Page 1058 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

How to Signal Quotations

1 Identify direct and indirect quotations

appropriately in your writing.

When you write, you may want to open an introduction with a

quotation from a famous writer. You may want to include a part of a

conversation in the body of your essay. That’s where quotation

marks come in. They signal that you are using someone else’s words.

Direct Quotations

A direct quotation is the exact words that someone speaks, writes, or

thinks. As you look at the following examples, notice that when a
comma or period comes at the end of a quotation, it is always placed

inside the quotation mark. When a direct question is quoted, the

question mark also goes inside the quotation marks. Also notice that if

the quoted material is just a portion of a statement, it is not capitalized.

Examples of Quotation Marks with Direct