Quotation Mark Rules in APA Academic Writing
Quotation marks in Malaysian postgraduate theses serve specific, limited functions — they are not a general-purpose emphasis tool. Knowing which uses are correct and which are not, and checking your thesis for incorrect quotation mark usage during proofreading, prevents a category of error that experienced academic readers notice immediately. In APA 7th edition, double quotation marks are used for three main purposes: direct quotations of fewer than forty words, the introduction of a new coined term or ironic term at its first use, and referencing titles of shorter works such as article and chapter titles when mentioned in the prose.
Incorrect Uses to Find and Remove
The most common incorrect quotation mark use in Malaysian theses is scare quotes — placing quotation marks around words to indicate that they are being used loosely, ironically, or questionably: “The ‘problem’ of student motivation”, “the ‘solution’ proposed by the ministry.” APA 7th discourages scare quotes in academic writing. If a word is being used loosely or ironically, revise the sentence to be more precise rather than indicating imprecision through quotation marks.
A related error is using quotation marks for emphasis: “the study found significant improvements.” This is not a recognised function of quotation marks in academic writing. Italics serve emphasis in APA when genuine emphasis is warranted, and in most cases rephrasing the sentence is preferable to adding emphasis punctuation.
Another error is using quotation marks to introduce a term that is simply technical rather than new or ironic. If a term is standard in your field, use it without quotation marks. Quotation marks at first use are reserved for terms you are deliberately coining or for terms used in an unusual or contested sense that you want to flag for the reader’s attention.
Checking Single vs Double Quotation Marks
APA 7th uses double quotation marks for all standard quotation and introduction purposes. Single quotation marks appear only within a double-quoted passage to indicate a quotation within a quotation: “The participant described her experience as ‘completely overwhelming’.” Outside of this embedded quotation use, single quotation marks do not appear in APA-formatted academic writing. Search your thesis for single quotation marks and evaluate each one: if it is not part of a quotation within a quotation, it should either be replaced with double quotation marks or removed entirely. Proofreading your thesis for incorrect quotation mark usage is a quick targeted pass that eliminates a visually distracting category of error.
