Punctuating Titles: Italics or
“Quotes”?
When to Use Italics/underlining





Note: When you are handwriting, indicate italics by
underlining the title. Never do both italics and
underlining.
Titles of Books: The Great Gatsby
Plays: A Streetcar Named Desire
Very Long Poems: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Periodicals, Magazines and Newspapers: The
Washington Post ; The Economist ; Newsweek.
When to Use Italics/underlining






Titles of Works of Art: Starry Night; Mona Lisa, The
Thinker
Movies: Star Trek
Radio and TV Series: Breaking Bad; Deadliest
Catch
Video Games: Call of Duty
Albums/Long Musical Recordings: The Dark Side
of the Moon
Comic Strips: Peanuts; Doonsbury
When to Use Italics/underlining


The General Rule:
Put the title in italics (or underline it if
handwriting) if it is a long/big work and/or if
the work can be broken down into smaller
parts (ie. A TV series can be broken into
individual episodes; a newspaper is broken
up into individual articles.)
When to Use “Quotes” Around a Title



Never use quotes with italics/underlines. It’s
always one or the other.
Titles of short stories: “The Minister’s Black
Veil,” “To Build a Fire”
Poems: “The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock”
When to Use “Quotes” Around a Title





Essays: “A Stranger in the Village”
Articles and Other Parts of Publication: “In Rust
Belt, A Teenager’s Climb From Poverty”
Songs: “Money”
Episodes of TV or Radio Series: “Long Sleepless
Nights” (an episode of Deadliest Catch)
Chapters and Other Parts in a Book: “Epilogue.”
When to Use “Quotes” Around a Title


The general rule:
Use quotation marks to enclose titles of short
works (often works that are part of a larger
collection).
-- “The Minister’s Black Veil”

Elements of Literature

The Washington Post

Deadliest Catch

The Wasteland And Other Poems

The Dark Side of the Moon
-- “USPS Plans to End Saturday
Mail”
-- “Long Sleepless Nights”
-- “The Love Song of
J. Alfred Prufrock”
-- “Money”