Use an exclamation point to show surprise or strong emotion.

In those few moments of geologic time will be the story of all that has happened since we became a nation. And what a story it will be!

—JAMES RETTIE, “But a Watch in the Night”

Look out!

Today, we live in a world of excess exclamations, such as Best Sale Ever!!!!! But college writers will do well to use exclamation points sparingly in academic work because they can distract your readers or suggest that you are exaggerating. In general, try to create emphasis through diction and sentence structure rather than with exclamation points.

Do not use a comma or a period after an exclamation point that ends a direct quotation.

—ELLEN ASHDOWN, “Living by the Dead”