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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

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