do you underline your essay title

Do You Underline Titles When Writing? The Essential Guide

My name is Debbie, and I am passionate about developing a love for the written word and planting a seed that will grow into a powerful voice that can inspire many.

1. Understanding Title Formatting: A Necessity for Every Writer

2. common conventions: when to underline titles and when to use italics, 3. evolving guidelines: the impact of modern formatting standards.

• 4. Exceptions and Rule Breakers: An Exploration of Title Formatting Variations
• 5. Essential Tips for Navigating the Underlining vs. Italics Dilemma
• 6. A Modern Writer’s Toolkit: Utilizing Quotation Marks in Titles
• 7. Clearing the Confusion: Expert Recommendations on Title Formatting
• 8. Beyond Underlining: Exploring Alternative Techniques for Emphasizing Titles
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Concluding Remarks

One of the key skills every writer should possess is the ability to understand title formatting. A well-formatted title can captivate readers, pique their interest, and compel them to click on your content. So, whether you are writing a blog post, an article, or a social media caption , mastering title formatting is crucial for engaging your audience effectively. Here are some essential tips and tricks to help you enhance your title formatting skills:

1. Keep it concise: A well-crafted title should be concise and to the point. It should provide a glimpse into the content of your piece without revealing too much. Aim for titles that are no longer than 60 characters, as shorter titles tend to perform better in search results.

2. Use power words: Incorporating powerful and impactful words in your titles can instantly grab your readers’ attention. Words like “ultimate,” “essential,” “proven,” and “unveiling” can make your titles more enticing and compelling.

3. Employ the rule of three: The rule of three is a tried and tested technique in writing that suggests things presented in groups of three tend to be more memorable and engaging. Utilize this concept in your titles by organizing your ideas or arguments into three key points or steps.

4. Utilize bold and italics: When appropriate, add emphasis to certain words or phrases in your title by using HTML formatting such as bold and italic . However, use them sparingly and strategically, ensuring that they enhance the meaning and impact of your title rather than overshadowing it.

Remember, a well-formatted title is your first opportunity to captivate readers and make a lasting impression. Implement these tips and watch as your titles become more irresistible, enticing readers to dive into your content with enthusiasm. Mastering title formatting is an invaluable skill that will elevate your writing and help you connect with your audience on a deeper level.

In the world of writing, we often find ourselves pondering over whether to underline titles or use italics to emphasize them. To clear up this common convention, let’s delve into the guidelines that will help you make the right decision every time you encounter a title.

1. **Underline Titles**: – Books: Underline the titles of complete books, such as *To Kill a Mockingbird*. – Magazines: Underline the titles of entire magazines, for example, *National Geographic*. – Newspapers: If you’re referring to the name of a newspaper, underline it. For instance, *The New York Times* can be underlined to highlight its significance. – Long Plays: Whether it’s a Shakespearean work or a contemporary masterpiece, underline titles of long plays, like *Hamlet* or *Death of a Salesman*.

2. **Use Italics For**: – Poem Titles: When emphasizing the titles of poems, such as *The Raven*, consider using italics rather than underlining. – Short Stories: Italics should be employed when highlighting the titles of short stories, like *The Lottery* or *The Necklace*. – TV Shows and Series: When referring to the title of a TV show or series, italicize it. For example, *Friends* or *Game of Thrones* would be appropriately presented in italics. – Works of Art: When discussing an artwork, be it a painting like *Starry Night* or a sculpture such as *David*, giving it emphasis through italics is fitting.

Remember, consistency is key when it comes to underlining titles or using italics. Whether you choose to underline or italicize, maintain the same formatting throughout your entire piece to ensure clear communication with your readers. Bear these guidelines in mind to master the art of emphasizing titles effortlessly.

In the digital age, the formatting standards for various elements of content have greatly evolved. Modern formatting guidelines are continuously being updated to accommodate the ever-changing needs of users and to enhance the overall user experience. As content creators, it is crucial to stay updated with these evolving guidelines to ensure our work is visually appealing, accessible, and effectively communicates our message.

One of the key areas where modern formatting standards have had a significant impact is in website design. Gone are the days of cluttered and unorganized web pages. Today, websites are expected to have clean layouts, user-friendly navigation menus, and visually appealing content. HTML, the foundation of web design, plays a vital role in implementing these formatting standards. With HTML, we can structure our content using semantic elements such as

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• MLA titles: Formatting and capitalization rules

MLA Titles | How to Format & Capitalize Source Titles

Published on April 2, 2019 by Courtney Gahan . Revised on March 5, 2024.

In MLA style , source titles appear either in italics or in quotation marks:

• Italicize the title of a self-contained whole (e.g. a book, film, journal, or website).
• Use  quotation marks around the title if it is part of a larger work (e.g. a chapter of a book, an article in a journal, or a page on a website).

All major words in a title are capitalized . The same format is used in the Works Cited list and in the text itself.

When you use the Scribbr MLA Citation Generator , the correct formatting and capitalization are automatically applied to titles.

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Table of contents

Capitalization in mla titles, punctuation in mla titles, titles within titles, exceptions to mla title formatting, sources with no title, abbreviating titles, titles in foreign languages, frequently asked questions about mla titles.

In all titles and subtitles, capitalize the first and last words, as well as any other principal words.

What to capitalize

What not to capitalize, here's why students love scribbr's proofreading services.

Discover proofreading & editing

Use the same punctuation as appears in the source title. However, if there is a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon and a space, even if different (or no) punctuation is used in the source.

Example of a work with a subtitle

The exception is when the title ends in a question mark, exclamation point or dash, in which case you keep the original punctuation:

Sometimes a title contains another title—for example, the title of an article about a novel might contain that novel’s title.

