Created by Ashley Massie
April 2012

• Like parentheses, brackets are enclosures.
• Brackets have fewer and more specialized uses than parentheses.
• Brackets and parentheses are usually not interchangeable.

• Use brackets to avoid the confusion caused by one set of parentheses falling within another.
• Turn the inner pair of parentheses into brackets.
Example:
• Johnny went to the store with his list of items (bread, milk
[fat free], peanut butter, and jelly) but came home with only the bread.

• In quoted material, use square brackets to indicate that a letter has been changed from uppercase to lowercase, or vice versa.
• To avoid awkwardness, consider rewording the sentence so that no change in capitalization is needed.
Example:
This unusual animal was once believed to be a myth because
“[s]keptics insisted that the duckbilled platypus was simply a duck bill sewn onto a beaver’s body”
(35). (“Skeptics” changed to
“skeptics”)

• Use brackets to show any changes made to quotations in order to retain grammatical correctness.
• Use brackets in quotes to add a word, prefix, or suffix in order to fit the quote into your sentence.
• Use brackets to change the tense of a verb in a quote so that it will fit into your sentence.
Examples:
• I tried to make a dish mild enough for everyone, but my idea of
"add[ing] Cayenne pepper to taste" was not the same as my friend's idea. (“add” changed to “adding”)
• In Thomas Jefferson's time, there was definitely a notion that "A little rebellion now and then [was] a good thing.“ (“is” changed to “was”)

• Use brackets to insert necessary information, comments, corrections, opinions, clarifications, or explanations of your own into direct quotations.
• Brackets are used within quotations
Examples:
• “He [George Lucas] reminded me a little of Walt Disney’s version of a mad scientist.”
• “Dues are being raised $1.00 per week
[to $5.00],” the treasurer announced.
• “The miles of excellent trails are perfect for [cross-country] skiing.” to tell readers that the words enclosed are yours and not those of your source.
• Don’t overdo it! Readers will resent the explanation of obvious details.
• Do not use brackets when inserting additional information into your own writing. Use parentheses or dashes.

• Quotations must be copied accurately, word by word, from your source—errors and all. To show that you have copied a passage faithfully, place the word sic (the Latin word for
“thus” or “so”) in brackets one space after any mistake.
• APA and Turabian handbooks state that sic must be italicized within the brackets, while the
MLA handbook does not specify.
• If sic can be placed outside the quotation itself, it appears between parentheses, not brackets.
• Molly’s paper was titled “King Leer” (sic).
Examples:
• Mr. Vincent’s letter went on: “I would have preferred a younger bride, but I decided to marry the old window [sic] anyway.”
• The sign over the cash register read,
“We don’t except [sic] personal checks for payment.”

• The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers, 5 th Edition
• Hodges’ Harbrace Handbook, Thirteenth Edition
• Hodges’ Harbrace Handbook, Sixteenth Edition
• Writing: A College Handbook, 4 th Edition
• The Holt Handbook, Third Edition
• MLA Handbook, 7 th Edition
• APA Handbook, 6 th Edition