I've really been struggling with this lately; I understand the rulz guidelines, but often the results just look wrong to me. I sure would appreciate it if someone could 'splain these so they make some logical sense.

Quote:
Put commas and periods within closing quotation marks, except when a parenthetical reference follows the quotation:

He said, "I may forget your name, but I never remember a face."

History is stained with blood spilled in the name of "civilization."

Mullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, "Donahue's policy was to do nothing" (27).

Put colons and semicolons outside closing quotation marks:

Williams described the experiment as "a definitive step forward"; other scientists disagreed.

Benedetto emphasizes three elements of what she calls her "Olympic journey": family support, personal commitment, and great coaching.


so, slightly recasting one of these moves the punctuation:
Williams described the experiment as "a definitive step forward," while other scientists disagreed.

and, this looks better to me:
History is stained with blood spilled in the name of "civilization".