For titles within titles, in general, maintain the same formatting as you would if the title stood on its own.

Titles and names that fall into the following categories are not italicized or enclosed in quotation marks:

• Scripture (e.g. the Bible, the Koran, the Gospel)
• Laws, acts and related documents (e.g. the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution , the Paris Agreement)
• Musical compositions identified by form, number and key (e.g. Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 in C minor, op. 67)
• Conferences, seminars, workshops and courses (e.g. MLA Annual Convention)

Sections of a work

Words that indicate a particular section of a work are not italicized or placed within quotation marks. They are also not capitalized when mentioned in the text.

Examples of such sections include:

• introduction
• list of works cited
• bibliography

Introductions, prefaces, forewords and afterwords

Descriptive terms such as “introduction”, “preface”, “foreword” and “afterword” are capitalized if mentioned in an MLA in-text citation or in the Works Cited list, but not when mentioned in the text itself.

Example of descriptive term capitalization

In-text citation: (Brontë, Preface )

In text: In her preface to the work, added in a later edition, Brontë debates the morality of creating characters such as those featured in Wuthering Heights .

If there is a unique title for the introduction, preface, foreword or afterword, include that title in quotation marks instead of the generic section name when referencing the source in the Works Cited list or an in-text citation.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

For sources with no title, a brief description of the source acts as the title.

Example of a source reference with no title

Follow these rules for capitalization:

• Capitalize the first word
• Capitalize proper nouns
• Ignore other MLA rules for capitalization

There are some exceptions to this general format: descriptions including titles of other works, such as comments on articles or reviews of movies; untitled short messages, like tweets; email messages; and untitled poems.

Exceptions to general format for sources with no title

If you need to mention the name of a work in the text itself, state the full title, but omit the subtitle.

If you need to refer to the work multiple times, you may shorten the title to something familiar or obvious to the reader. For example, Huckleberry Finn for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . If in doubt, prefer the noun phrase.

If the standalone abbreviation may not be clear, you can introduce it in parentheses, following the standard guidelines for abbreviations. For example, The Merchant of Venice ( MV ) . For Shakespeare and the Bible , there are well-established abbreviations you can use.

When you abbreviate a title, make sure you keep the formatting consistent. Even if the abbreviation consists only of letters, as in the MV example, it must be italicized or placed within quotation marks in the same way as it would be when written in full.

Abbreviating very long titles in the Works Cited list

Titles should normally be given in full in the Works Cited list, but if any of your sources has a particularly long title (often the case with older works), you can use an ellipsis to shorten it here. This is only necessary with extremely long titles such as the example below.

In the Works Cited list, if you are listing a work with a title in a language other than English, you can add the translated title in square brackets.

Example of a reference with a translated title

If you are using the foreign-language title in the text itself, you can also include the translation in parenthesis. For example, O Alquimista ( The Alchemist ) .

You don’t need to include a translation in your reference list or in the text if you expect your readers to be familiar with the original language. For example, you wouldn’t translate the title of a  French novel you were writing about in the context of a French degree.

Non-Latin script languages

For works in a language that does not use the Latin alphabet, such as Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, or Russian, be consistent with how you mention the source titles and also quotations from within them.

For example, if you choose to write a Russian title in the Cyrillic form, do that throughout the document. If you choose to use the Romanized form, stick with that. Do not alternate between the two.

Yes. MLA style uses title case, which means that all principal words (nouns, pronouns , verbs, adjectives , adverbs , and some conjunctions ) are capitalized.

This applies to titles of sources as well as the title of, and subheadings in, your paper. Use MLA capitalization style even when the original source title uses different capitalization .

In MLA style , book titles appear in italics, with all major words capitalized. If there is a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon and a space (even if no colon appears in the source). For example:

The format is the same in the Works Cited list and in the text itself. However, when you mention the book title in the text, you don’t have to include the subtitle.

The title of a part of a book—such as a chapter, or a short story or poem in a collection—is not italicized, but instead placed in quotation marks.

When a book’s chapters are written by different authors, you should cite the specific chapter you are referring to.

When all the chapters are written by the same author (or group of authors), you should usually cite the entire book, but some styles include exceptions to this.

• In APA Style , single-author books should always be cited as a whole, even if you only quote or paraphrase from one chapter.
• In MLA Style , if a single-author book is a collection of stand-alone works (e.g. short stories ), you should cite the individual work.
• In Chicago Style , you may choose to cite a single chapter of a single-author book if you feel it is more appropriate than citing the whole book.

The title of an article is not italicized in MLA style , but placed in quotation marks. This applies to articles from journals , newspapers , websites , or any other publication. Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published. For example:

Use the same formatting in the Works Cited entry and when referring to the article in the text itself.

The MLA Handbook is currently in its 9th edition , published in 2021.

This quick guide to MLA style  explains the latest guidelines for citing sources and formatting papers according to MLA.

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Gahan, C. (2024, March 05). MLA Titles | How to Format & Capitalize Source Titles. Scribbr. Retrieved April 8, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/mla/titles/

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Properly Format Your Titles: Underlines, Italics, and Quotes | Writer’s Relief

by Writer's Relief Staff | Format Your Writing , Proofreading , Punctuation | 47 comments

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Formatting titles gives some writers a headache. Should the title of songs, stories, movies, books, screenplays, etc. be in italics or quotes? When you’re trying to remember if you’re supposed to use underlining or italics or quotation marks for titles, here are a few simple rules from Writer’s Relief.

Remember that people used to type their work or write it longhand. When titles needed to be italicized, italics were represented by underlining. These days, many people avoid underlining to minimize confusion between words that are underlined and hyperlinks.

