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Brackets
1. Use brackets when inserting
a word of your own choosing into a quotation.
Incorrect:
The professor said that "Frankfurter evolved from liberal to conservative
while on the Supreme Court (and) Blackmun evolved from conservative to
liberal."
Correct: The professor
said that "Frankfurter evolved from liberal to conservative while on the
Supreme Court [and] Blackmun evolved from conservative to liberal."
2. Use brackets to indicate that
you have changed a part of a word in a quotation. This need generally arises
when changing an upper-case letter to a lower-case letter, or vice versa,
in order to incorporate a quotation into a sentence of your own.
Original Quotation:
"Excessive bail shall not be required,
nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
U.S. Const. amend. VIII.
Incorrect Incorporation:
The Eighth
Amendment provides that "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." U.S. Const.
amend. VIII.
Correct Incorporation:
The Eighth
Amendment provides that "[e]xcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." U.S. Const.
amend. VIII.
Cross Reference: Quotation
Incorporation