"Quotation Marks" part 1
Quotation marks (or speech marks as they're also called) are used:
To show the exact words spoken or written.
For the names of things like ships, books, and plays.
To express the idea of alleged or so-called.
The three big questions with quotation marks are:
What punctuation should I use before my quotation marks?
(Answer: A comma, a colon, or nothing. It's your choice.)
Where should I put the punctuation that follows my quotation marks, i.e., inside or outside?
(Answer: It depends what punctuation mark you're talking about and whether you're following US or UK conventions.)
Should I use double or single quotation marks?
(Answer: There's a lot of leniency on this, but it's common to start with doubles and then use singles only when you need to use quotation marks within those doubles.)