This section describes the conventions American publishers use in placing various marks of punctuation inside or outside quotation marks. It also explains how to punctuate when introducing quoted material. (The examples in this section show MLA style.)
Periods and commas
Place periods and commas inside quotation marks.
“I’m here as part of my service-learning project,” I told the classroom teacher. “I’m hoping to become a reading specialist.”
This rule applies to single quotation marks as well as double quotation marks. It also applies to all uses of quotation marks: for quoted material, for titles of works, and for words used as words.
exception: In the MLA and APA styles of parenthetical in-text citations, the period follows the citation in parentheses.
James M. McPherson comments, approvingly, that the Whigs “were not averse to extending the blessings of American liberty, even to Mexicans and Indians” (48).
Colons and semicolons
Put colons and semicolons outside quotation marks.
Harold wrote, “I regret that I am unable to attend the fundraiser for diabetes research”; his letter, however, came with a substantial contribution.
Question marks and exclamation points
Put question marks and exclamation points inside quotation marks unless they apply to the whole sentence.
Dr. Abram’s first question on the first day of class was “What three goals do you have for the course?”
Have you heard the old proverb “Do not climb the hill until you reach it”?
In the first sentence, the question mark applies only to the quoted question. In the second sentence, the question mark applies to the whole sentence.
note: In MLA and APA styles for a quotation that ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, the parenthetical citation and a period should follow the entire quotation.
Rosie Thomas asks, “Is nothing in life ever straight and clear, the way children see it?” (77).
Introducing quoted material
After a word group introducing a quotation, choose a colon, a comma, or no punctuation at all, whichever is appropriate in context.
formal introduction If a quotation is formally introduced, a colon is appropriate. A formal introduction is a full independent clause, not just an expression such as he writes or she remarked.
Thomas Friedman provides a challenging yet optimistic view of the future: “We need to get back to work on our country and on our planet. The hour is late, the stakes couldn’t be higher, the project couldn’t be harder, the payoff couldn’t be greater” (25).
expression such as he writes If a quotation is introduced with an expression such as he writes or she remarked—or if it is followed by such an expression—a comma is needed.
“With regard to air travel,” Stephen Ambrose notes, “Jefferson was a full century ahead of the curve” (53).
“Unless another war is prevented it is likely to bring destruction on a scale never before held possible and even now hardly conceived,” Albert Einstein wrote in the aftermath of the atomic bomb (29).
blended quotation When a quotation is blended into the writer’s own sentence, either a comma or no punctuation is appropriate, depending on the way in which the quotation fits into the sentence structure.
The future champion could, as he put it, “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”
Virginia Woolf wrote in 1928 that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction” (4).
beginning of sentence If a quotation appears at the beginning of a sentence, use a comma after it unless the quotation ends with a question mark or an exclamation point.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a reporter,” American poet Gwendolyn Brooks has stated (162).
“What is it?” she asked, bracing herself.
interrupted quotation If a quoted sentence is interrupted by explanatory words, use commas to set off the explanatory words. If two successive quoted sentences from the same source are interrupted by explanatory words, use a comma before the explanatory words and a period after them.
“Everyone agrees journalists must tell the truth,” Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel write. “Yet people are befuddled about what ‘the truth’ means” (37).