report with apostrophe not getting inserted in database

hi,
i'm facing a problem in inserting a small report in the database. The error occurs whenever the record encounters an apostrophe in the contents otherwise it gets inserted properly.
How do i handle it.I 've read it is possible to replace the apostrophe with escape characters so that they are inserted properly in the database.
could anybody tell me how to convert each occurence of an apostrophe to escape characters in a report.kindly give me the codes if possible.
I'm working in java servlets.thanx .its very urgent.