Rules for Writers Chapter 37

Rules for Writers
Chapter 37: Quotation marks.

Quotation marks are another area where grammar checkers are not always helpful. Quotation marks are needed to enclose a direct quote. A writer can also set off a long quotation, for example poetry by indenting. Quotation marks are used around titles of short works, newspaper and magazine articles, poems, short stories, and songs, episodes of television and radio programs and chapters or subdivisions of books.
When using quotation marks periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks as are colons, semicolons, questions marks and exclamation points.
After a formal quote is introduced a colon is appropriate. If a quotation is introduced by he said or she said or if it is at the beginning of a sentence a comma is needed.
Common misuses of quotation marks to be avoided include using them to draw attention to slang, indirect quotations or the title of your own essay.
Grammar and punctuation can turn a reader off when used incorrectly; your point can be lost entirely this way. These are things I still struggle with my writing.