diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index f174b65..677b2d5 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ configurations {
 dependencies {
     compile gradleApi()
     compile localGroovy()
-    scoverage 'org.scoverage:scalac-scoverage-plugin_2.11:1.0.1'
+    scoverage 'org.scoverage:scalac-scoverage-plugin_2.11:1.0.2'
 }
 
 task groovydocJar(type: Jar, dependsOn: groovydoc) {
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/org/scoverage/ScoverageExtension.groovy b/src/main/groovy/org/scoverage/ScoverageExtension.groovy
index 14cc301..7b0d14b 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/org/scoverage/ScoverageExtension.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/org/scoverage/ScoverageExtension.groovy
@@ -17,6 +17,18 @@ import org.gradle.api.tasks.testing.Test
  */
 class ScoverageExtension {
 
+    private static boolean isEscaped(String argument) {
+        return (argument.startsWith('"') && argument.endsWith('"')) || (argument.startsWith('\'') && argument.endsWith('\''))
+    }
+
+    static String escape(String argument) {
+        if (isEscaped(argument)) {
+            return argument
+        } else {
+            return "\"$argument\""
+        }
+    }
+
     /** a directory to write working files to */
     File dataDir
     /** a directory to write final output to */
@@ -83,24 +95,22 @@ class ScoverageExtension {
             FileCollection pluginDependencies = configuration.filter { it != pluginFile }
 
             t.tasks[ScoveragePlugin.COMPILE_NAME].configure {
-
-
-                List<String> plugin = ['-Xplugin:' + pluginFile.absolutePath]
-                List<String> parameters = scalaCompileOptions.additionalParameters
-                if (parameters != null) {
-                    plugin.addAll(parameters)
+                List<String> parameters = ['-Xplugin:' + pluginFile.absolutePath]
+                List<String> existingParameters = scalaCompileOptions.additionalParameters
+                if (existingParameters) {
+                    parameters.addAll(existingParameters)
                 }
-                plugin.add("-P:scoverage:dataDir:${extension.dataDir.absolutePath}".toString())
+                parameters.add("-P:scoverage:dataDir:${extension.dataDir.absolutePath}".toString())
                 if (extension.excludedPackages) {
-                    plugin.add("-P:scoverage:excludedPackages:${extension.excludedPackages.join(';')}".toString())
+                    parameters.add("-P:scoverage:excludedPackages:${extension.excludedPackages.join(';')}".toString())
                 }
                 if (extension.excludedFiles) {
-                    plugin.add("-P:scoverage:excludedFiles:${extension.excludedFiles.join(';')}".toString())
+                    parameters.add("-P:scoverage:excludedFiles:${extension.excludedFiles.join(';')}".toString())
                 }
                 if (extension.highlighting) {
-                    plugin.add('-Yrangepos')
+                    parameters.add('-Yrangepos')
                 }
-                scalaCompileOptions.additionalParameters = plugin
+                scalaCompileOptions.additionalParameters = parameters.collect { escape(it) }
                 // exclude the scala libraries that are added to enable scala version detection
                 classpath += pluginDependencies
             }
diff --git a/src/test/groovy/org/scoverage/ScoverageExtensionTest.groovy b/src/test/groovy/org/scoverage/ScoverageExtensionTest.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8572ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/groovy/org/scoverage/ScoverageExtensionTest.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+package org.scoverage
+
+import org.junit.Test
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat
+
+class ScoverageExtensionTest {
+
+    static def quote(String s) { '\'' + s + '\'' }
+
+    static def doubleQuote(String s) { '"' + s + '"' }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testStringEscaping() throws Exception {
+        def parameter = 'my param'
+        assertThat(ScoverageExtension.escape(parameter), equalTo(doubleQuote(parameter)))
+        assertThat(ScoverageExtension.escape(quote(parameter)), equalTo(quote(parameter)))
+        assertThat(ScoverageExtension.escape(doubleQuote(parameter)), equalTo(doubleQuote(parameter)))
+    }
+}