Brackets allow you to insert your own words into quoted material. You can insert words in brackets to clarify a confusing reference or to keep a sentence grammatical in your context.

Neergaard and Agiesta argue that “a new poll finds people are split on how much the government should do to help [find solutions to the national health crisis]—and most draw the line at attempts to force healthier eating.”

In this example, the writer inserted words in brackets to clarify the meaning of help.

You also use brackets to indicate that you are changing a letter from capital to lowercase (or vice versa) to fit into your sentence. In the following sentence, the writer used brackets to indicate that a capital I in the source was changed to a lowercase i to fit the context of the surrounding sentence.

One argument contends that “[i]nterventions that do not pose a truly significant burden on individual liberty” are justified if they “go a long way towards safeguarding the health and well-being of the populace” (Gostin and Gostin 214).

To indicate an error such as a misspelling in a quotation, insert the word “sic” in brackets right after the error.

“While Americans of every race, gender and ethnicity are affected by this disease, diabetes disproportionately effects [sic] minority populations,” according to Anderson (55).

If you use [sic] to indicate an error in your quoted source, be very certain that it truly is an error and that you know the correct form.