When writing a paper, do i use italics for all titles. Do not underline, bold, enlarge or use quotes for the words works cited. Use italics for scientific names, foreign words and phrases, and the names of legal cases. The modern language association mla specifies distinct ways to document all types of print sources. Titles of books, plays, or works published singularly not anthologized should be italicised unless it is a handwritten document, in which case underlining is. In past editions of mla, underlining a title and italicizing it were considered synonymous. Formatting titles of texts in mla style curo symposium.
The 7th edition of the mla handbook eliminates underlining underlining is still acceptable when handwriting papers. These rules apply to titles in the text, in parenthetical citations, and in works cited page entries. When is it appropriate to use underlines, italics, and quotes. When citing poetry, remember that, because epic poems tend to be book length, their titles are italicized like book titles. Our position is that content on the internet should be treated the same as content in print. If the title mentioned is usually indicated by italics, use italics for the title within the title. The important thing is to stay consistent in how you use italics and underlining. Quotation marks enclose titles of smaller works or parts of a whole. Titles of books, plays, films, periodicals, databases, and websites are italicized. You underline or italicize longer written works like book titles but when writing a paper pick one and stick with it dont underline one and then switch. For a handwritten essay, the books name should be capitalized and underlined. Prior to computers, people were taught to underline titles of books and plays and to. If either of those calls for italics, make sure the book title is not in italics. In mla 7 and 8, titles of books, journals, websites, albums, blogs, movies, tv shows, magazines, and newspapers should all be italicized.
Would i italicize the name of a bookshort story in an essay. If you are including works that you consulted but did not actually cite in your paper, you should label the page works consulted. Do you italicize or underline book titles in a mla format. But when a work that is normally independent such as a novel or play appears in a collection, the works title remains in italics. Apr 02, 2019 in mla style, source titles appear either in italics or in quotation marks. Reports can follow different formats, such as mla or chicago style. Apa requires a title page and it does not look like the title is underlined on it. Mla handbook accommodation has two c s and two m s. In apa, use italics for titles of books, scholarly journals, periodicals, films, videos, television shows, and microfilm publications. The same goes for epilogues at the end of the piece. Apr 24, 2018 in handwritten and typewritten materialwhere italics are impossible to rendertitles of works normally italicized, words used as words, and letters used as letters are underlined. However, if no ones available to ask, and you have to submit something reasonable right now, then the basic rule is book titles are italicized first. Is the title of a book underlined or in quotes answers.
Albert borgmanns book, crossing the postmodern divide. The bible, books within it, versions of it, and other sacred writings are the exceptions to the rule. Titles of short works like poems, articles, short stories, or chapters should be put. For example, the title of an essay about gone with the wind is styled in ebscohost as follows. Titles of short works like poems, articles, short stories, or chapters should be put in quotation marks. Here is a quick guide on the correct usage of italics. Do i have to underline or book titles in mla essay. Prior to computers, people were taught to underline titles of books and plays and to surround chapters, articles, songs, and other shorter works in quotation marks. Citations for ebooks closely resemble those for physical books. How to cite a poem title in mla format pen and the pad. For example, in mla format, the title of a website is italicized when you are.
Simply indicate that the book in question is an ebook by putting the term ebook in the version slot of the mla template i. When quoted in text or listed in a bibliography, titles of books, journals, plays, and other freestanding works are. When writers are referring to a books title for a bibliography, they should write the title in italics. If you submit articles for publication, some proofreaders and copy editors prefer underlining to italics. In mla style, source titles appear either in italics or in quotation marks. According to the chicago manual of style and the modern language association, titles of books and other complete works, such as newspapers and magazines, should be italicized. Gone with the wind, the agrarians, and the battle for the new south. Quotation marks are used to present linguistic examples and titles of book chapters and. A title appears the same way no matter where in a document it appears. When documenting books, there are specific formats to keep in mind for each component of the book.
Poems, essays, short stories, and articles should be in quotations. Sep 22, 2019 furthermore, italicize or underline any published collection, like a book of poetry. If youre typing something then the title of a book should be in italics. For example, italics are used to draw attention to key terms and phrases when providing definitions and to format parts of reference list entries e. If it is something handwritten you should underline it instead of using italics. For example, in mla format, the title of a website is italicized when you are citing it. Use quotation marks around the title if it is part of a larger work e. Create the works cited page at the end of your paper on a new page. Imagine if you underlined everything, your readers wouldnt know what is a link and what is the. It is underlined under mla rules or in italics under the apa rules, but never in qoutation marks. Example of a journal article title which includes the title of a book. Would i italicize the name of a bookshort story in an.
But if you have specific mla formatting questions, i recommend you take a. This helps distinguish titles of works from websites or links in your content, like. Back in the day, people taught students to underline the titles of books, magazines, plays, songs, movies, and other titled works. If your source offers a stable url also known as a permalink or a doi. Title of source mla style guide, 8th edition libguides at indian. When to italicize, underline, or use quotation marks. Hyperlinks when composing in html, do not substitute underlining for italics, because underlining in html indicates that the underlined text is an activehypertext link. Mla modern language association style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. A title within a title should be styled according to the guidelines in section 1. Oct 03, 2018 if a book title within an essay title is not italicized in the source, should i italicize it in my workscitedlist entry. Italicize titles if the source is selfcontained and independent. The latest mla guidelines recommend urls in your list of works citedeven though they can change, and obviously cant be clicked on in print formats, they can still be helpful for your reader.