3 Simple Tips For Properly Formatting Titles Of Books, Stories, Poems

1) Underlining and italics serve the same purpose. Never do both. Do NOT use quotation marks, underline, or italics together.

2) For any work that stands on its own, you should use italics or underline. (Stories or chapters from within a book are considered PARTS of the book.)

Quick Formatting Style Guide For Your Titles

Books: Italics or Underline

CDs: Italics or Underline

Articles (Newspaper or Magazine): Quotation Marks

Chapter Titles (not chapter numbers): Quotation Marks

Magazines, Newspapers, Journals: Italics or Underline

Names of Ships, Trains, Airplanes, Spacecraft: Italics

Poems : Quotation Marks

Plays: Italics

Short Stories : Quotation Marks

Song Titles: Quotation Marks

Special Phrases (“let them eat cake”), Words, or Sentences: Quotation Marks

Television Shows and Movies: Italics

Television and Radio Episode Titles: Quotation Marks

Knowing when to use quotes, italics, or underlining can be tricky. Writer’s Relief proofreaders can help you proofread your creative writing submissions to be sure your titles are properly formatted.

For more formatting and writing tips follow Writer’s Relief on Twitter!

47 Comments

The English language is hard, man.

Esperanto is a lot better. I suggest looking into it.

That is false, you actually may use both quotes and italics. In certain cases of course.

Thannks! Needed help quickly and got it here 😀

this was a really nice resource for writing a paper that drew on multiple types of resources, thanks. only thing I didn’t find was formatting for movies!

Samuel is correct. You may underline, italicize, or put a quotation mark around the desired title of a book. Many people, (at first,) used to underline the titles of books. People now tend to italicize or put a quotation mark around a title of a book.

Whenever possible, italicizing book titles is a must. However, on social media, we prefer to use ALL caps; we may be in the minority for that—according to a recent poll by Grammar Girl: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/formatting-titles-twitter-and-facebook

Thanks! I have a huge test tomorrow and needed to get some quick study time in.

Formatting needs to adjust for social media, italics aand underline doesn’t work across platforms…. we’re living in the internet age still ruled by the before Internet age period. As of yet unnamed. Please some one fix this and also think of a name. Thx

what about sculptures paintings etc?

jj, sculptures and paintings would be italicized.

Great information, thank you. Do you know how webinar titles should be formatted? Thanks you in advance.

TF, webinar titles should be italicized.

Do you italicize or use quotation marks for the titles of publishers?

Hi, Olivia– Neither. The publisher’s name is just initial capped.

Do all of these rules apply to only books or do they apply to screenplays as well?

Good article!

Very helpful article!

Thanks a bunch!

What if I’m typing the title of a song and quoting what someone said about that song in the same sentence? Is it okay to put quotation marks around both the song title and what the person said? I know it’s grammatically correct but it just doesn’t look right and seems confusing.

The correct way to do it is to put both in quotation marks. If you gave a list of song titles in a sentence, each would be in quotation marks, so having multiple sets of items in quotation marks in one sentence is not uncommon.

Hi, if i want to quote a sentence for text evidence and the author underlined a word in that sentence, then do I have to underline that word when I quote also? Thank You

In copying quoted material, you should follow the extract exactly.

What about albums/EP names? Quote or italics for those?

Per the Chicago Manual of Style, titles of music albums are italic.

Hi! How would you format a quote from a short story from a series? Would you put the series in italics, but the story title itself in quotes?

Would this be appropriate?

“‘Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,’ I observed.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, “The Red-Headed League”

Is the title of a film series e.g. Star Wars put in italics or quotes?

The name of a specific film is in italics. The name of the series itself doesn’t use italics or quotes. Hope this helps!

Okay so this sentence The author said “James Joyce’s Dubliners is a circular analysis of stagnation and entrapment leading to both individual and collective death in a dead city.” Am I suppose to italicize that or leave it as be? It was in an article.

Hi Nehemiah,

“Dubliners” is the title of a book, so it would be italicized. If the sentence is in quotation marks, it doesn’t need to be italicized.

I’ve been looking but I can’t find any rules around referring to a blog in copy. Does anyone know the rule for this? The context is as follows>

Joe also writes a blog: Good Grammar

Titles of blogs are in italics.

Hello, I would like to subscribe for this weblog to take latest updates, so where can i do it please assist.

You can sign up for our mailing list here: https://writersrelief.com/submit-write-now/

I realize this isn’t really about quotation marks, but I get the distinct impression you know your stuff. Perhaps you can answer this question for me. I do transcription and we don’t use italics. Instead, we use quotation marks. Here is the sentence causing me grief:

“Hi, I’m from “Fern”.”

According to the guidelines I need to follow, Fern has to be in quotations because it’s a magazine title. However, this just doesn’t look right to me. It is correct? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

We can’t really speak toward your particular case, since typically a magazine title would be in italics. Your company follows its own guidelines, so the guidelines we follow wouldn’t really apply. You could consider putting the magazine title in all caps, or using single quotations within the double quotations.

What would you suggest for musical works that are numbered, for example: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? Should ‘Fifth Symphony’ be in italics or quotes, or just in normal type?

The title of a musical work is italicized. Whether there is a number in it has no relevance.

If you were to write the name of a charity, would you italicize, underline, or put it in quotation marks.

We recommend checking the Chicago Manual of Style for a definitive answer.

If I am referencing the title of a research paper or special assignment that I wrote, do I put it in quotation marks, or possibly capitalize the first letter in each word? For example:

“The Impact of Globalization on the Global Economy”

If one character is in dialogue with another and is quoting an extract from for example a Shakespeare play, should the quote be in italics? e.g. “I love the quote ‘I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space’.”?

