach me a better strain, a nobler lay,
Oh thou, enthron’d with Cherubs in the realms of day (15-21).
For advice on capitalization and quotations, see 29j.
Notice that not only the source’s words but her punctuation, capitalization, and line breaks are quoted exactly.
| 25d | In dialogue, use quotation marks around a speaker’s words, and mark each change of speaker with a new paragraph |
Randolph gazed at Ellen and sighed. “What extraordinary beauty.”
“They are lovely,” she replied, staring at the roses, “aren’t they?”
| 25e | Use quotation marks around the titles of a speech, an article in a newspaper or magazine, a short story, a poem shorter than book length, a chapter in a book, a song, and an episode of a television or radio program |
For advice on italicizing or underlining titles, see 31a and this chart.
The article “An Updike Retrospective” praises “Solitaire” as the best story in John Updike’s collection Museums and Women.
In Chapter 5, “Expatriates,” Schwartz discusses Eliot’s famous poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
| 25f | Avoid using quotation marks to show slang, wit, or irony |
| INADVISABLE | By the time I finished my “chores,” my “day off” was over. |
| REVISED | By the time I finished my chores, my day off was over. |
No quotation marks are needed after so-called or similar words.
| FAULTY | The meet included many so-called “champions.” |
| REVISED | The meet included many so-called champions. |
| 25g | Put commas and periods inside quotation marks |
For more on commas with quotations, see 21k.
A comma or a period is always placed before quotation marks, even if it is not part of the quotation.
We pleaded, “Keep off the grass,” in hope of preserving the lawn.
The sign warned pedestrians: “Keep off the grass.”
| 25h | Put semicolons and colons outside quotation marks |
We said, “Keep off the grass”; they still tromped onward.
| 25i | Put other punctuation inside or outside quotation marks depending on its function in the sentence |
Parentheses that are part of the quotation go inside the quotation marks. Parentheses that are your own, not part of the quotation, go outside.
We said, “Keep off the grass (unless it’s artificial turf).”
They tromped onward (although we had said, “Keep off the grass”).
If a question mark, exclamation point, or dash is part of the quotation, place it inside the quotation marks. Otherwise, place it after them.
Who hollered “Fire”? She hollered, “Fire!”
Don’t close a sentence with two end punctuation marks, one inside and one outside the quotation marks. If the quoted passage ends with a dash, exclamation point, question mark, or period, you need not add any further end punctuation. If the quoted passage falls within a question asked by you, however, the sentence should finish with a question mark, even if that means dropping other end punctuation (Who hollered “Fire”?).