Inside the paper, when quoting directly from the bible, offer parenthetical citations. When do sources need to be underlined, in quotes, etc easybib. This resource, updated to reflect the mla handbook 8 th ed. Aug 01, 2016 book titles are usually put in the same category as other big, standalone, or complete bodies of work like newspapers, symphonies, or publications. If the title has a subtitle, include it after the main title titles and subtitles are given in the entry in full exactly as they are found in the source, except that capitalization and punctuation are standardized. Aug 22, 2012 if you are handwriting something then yes, you underline the title of a book. Titles of books that form a larger body of work may be put in quotation marks if the name of the book series is italicized. Nov 14, 2019 if the title mentioned is usually indicated by italics, use italics for the title within the title. General rules works cited works cited mla style guide. If a book title within an essay title is not italicized in the source, should i italicize it in my workscitedlist entry. Italicize the titles of magazines, books, newspapers, academic journals, films, television shows, long poems, plays, operas, musical albums, works of art, websites. Montgomery county community college the culinary arts institute 1400 forty foot road, lansdale, pa 19446 2676465970. Label the page work cited do not italicize, bold or underline the words works cited or put them in quotation marks and center the words works cited at the top of the page.
It is important to find out which format is required for the report you are doing. When you are word processing a document on a computer, use italics. A general rule of thumb is that within the text of a paper, italicize the title of. Book titles can be either underlined or italiczied. Skip to the end of this post to see a note about underlining titles. Since jacks book was not quoted directly, his book does not appear in the list of works cited and the parenthetical reference points to blooms article, which is the indirect source used. Brochures or pamphlets should be treated like book titles and italicized. Set the title off from the rest of the writing with italic or underlining.
The arrival of wordprocessing has made italics fairly easy to make. Mar, 2008 2 for any work that stands on its own, you should use italics or underline. However, here is what the chicago manual of style says. Simply indicate that the book in question is an e book by putting the term e book in the version slot of the mla template i. Examples of these titles are films, novels, entire books, journals, and entire websites. Are book titles underlined or do you put them in italics. Since gone with the wind is the title of a novel, if you were to include this essay in your workscited list, you would set it in italics instead of enclosing it in quotation marks. Writing tips mla format lesley university library at lesley. Titles of full works like books or newspapers should be italicized. They both agree on putting a website article in quotation marks. Quotation marks or italics are not required for articles, webpages, songs, episodes, etc.
In handwritten and typewritten materialwhere italics are impossible to rendertitles of works normally italicized, words used as words, and letters used as letters are underlined. Nowadays, more people use italics to designate titles, like our new ebook the novelwriting training plan. In digital environments, if italics and underlining are unavailable and you need to refer to the title of a work normally italicized, insert an underscore on either side of the title. Italics and quotation marks are used to draw attention to text. However, the major difference between writing a book title of an essay in apa and mlachicago is that in apa, you use quotation marks, while as in mla and chicago, the title is italicized. How to document chapters in books using an mla format pen. The formatting of your title depends on which format you are using, but you should not use underline or italics it if you are using mla. Titles mla style guide, 7th edition libguides at indian river. Put the individual entry, like a poem, in quotation marks. Heres the real scoop on how to handle styling book titles in your writing.
Students commonly use the seventh edition of the modern language association mla guide to cite sources in the humanities, particularly for literature. Use italics in a wordprocessed document for the types of titles youd underline if you. Mar 15, 2017 in formal writing, single quotation marks are only valid within a quotation quotation marks, rules 7 and 8b. In general, you should italicize the titles of long works, like books, movies, or record albums. Use italics for words being defined or words, letters, or numbers being named as words or used as examples.
It indicates to the printer that the underlined words should be printed in italics. Longer works are italicized while shorter works like song titles or an article from a magazine are put in quotes. I get variations of this question a lot so heres a general guide youll find mla, chicago, and most other guides all adhere to these general rules. So if abiding by either of those guides, youd italicize stephen kings the shining, just as you would vanity fair and the miami herald and appetite for. Now, in most instances, you italicize book titles, songs, and other fulllength works like movies. In digital environments, if italics and underlining are unavailable and you need to refer to the title of a work normally italicized, insert an underscore. If you are handwriting something then yes, you underline the title of a book. The general rule when considering whether to underline or italicize movies and television series titles is to put them in italics because theyre considered long works. Label this page works cited at the top middle of the page. Single quotation marks are sometimes used in newspaper headlines to save space. Montgomery county community college central campus 340 dekalb pike, blue bell, pa 19422 2156416300. Furthermore, italicize or underline any published collection, like a book of poetry. Keeping the rules for italicizing and using quotation marks straight isnt easy, which is why there are different techniques that make remembering when to. When writers are referring to a book s title for a bibliography, they should write the title in italics.
Quotation marks are used for quoting text from books, short story titles, articles in periodicals. Mla titles how to format and capitalize source titles. A few examples of what this should look like are shown here. When you document chapters in books, for example, it is. Italicize the titles of magazines, books, newspapers, academic journals, films, television shows, long poems, plays, operas, musical albums, works of. Use quotation marks for the titles of shorter pieces of work. The general rule is to use italics on book titles, album titles and publication names for a web document or when you are using a word processing tool. In english, when punctuating these magazine titles, headlines, and song or movie titles, keep in mind these two options. When is it appropriate to use underlines, italics, and. In mla style, source titles appear either in italics or in quotation marks italicize the title of a selfcontained whole e. The title is usually prominently displayed in the work, often near the author. When do sources need to be underlined, in quotes, etc.
Montgomery county community college west campus 101 college drive, pottstown, pa 19464 6107181800. Stories or chapters from within a book are considered parts of the book. So if abiding by either of those guides, youd italicize stephen kings the shining, just as you would vanity fair and the miami herald and appetite for destruction, if your protagonist is a guns n roses fan. Ian jack argues that keats odes are the sort of poetry hamlet might have written qtd.
1075 237 1015 220 1101 344 1220 1425 1525 724 865 1262 1365 886 841 248 1366 701 977 968 1184 1110 129 1420 160 788 793 1311 294