You would seem to have it correct!

Angel Langner, This advice is about a year late, but I never did see an answer for you. Use single quotation marks inside the double quotation marks. “Hi, I’m from ‘Fern.’” Periods and commas are always inside quotation marks.

I have a paper on gender. I am trying to figure out what to use for the Me Too and Times up campaigns?

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Tips for Online Students , Tips for Students

Knowing When To Underline Or Italicize: Your Go-To Guide

Updated: July 11, 2022

Published: May 27, 2021

Knowing when to underline or italicize can be confusing. But it doesn’t have to be! In this article, we’ll lay out all the basics, plus a few common difficulties that confuse many writers, so you’ll be an expert in no time.

At the end of the article, you’ll get the chance to practice your hand at some sample sentences, so you’ll be sure that you know the ins and outs of using italics and underlines.

Italics Vs Underline: Clarifying The Confusion

In the past (before computers and MLA handbooks), italics and underlines were used to emphasize certain words or titles within the text. It let the reader know what was important, or what was separate from the rest of the sentence. They were both used interchangeably, as long as they were consistent.

Now, with the ability to change formatting with the click of a button, italics are generally used to indicate titles, and only sometimes for emphasis. Meanwhile, underlining is mostly reserved to replace italics in handwritten papers. Manuals and guidebooks, such as the MLA handbook, are now widely used in large institutions or according to the country’s standards, so that specific writing conventions, grammar rules, and formatting styles have become uniform.

With that said, the general rule is that italics are used for titles of books, movies, TV and radio shows, magazines, works of art, and long poems. As mentioned before, underlining is a substitute for italics when writing titles by hand.

Proper formatting in an essay can be confusing for many students: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-blue-blazer-holding-white-paper-3727468/

Titles of long works.

Titles that should be italicized are longer works. These include titles of books, movies, TV and radio shows, journals and magazines, and long poems. In the next section, we’ll see how these works differ from titles of shorter works which are put in quotations instead.

• The novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, was published in 1847 under the pen name of Currer Bell.
• The movie Home Alone , released in 1990, made a worldwide total of $476,684,675 in box office revenue.

Titles Of Smaller Works

The titles of smaller works are put in “quotations” in order to differentiate them from longer works. These smaller works include titles of chapters, short stories, TV or radio show episodes, articles, and short poems.

In the examples below, note how you can recognize the difference between the shorter works and larger works just by seeing how they are emphasized in the sentence. This makes it impossible to confuse the title of a chapter with the book that it belongs to, or the episode from its TV show.

• The chapter entitled “The Castaway” in Moby Dick describes the near-death experience of a character named Pip.
• Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” was originally published in a Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine.
• The pilot episode of Friends , which was released on September 22, 1994, is called “The One Where Monica Gets A Roommate.”

Punctuation In Titles: Common Confusions

Question marks.

Confusion can come up when a title includes a question mark or an exclamation mark in the title itself. For example, the book Who Has Seen the Wind? includes a question mark in it.

The way to deal with these titles is to italicize the question mark as well, just as it is above. By doing so, you can differentiate this title from an actual question, such as writing: Have you read Gone With the Wind ?

The same idea applies to exclamation marks — for example, the movie Mamma Mia! , which includes an exclamation mark in the title. Note the italicization, and the difference between writing Mamma Mia! , the movie, and writing: I can’t believe that you never watched The Parent Trap !

Commas and periods

The confusion of commas and periods when it comes to quotations is a debate between different handbooks and countries. According to the MLA (Modern Language Association) handbook, commas and periods are placed inside of quotation marks.

• “The Seinfeld Chronicles , ” the first episode of Seinfeld , had 15.4 million viewers in America.
• Among the short stories of James Joyce included in the collection Dubliners are “Araby , ” “The Sisters , ” and “The Encounter.”

Solidify your new skills by completing practice sentences: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-black-and-white-stripe-shirt-looking-at-white-printer-papers-on-the-wall-212286/

Let’s practice.

Try your hand at your new skills! Below are five sentences without any italics or quotations. Italicize the longer works and put the shorter works in quotations. If you get stuck, check back in the article, and you’ll be an expert in no time. Be sure to pay attention to tricky commas, periods, and question marks.

• The Lazy Controller, chapter two of Thinking Fast and Slow, talks about multitasking and its effect on thinking.
• The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story by Catherine Perkins Gilman, was originally published in The New England Magazine in January 1892.
• John Lennon’s album Imagine included favorites such as Gimme Some Truth, How Do You Sleep?, and, of course, Imagine.
• The premiere episode of Family Matters is called The Mama Who Came To Dinner, and relays the drama of Carl’s mother coming to live with him.
• The short story Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway was first published in a magazine called Transition, and was only later published in his book Men Without Women.

Why Is Proper Indentation Important?

College essays  .

No matter what you study in college, most students write a lot of essays during their school years. While some degrees may put more of an emphasis on writing proper essays , most teachers and professors will expect a certain level of basic grammar and formatting knowledge. Before you even step foot into college, you’ll most likely be expected to write an application essay . It’s important to put your best foot forward, and small formatting rules can go a long way in making a good first impression.

Landing your dream job  

In addition to college essays, prospective employers and job positions will require and look for basic (or advanced, depending on the position) writing skills. Whether you think your dream job requires writing skills or not, writing is a part of everyday life and work, from emails and text messages, to presentations and reports. Having good writing skills will help you make a good first impression, land your dream job, and do your best work.

