Should punctuation marks be placed inside or outside of quotation marks?
Answer
The placement of punctuation marks relative to quotation marks depends on the type of punctuation and whether a parenthetical citation will follow.
Generally, speaking:
- Periods and commas almost always go inside the closing quotation marks.
- Example: She said, "We will meet at noon."
- Question marks and exclamation points go inside the quotation marks if they are part of the quoted material, but outside if they apply to the whole sentence.
- Example (inside): He asked, "Are you coming?
- Example (outside): Did she really say, "We will meet at noon"?
- If a parenthetical citation will directly follow your quotation, the punctuation would follow the closing parenthesis.
- Example: Mullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, "Donahue's policy was to do nothing" (24).
- Retrieved from owl.purdue.edu (see link below for more information)
- Example: Mullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, "Donahue's policy was to do nothing" (24).