Where do I place the end quotation marks in relation to other punctuation in the sentence, before or after period?
MLA rules for this are logical but may seem uncomfortable. The best instruction I got in this was in a teaching workshop where a professor had developed tutorials in punctuation across the diciplines. Rules are different for each discipline. In Journalism and other fields, you will see a final period outside the closing quotation marks. Don’t do this for MLA papers. The MLA rule is that periods and commas ALWAYS go inside the closing quotation marks. Semi-colon and colon always go outside. The question mark and exclamation mark go where appropriate to fit the sense of the original (if the question is part of the quotation, it goes inside). Students usually follow the question mark rule (following whether it is there in the original) for period and comma, and you should not. Other reminders: When there is a parenthetical clause after a quotation, suspend any punctuation that ends the quotation EVEN IF you have to delete it from the original phrasing. Put it after the closing parenthetic