Proper writing is an important skill for any job: https://www.pexels.com/photo/writing-notes-idea-class-7103/

Having a successful career.

Though different students earn a degree for different reasons, many are hoping to work toward a successful career. In order to do this, the right preparation is key. Preparation may be earning a degree, gaining specific skills, or having the right guidance along the way.

University of the People prepares our students for successful careers by providing program advising , mentorship , and an emphasis on career development . We know that these extra details, much like formatting in an essay, make a big difference for the future success of our students. University of the People is a tuition-free online university that offers degree programs in business administration, computer science, health science, and education.

Wrapping Up

Now you know when to underline or italicize, and much more. To wrap up, italics should be used for the titles of longer works such as movies, books, and TV shows, and underlining for handwritten papers.

In addition, we hope you’ve learned the more tricky rules such as question marks and commas, and that you’ve given some thought to the importance of writing for your future education and success.

Related Articles

Professor Name

English XXXX-xx

Day Month Year

          Start your introduction paragraph here. Remember to double-space your entire document!

          This sample paper describes MLA guidelines for formatting papers for your English courses. For more information on document design, see the MLA handbook, or any writing handbook, and perhaps do a web search for "document design."

          You will not need a cover page or a title page for your essay, so set up the first page of your paper as described above. Be sure to double-space your entire essa y, including the Works Cited page (even though this web-page is not). Use at least one-inch margins on all four sides . Use a 12-point �readable� font (e.g. , Times New Roman , Cambria, Arial , or Calibri ) . Indent the first line of each paragraph one tab. An extra space between paragraphs is optional.

          Finally, do not submit your final draft in one of those plastic "report covers" or binders. Ask your instructor if s/he prefers you to staple your final draft.

In addition, check your paper for the following items:

• You should NOT �quote,� bold , underline , italicize , CAPITALIZE, or enlarge your own title.
• You might use the assignment title as your own title --or even the number of the assignment, such as Essay #1, as your own title. But some instructors, and readers, might prefer you to come up with a more original title of your own , one that reflects the essay's topic or central idea (argument) .
• You should definitely proofread your final draft carefully before submitting it.

As you proofread, pay particular attention to the following items:

• Be sure to spell the names of any other authors correctly; check your book s to be sure.
• When you refer to another author in your paper, use her/his full name the first time; then use either her/his full name or last name; do not refer to an author by her/his first name only . 
• Be sure to spell any other name s correctly as well, such as characters' names in a novel or play ; check your book s to be sure.
• When you refer to a character in your paper, use his/her full name the first time; thereafter, you may refer to a character by his/her first name or full name.
• We underline or italicize the titles of books , movies, TV shows, and albums/CDs-- e.g. , Where No Gods Came and The Little Seagull Handbook are underlined or italicized -- but not both at the same time, and be consistent with which one you choose.
• We put in �quotation marks� the titles of stories, poems, articles, chapters, individual TV episodes, individual songs, etc. (For really long titles, once you have used the long title once, such as "Leaves that Shimmer in the Slightest Breeze," you can use a shorter version thereafter , such as �Leaves t hat Shimmer.�)

These are the most common formatting functions (Word '97) :

• To Change Margins -- Go to File -- then Page Setup
• To Change to Double spacing -- Highlight the whole text -- then go to Format -- then Paragraph -- then Line Spacing (or Ctrl-A -- then Ctrl-2)
• To Create a Header -- Go to View -- then Header and Footer

When writing a paper, do I use italics for all titles?

Simply put: no .

APA's Publication Manual (2020) indicates that, in the body of your paper , you should use italics for the titles of:

• "books, reports, webpages, and other stand-alone works" (p. 170)
• periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers)

Beyond APA's specific examples, know that certain types of titles are almost always written in italics. 

A general rule of thumb is that within the text of a paper, italicize the title of complete works but put quotation marks around titles of parts within a complete work. 

The table below isn't comprehensive, but it's a good starting point

On an APA-style  reference page , the rules for titles are a little different.  In short, a title you would italicize within the body of a paper will also be italicized on a reference page.  However, a title you'd place in quotation marks within the body of the paper (such as the title of an article within a journal) will be written without italics and quotation marks on the references page.

Here are some examples:

Smith's (2001) research is fully described in the Journal of Higher Education.

Smith's (2001) article "College Admissions See Increase" was published in the Journal of Higher Education after his pivotal study on the admissions process.

Visit the APA Style's " Use of Italics " page to learn more!

• Reading and Writing
• Last Updated Jun 12, 2022
• Views 2133086
• Answered By Kate Anderson, Librarian

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Comments (8)

• Nice, quick, concise listing. Good format to save for quick reference by AlonzoQuixano on May 14, 2015
• Thank you so much for the information. It was so helpful and easily understandable. by mary woodard on Jun 29, 2015
• Is it the same for MLA writing? Thanks Sara, Librarian: Lesa, Rasmussen College doesn't teach or focus on MLA for students. But if you have specific MLA formatting questions, I recommend you take a look at the MLA FAQ website here: https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style/FAQ-about-MLA-Style by Lesa D.W on Dec 04, 2015
• What about the name of a community program, for example Friend's Read. Would you use quotations or italics? Sara, Librarian: Adriana, great question. for organization or program names in the text of a paper you don't need to use italics or quotation marks. Just capitalize the major words of the organization or program like you did above with Friend's Read. by Adriana on Apr 11, 2016
• Thank you for this posting. I am writing a paper on The Crucible and, surprisingly, I couldn't find on the wonderfully thorough Purdue Owl APA guide whether titles of plays are italicized or in quotes. by J.D. on Apr 18, 2016
• this was really helpful, thank you by natalie on Dec 11, 2016
• thank you so much, this is very helpful and easy to understand. by Mendryll on Jan 24, 2017
• Thank you! I am also wondering, do you capitalize only the first word of the title when using it in the text of your paper, like you are supposed to do in the references list? Or do you capitalize all the "important" words like usual? Sara, Librarian Reply: Ashley, within the text of your paper you should capitalize all the important words like you normally would. Thank you for your question! by Ashley on Dec 04, 2017

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Italics and Underlining: Titles of Books

When writing, the decision about how to type a title can be particularly vexing. Should you underline the title, use quotations, italicize, or try some one-of-a-kind styling? To make matters more confusing, popular style guides offer different guidelines and grammar rules. Plus, the answer varies, depending on whether you have a book title, chapter title, article title, song title, or movie title on your hands. What’s a grammar enthusiast to do?

