Chapter 49 in your New Century Handbook discusses one of the most simple rules of punctuation -- the apostrophe.  The English language is one of the few that uses an apostrophe to indicate the possessive form of a noun.  Most other languages utilize alternative words or suffixes to denote a possessive form.

One big misunderstanding about apostrophes occurs sometimes when teachers tell their students that they either "add an apostrophe and an S or add an S and an apostrophe."  This is incorrect because you will never add a letter before adding an apostrophe.  You will never add an "s" before an apostrophe.  Let's review the main rule for using apostrophes:

Use an apostrophe to indicate the possessive form of a common noun.  You only need to keep track of whether or not the noun is singular or plural.  If it is singular, then add an apostrophe and a letter "s" (unless the noun already ends in the letter "s," in which case you will merely add an apostrophe.  If the noun is plural, simply add an apostrophe (unless the noun is irregular, such as "children," in which case you also need to add the "s").

To highlight a few tidbits from our discussion, I provide a "Rule Test" for apostrophes.  Here it is:

RULE TEST: Draw a line to the left of the apostrophe in a word.  Whatever falls to the left of the apostrophe must be considered to be the original form of the word.  Notice on page 791 in the New Century Handbook.  One example listed at the top looks like this: my parents' friends.  Notice that the word "parents" occurs to the left of the apostrophe, meaning that it is supposed to be a plural noun.  Both parents claim ownership over their mutual friends.  If we wanted to discuss a single parent, then we would place the apostrophe after the word "parent" and add an "s" to give it the sound of a possessive word: my parent's friends.

Use this Rule Test during peer review.

Section 49.a.2 (page 791) addresses compound subjects and joint ownership.  If two people own the same thing, then you will only want to add an apostrophe (and perhaps an "s") after the second noun, such as in this example: Bill and Hillary's wedding.  They both own their wedding mutually.  If you had made both words into possessives, then you would imply that these two people are not married to each other.  Be careful.

Page 792 addresses the use of apostrophes in contractions.  Apostrophes can be used to create contractions, but formal writing mandates that you avoid using slang, sloppy, or shortcut forms (such as contractions).  Therefore, the only apostrophes that I should see in your research essays are possessive forms of nouns.  Write "did not" rather than "didn't."

One of the most misused apostrophes occurs when you use personal possessive pronouns, such as his, hers, theirs, and its.  Notice that these words are already possessive, and they cannot be used as common nouns.  There is only one way that these words can be used, so they do not need redundant apostrophes.  When using a gender neutral pronoun such as its, I should never see an apostrophe attached to this word.  Consider the following three options:

it's -- this can only mean the contraction "it is."  However, since you are supposed to avoid using informal language, I should never see "it's" in your essays from now on.

its' -- this is the most embarrassing mistake that you can make.  This is not even an option in the English language.  No word like this exists.  Since "its" is already a possessive word, it does not need an apostrophe.  Using the Rule Test, we see that the original form of the word would be "its," which is already possessive.  Do not ever use its'.

its -- this is the only form of this word that I should see you use.  This makes your job easier as an editor: anytime that you use its, it cannot contain an apostrophe at all in formal academic language.

Regarding quotation marks, remember that the most popular way to use them is to place quotes around verbatim passages that you find in research articles.  Do not place quotation marks around paraphrases.  See pages 795 and 796 for examples.

You may also use quotations to indicate a shift in tone or to indicate that a word should be used in a suspicious or alternate way.  For example, if your worst enemy walks by, you might sarcastically say, "There goes my 'friend' in the blue car."  Placing quotation marks around the word "friend" tells the reader that you are either using a slang word or that you are intending the word to be used in its opposite meaning.  Notice also that when you use a quote within a quote, the interior quote takes a single quotation mark, not a double.

One time, my wife and I were cooking something when we ran out of sour cream.  I went to the store expecting a quick visit, since I had to buy only one thing.  When I got to the sour cream section, I was confronted by a dozen different types of sour cream.  As I examined the packages to make the best choice, I came across one tub of sour cream that read like this:

"Real" Sour Cream

Hmmm.   By placing the quotation marks, I was to assume that the word "Real" was supposed to be used sarcastically, as if the sour cream really were not real at all.  It certainly couldn't be an exact quote.  So, was the sour cream real or not?  Had the company simply made the word "Real" in a larger font or a different color, they would have accomplished their goal.  Instead, they created confusion because the designer of the package did not know how to use a quotation mark.  I then purchased this tub of sour cream in the "10 items or less aisle."  Not a day to be an English major!

Page 796 shows you how to use block quotes.  However, I will discourage you from using block quotes this semester.  They are not very appropriate for 2-3-page essays.  Use block quotes only in papers that are very long (7+ pages).  Many teachers have seen students use lengthy block quotes instead of writing more original ideas, using the block quote to fill the space.  I will be much more impressed with the student who can either paraphrase the lengthy quote, or with students who can select specific portions of the block quote.  You never want some other voice to dominate yours in a research essay.

Lastly, please examine how other punctuation marks are placed around quotation marks.  Here are the rules of thumb: periods and commas are placed inside the end quotation marks; colons and semicolons are placed outside.  In Great Britain, all punctuation is placed outside the quotes, so you may have seen it done that way if you read European texts.

I also reviewed internal documentation today (this is also called in-text citations, parenthetical documentation, etc.).  Please review the sections on this in your coursepack, New Century Handbook, the MLA Handbook, the Critical Thinking text, or my selected website links.  I reminded everyone that I need to see a source cited in two places: in your paragraphs and on the Works Cited Page.
See these pages for more information:

Coursepack: pages 215-217
New Century Handbook: pages 281-287
MLA Handbook: pages 203-208

When documenting sources inside your essay, you must remember to give credit to your sources directly and immediately.  The easiest way to do this is to use a parenthetical citation that includes the author's last name and the page number on which the referenced information may be found.  Note: websites do not use page numbers, since you can set your browser to any size you want.  When citing Internet links, simply use the author's last name without any page numbers.  I have modeled these for you in the coursepack, and your texts provide plentiful examples as well.

In the event that you do not have an author's name, then you must use another component, which is usually the interior title of the article, placed in quotes.  Remember that whatever you place in the parentheses (the in-text citation) must have a counterpart on the Works Cited Page.  When I grade these essays, I will read until I come across a citation.  I will then stop and turn to your Works Cited Page.  I should see your author's name (or the title) as one of the first words down the left margin of the Works Cited Page.  If I do not, then this will be an inconsistency that begins to lean in the plagiarism direction.  Remember to give credit to any published source, even if you paraphrase.  I should see a citation directly after each quote AND each apraphrase.  Of course, if you list the author or title as the subject of your sentence, then you do not need to create a redundant parenthetical citation.