Titles—Quotations or Italics?

Titles of Works

The titles of some works are italicized; others are placed in quotation marks. The general principle governing this style seems to be that larger works, such as novels and feature-length films, are italicized, and shorter works, such as short stories, and subdivisions within larger works, such as chapters, are rendered in quotations marks. Use this list to determine whether to put a title in italics or quotation marks:

Titles of…                                                

Books — italicize                                   

Short stories — put in quotation marks

Essays — put in quotation marks

Chapters — put in quotation marks

Magazines — italicize                                   

Magazine articles — put in quotation marks

Newspapers — italicize                       

Newspaper articles — put in quotation marks

Films (feature length) — italicize

Films (short) — put in quotation marks

Television shows — italicize                       

Television episodes — put in quotation marks

Full-length plays — italicize                       

Short plays — put in quotation marks

CDs — italicize                                   

Songs — put in quotation marks

Epic poems — italicize                       

Poems — put in quotation marks

More Sentence-level Writing
Varsity Sentence Practice — Appositives
Quick tip about citing sources in MLA style
Who vs. Whom