Here’s the short answer: italicize book titles. 

In this article, we’ll discuss the recommendations that different style guides make and the history of how these formatting preferences evolved.

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The Chicago Manual of Style

Books: Italics

Magazine Articles: Quotes

Albums: Italics

Poems: Quotes, unless book length

Book Chapters: Quotes

Art: Italics

Songs: Quotes

Associated Press (AP Style)

Books: Quotes

Magazine Articles: N/A

Albums: Quotes

Poems: Quotes

Book Chapters: N/A

Art: Quotes

American Psychological Association (APA Style)

Modern language association (mla style), exceptions to the rules.

The above guidelines apply to most books; however, book series, handbooks, reference catalogs, and canonical texts (like the Bible) tend to be handled differently. In the event that you’re writing the title of a non-standard book, be sure to check with your preferred style guide for additional advice. 

When do you underline, and when do you italicize?

Since the advent of the word processor, writers have more ways to signal emphasis than ever before. Whereas, in the past, some style guides recommended underlining titles, today most prefer italics or quotation marks. When you’re writing something by hand, underline the titles that would normally be italicized. 

MLA, APA, and Chicago guides agree that the use of italics is appropriate for standard book titles. Only the Associated Press prefers quotation marks for the title of a book, and that’s because they do not ever advocate the use of italics. At first, this rule seems arbitrary. After thinking about it, I can picture a foreign correspondent submitting an longhand assignment after narrowly escaping danger; the Associated Press might avoid italics for the practical reason that they’re impossible to write by hand. 

It’s not hard to remember the APA style rules—they’re the simplest of the bunch. If you’re writing the title of a larger work that can stand alone, then you should use italics. For shorter works that make up a portion of a larger whole—such as journal articles, short stories, or song titles—always use quotation marks. 

As a general rule, the title of an article, album, chapter, or artwork will vary significantly from one style guide to another. Poems and song titles are almost always written the same way, within double quotation marks, no matter which stylebook you use.

How to Reference a Book

Chicago style.

Frost, Robert. Robert Frost: Selected Poems . New York: Fall River Press, 2015.

This publication manual, intended for journalism writing, only recommends in-text citations:

• In “Robert Frost: Selected Poems,” Frost compared…
• Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind” contains…
• “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J. K. Rowling became…

Frost, R. (2015). Robert Frost: selected poems . New York: Fall River Press.

Frost, Robert. Robert Frost: Selected Poems . Fall River Press, 2015.

• https://apvschicago.com/2011/04/titles-quote-marks-italics-underlining.html
• https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/03/how-to-capitalize-and-format-reference-titles-in-apa-style.html
• https://morningside.libguides.com/MLA8/title
• https://style.mla.org/citing-artwork-from-an-exhibition/
• https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/titles-using-italics-and-quotation-marks.html
• https://twitter.com/apstylebook/status/1110901868350328833?lang=en
• https://www.citationmachine.net/

Kari Lisa Johnson

I’m an award-winning playwright with a penchant for wordplay. After earning a perfect score on the Writing SAT, I worked my way through Brown University by moonlighting as a Kaplan Test Prep tutor. I received a BA with honors in Literary Arts (Playwriting)—which gave me the opportunity to study under Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel. In my previous roles as new media producer with Rosetta Stone, director of marketing for global ventures with The Juilliard School, and vice president of digital strategy with Up & Coming Media, I helped develop the voice for international brands. From my home office in Maui, Hawaii, I currently work on freelance and ghostwriting projects.

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Do you Underline Research Paper or Essay Titles? APA or MLA

While content is regarded as the most significant aspect of your research paper, the paper’s presentation is also important. This is because the presentation will determine whether the content is understandable by the reader. Errors in presentation can deviate the attention of the reader from the content of the research paper.

Titles are part of a research paper, and their proper usage can make the paper more presentable. As such, titles can be underlined, italicized, typed in bold, or put into quotation marks to emphasize particular words. This article will discuss the issue of underlining the titles of a research paper.  

Do you Underline Research Paper Titles?

You can underline research papers or essay titles if that is what your instructor wants you to do or if there are guidelines to be followed. This is because formatting styles like APA and MLA do not allow underlining of titles. Therefore, you cannot underline the titles of your paper without considering the purpose of the titles, what they are used to refer to, and so on.

Titles that can be italicized can still be underlined. At least, that’s how most of the writing guidelines, such as APA and MLA formats, require students to observe.

For example, if the title is: The Effects of Social Media on Socialization, then it can also be written as The Effects of Social Media on Socialization or The Effects of Social Media on Socialization. 

There are times when students may be required to refer to titles of works as they are or directly within the body of their research papers.

If this is the case, then underlining should be used to emphasize the work’s title if it is allowed by the adopted style guide. 

However, for your research paper to be presentable, you should be consistent with whichever method of emphasis you employ.

