An article on self-sufficiency, can begin as follows: “The best definition of man is: a being that goes on two legs and is ungrateful” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, 1864). Start of the paper: These quotes help set up the central issue of a paper with a historical or political quote.E.g., Sample questions to rate their motivation when using a learning method include “What I feel and think about myself as a learner.” (Harlen and Crick, 2003). Quote an item from a questionnaire or measure: Use quotation marks to give examples of individual items describing a particular instrument or questions in a survey.The SACE Board (2010) states that “mathematics is a universal language that is communicated through all cultures.” 2 E.g., Scholars have used mathematics as a communication method (Cockcroft, 1982). This is especially true if the language of the original passage is elegant, powerful, or memorable. Give historical context to a theory or construct: Quote an original article to convey a unique perspective.When to use quotations in academic writing How many users attending the conference reported their satisfaction as “high”?.John asks, “How far will this road go?”.Terminal mark not part of quoted matter is a colon or semicolonįig 1: Relative positions of punctuation and closing quotation marks in US and UK English.īut, in both styles, a question mark always appears inside the quotes when the person quoted is asking the question and outside if you are asking the question. In both British and American English, question marks and exclamation points that are part of the quote go inside the quotation marks.Īmerican English: “The spaceship appeared over the ancient city.”īritish English: ‘The spaceship appeared over the ancient city’. British English places commas and periods outside the quotation marks unless it is part of the quote. An exception is when using colons and semicolons, which are placed outside the quotes. In American English, the punctuation marks are always placed inside the quotation mark. An exception to this is when using quotes in news headlines and when quoting within a quote, like the example below:Īmerican English: “Ann said to John, ‘I will finish the project on time!’”īritish English: ‘Ann said to John, “I will finish the project on time!”’Īnother difference between American and British English is where punctuation marks go when used with quotation marks. For example, Australia and the UK use single quotation marks (‘ ’), while North America uses the double quotation mark (“ ”). So to avoid mistakes when using quotation marks, first decide on the language style to follow. This may also differ based on the journal you are submitting to. 1 This also holds true when you include information from external sources by using quotations in academic writing.īoth American and British English use single and double quotation marks, but their usage varies across places. British EnglishĮnglish is regarded as a global language, but its use varies between American and British English, the two styles used in academic writing. Also, what if there is a quotation mark inside a quotation mark? This article will answer your concerns about using quotation marks in your academic writing.
should be inside or outside the quotation mark. For instance, most authors can’t decide whether the punctuation marks at the end of the sentence, commas, full stop, question marks, etc. Why? Because the grammar rules may differ depending on the journal’s preferred style. One of the easiest punctuation marks that you can get wrong is quotation marks, also called inverted commas, quotes, or speech marks. But knowing the English grammar rules and using these correctly can be confusing, especially for researchers with English as a second language. The proper use of punctuation can help to strengthen arguments made in your research paper.