In QuarkXPress 7, the easiest way to access special characters in any font is via the Glyphs palette (Window menu). Select a font, locate the character you want, and double-click it to insert it at the text insertion point. You can also enter some system-wide and QuarkXPress-specific special characters—including em dashes, non-breaking spaces, and automatic page number characters—using the Utilities > Insert Character submenu.
If you enter special characters often, however, it helps to remember the keyboard shortcuts provided here.