For example, if you choose to underline to emphasize a working title, then you should maintain it throughout the paper. If you choose italics, then you should maintain it throughout the paper.

It should be noted that only the titles of works that are considered to be stand-alone can be underlined. Such works include magazine titles, book titles, names of conferences, and so on.

The aim of underlining a research paper title is to emphasize the work by separating it from the rest of the text. It ensures that readers clearly take note of the title without mixing it up with the rest of the text. 

As noted, you should follow the instructor’s guidelines concerning how to format the paper, including the titles, because the instructor will observe whether you have effectively followed them.

As such, your work will be gauged or graded depending on the content and the merit of the research paper. If you follow the proper guidelines, your paper will be presentable and hence will score better grades.

When it comes to the exact headings of the research paper, such papers may have level 1, level 2, level 3, level 4, and even level 5 headings or titles. As we noted earlier, underlining can be used interchangeably with italics since they are used to create emphasis.

Need Help with your Homework or Essays?

How to format titles in essays or research papers in:.

What should be noted here is that the term “titles” may refer to the headings of works that are used as sources. At the same time, the term may refer to the actual titles of the research paper. Therefore, we shall explore both so that every detail about formatting titles can be understood.

For titles of works that would be included within the research paper, there is a difference between how you would format a title for shorter works and longer works.

You may also decide to either italicize the titles, put them in quotes, or just underline them.

For example, you may state: The second poem in the book is referred to as Athena’s Birth .

You may also decide to write: The second poem in the book is referred to as Athena’s Birth. 

As we noted earlier, the essence of underlining or italicizing titles is to create emphasis. The same case applies to titles of longer works. However, for longer works, it is advisable to italicize it because underlining a title that is too long may look unpresentable.

Additionally, titles belonging to full works such as newspapers and books should be italicized as per APA guidelines instead of being underlined within a research paper.

However, titles belonging to shorter works like articles, poems, short stories, or chapters within a book should be put within quotation marks. For book titles that are part of larger bodies of work, they should be put within quotation marks if the book series’ name is italicized. 

When it comes to formatting titles within a research paper in APA style, the titles are normally organized from level 1 to level 4 and even level 5.

Level 1 title in APA is supposed to be written in boldface, with each word capitalized except in the cases of prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, and articles. It should be noted that the first letter of the title should also be capitalized. Level 1 headings should be centered on the page.

Level 2 headings in APA style should be written in the same way as a level 1 heading. The difference is that it will not be centered on the page. It will be left justified without any indentation.

For level 3 titles, it should be written in the same way as levels 1 and 2. However, the difference is that the level 3 heading will be italicized and left-justified without any indentation. 

For level 5 headings, the title should not be italicized. However, it should be indented from the left side of the page. The unique thing about this level of heading is that instead of the text or the paragraph that follows starting on a new line below the title, it will start within the same line as the level 5 title. 

The rules regarding titles in MLA format are not that different from APA format. All words within the first title level should be capitalized. However, do not capitalize prepositions (“above,” “on,” “to,” “below,” etc.), articles (“an,” “a,” and “the”), and coordinating conjunctions (“for,” “nor,” “and,” “but,” “so,” “or,” and “yet”). 

You should follow the same rules for formatting MLA Headings in the same way as APA format. However, MLA does not include too many levels of headings because the format is used for much simpler research papers and essays. 

At this juncture, I would recommend you read our guide on how to write term papers and gather more information about titles.

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What type of Titles Should be Underlined?

The titles that can be italicized can still be underlined. That is how most writing guidelines, such as APA and MLA formats, require students to observe.

Secondly, titles that should be underlined should be works or text that requires to be emphasized.

Thirdly, you can also underline level 3 headings in either MLA or APA formats because they are normally italicized. 

Apart from underlining, essay titles can be quoted , or one can use quotes in paper titles if it is necessary to do.

But this should be in line with the formatting style you are using.

Should Essay Titles be Italicized?

The answer to this question is yes.

Essay titles can be italicized as long as they need to be emphasized, represent titles of stand-alone works, or are level 3 titles.

If a title does not meet such requirements, then it should not be italicized. You should always keep in mind that any academic work should have consistency. If you decide to italicize the aforementioned, then you should maintain it. If you decide to underline whatever was supposed to be italicized, maintain that too. 

Do You Bold Research Paper Titles?

Yes. All titles within a research paper should be in boldface, no matter their level. This will ensure that the reader separates the title from the rest of the work. 

Check out the guides on how to format essays in APA or MLA for further tips on the same. You can also

Josh Jasen or JJ as we fondly call him, is a senior academic editor at Grade Bees in charge of the writing department. When not managing complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In his spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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Let’s Clear This Up: Should You Underline Or Italicize Book Titles? 

If your teachers taught you to underline book titles , it probably didn’t make sense to argue. 

Plus, underlining is just easier when you’re writing things out by hand. 

Not so with texting — or when you’re writing a book of your own.

When you reference your sources, do you underline or italicize book titles?

Are novels italicized or underlined?

And does it matter whether a novel or novelette is part of an anthology ? 

What are the rules worth remembering? 

The Basics: Do You Underline or Italicize Book Titles?

Some exceptions to the rule: should you underline or italicize book titles, punctuating book titles, book title italics or quotes .

• Do You Italicize Books Like The Lord of the Rings? 

Do You Italicize the Titles of Sacred Books?

What does the ap stylebook recommend.

If your main question is “Do I underline book titles or italicize them?” most style guides recommend the following guidelines: 

• If you have italics as an option, use it. 
• If not, underline. 
• If underlining isn’t an option, use asterisks or under-slashes to set off titles. 

