Q. If I am putting a quote in an essay, do I need to put and punctuation before the quote like a comma or colon?

First, go to the guides homepage. Next, click on the English selection under the guide Subject drop down menu on the left hand side. After that, select the "Writing for College" page. This will give you a great selection for many of your college writing needs. To get to the portion about grammar, select the "Grammar" page up at the top. This will give you many great links discussing grammar. For what you need, however, scroll down to near the bottom to where it says "Web Sites" and select the link "guide to Grammar and Writing." This leads you to a great source of different grammar guidance. Using the first drop down menu titled "Word & sentence level," click on the "quotations" option. This gives you explicit information regarding how to use quotes and even gives a specific answer using a colon and quotations if you scroll down a little. Just make sure to note it discusses both the UK version of what is appropriate and the US version.