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Quotation Marks

APS style recommends double quotation marks. When proofing, watch for "inverted" quotation marks (closing quotes at the beginnign of a quoted phrase, open quotes at the end) as a printer error that occurs with some frequency.

Quotation marks should be placed outside a comma or period, inside a semicolon or colon.

Use quotation marks in the following cases: direct quotations of up to 4 typewritten lines (for longer quotations, use the block quotation style), coined words, slang, or common words used in a technical sense.

Azerad and Woda (2) reported that sensation was at most a "painful prick" and was well tolerated by all subjects.

Use single quotation marks within an expression enclosed in double quotation marks (quote within a quote).

Block quotations are used for quotes longer than 4 typewritten lines or at the beginning of an article (very infrequent, found in special articles, lectures, or Historical Perspectives).

In text: use smaller font (9/10), roman, flush right, with 1-em indent on the left margin. Leave 6-pt space above and below the quotation.
At the beginning of the article: set the block quote in italics, 9/10 font size, with a 1-em indent on both left and right. The cited author's name and/or the title (or Ref. number) are set in roman, flush right, below the quote. Leave 18-pt space above and below. See AJP Centennial issues for examples.

Using the Toolkit

When copyediting a block quotation, use the Ťquoteť and Ť/quoteť codes at the beginning and end of the quoted text.

Ťquoteť
Example forthcoming...
Ť/quoteť

If the text after the quoted section does not begin a new paragraph, remember to use the Ťfť code so that the text begins flush left.

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last edited 07/28/03