That last one is the way to go when you include a book title in a text message or social media post or comment, where you can’t apply any kind of text formatting. 

Underlining can be problematic with digital text (websites, digital apps, and ebooks) since we now associate it with hyperlinks, even if the font color matches the text around it. 

Probably the most common scenario, when you can underline but not effectively italicize, is when you’re writing something by hand. While you could switch to cursive mid-sentence, underlining is less likely to be dismissed as a random quirk. 

Plus, underlining is easier than cursive. 

We’ve already mentioned one exception to the rule favoring italics. Handwriting makes underlining easier and more obvious. 

Another exception is when you’re submitting text through a web form, which doesn’t allow text formatting (much like texting and social media posts). 

A third exception involves chunks of italicized text that include a book title. In this case, you’ll want to keep the title unitalicized to make it stand out. 

Keep these exceptions in mind when someone asks you, “Do you italicize book titles?” Because they do matter. 

There’s one final exception, which we’ll revisit at the end of this post, and that has to do with the particular style guide you may be using. 

So, what do you do if you’re italicizing a book title and you have to add punctuation — like an apostrophe to show possession — that isn’t part of the title? Do you treat that differently from the punctuation that the author included? 

For the sake of clarity, we keep any added punctuation (apostrophes, dashes , ellipses, etc.) — anything not native to the original title — in regular, non-italicized text. 

Examples: 

• “Looking at the books stacked nearby, I saw that Blink ’s cover was slightly creased from its days in my purse.”  (The apostrophe-s ending is not italicized because it’s not part of the title.)
• “She just finished reading Salem’s Lot , and she’d rather not talk about it. Give her time.” (In this case, the apostrophe-s at the end of Salem is part of the title and is italicized.) 

So, are all book titles italicized? And what about titles for smaller works like short stories, magazine articles, and blog posts? 

To keep the rule as simple as possible, ask yourself whether the title in question is for a published container — like a blog, a website, a magazine or scholarly journal, or a complete book — or for something that would be contained. 

Would you find this title on the cover of a finished whole (an album, the cover image for a podcast, etc.) or in a table of contents or a list of songs, poems, or podcast episodes? 

Larger works get the italics treatment, as you’ll see in the following examples:

• Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
• Back in Black (album) by AC/DC
• Live Bold and Bloom (blog)
• Authority Self Publishing: Marketing, Writing, and Kindle Publishing Tips (podcast)

Smaller works that a larger work could contain get quotation marks. It’s not about which one is more important; it’s about making it easier for readers to tell them apart. 

When you see a story title in quotation marks, you’re more likely to think, “Oh, that must be a short story?” Find a book of short stories and check out the table of contents, and you’ll find quotes around each story’s title. 

Each is a smaller part of the whole collection, which bears an italicized title of its own.  

Do You Italicize Titles of Novels and Books Included in Anthologies? 

So, what about Reader’s Digest Condensed Books (1950-1997) — or Reader’s Digest Select Editions (since 1997)? 

Each of the works included are abridged versions of completed books and novels. 

If you’re looking up some options on Amazon, you’ll see quotation marks around the titles of the books and novels included in each hardcover edition. 

It’s tempting to think the abridgment of the title is the reason for this. But collections like Reader’s Digest editions aren’t the only ones that do this—even when the titles in the collection are unabridged originals. 

Read on for another well-known example.

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Do You Italicize Books Like The Lord of the Rings ? 

Books like LOTR bring together separate books that are all part of a complete series. In LOTR’s case, the complete set is a trilogy with the following titles: 

• The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Two Towers
• The Return of the King

If the book you’re referencing in your own writing is a separate title with its own cover, you’ll italicize the title in-text citations and in your bibliography. 

But if you’re using the complete LOTR trilogy under one cover, you’ll set off any of the enclosed titles with quotation marks — as if they were separate parts of a larger book. 

The same rule applies to other books that include all the titles in a specific series. 

While we do italicize specific editions of sacred books (e.g., The New King James Bible ), we do not generally italicize or underline the generic titles of sacred religious texts: 

• The Bible (and individual books in the Bible)
• The Koran / Qur’an and The Hadiths
• The Vedas and the Upanishads
• The Tanakh and the Talmud
• The Tipitaka (Buddhism)

As for the specific books inside the Christian Bible, if you’re referencing a specific verse, you’ll include the name of the book (or an abbreviation), along with the chapter and verse, and text formatted the same as the text around it (e.g., Matt 3:5 or 2 Corinthians 4:16). 

Not all style guides recommend italicizing book titles; the AP Stylebook uses quotation marks instead, maybe just to simplify things.  

That said, publications like Writers Digest use the AP Stylebook but choose to italicize their book titles in deference to their own house rules. 

Whether you go that route will likely depend on what you or your client wants. 

If you’re thoroughly confused right now, the main thing to remember is that in most cases, the rules described above will help you correctly format any book titles you reference in your own writing. 

• If it’s a container (book, album, podcast, TV series, etc.), use italics.
• If it’s contained by a container (poem, TV episode, song, etc.), use quotation marks.

When in doubt, check your style guide.  And if you’re writing for someone else, ask them what they prefer or consult their chosen style guide. 

Whatever rules you go with, be consistent. 

Now that you know how to answer the question, “Do you underline book titles or italicize them?” which points stood out for you as most helpful? And what have you learned that you want to remember? 

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Reference List: Basic Rules

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This resourse, revised according to the 7 th  edition APA Publication Manual, offers basic guidelines for formatting the reference list at the end of a standard APA research paper. Most sources follow fairly straightforward rules. However, because sources obtained from academic journals  carry special weight in research writing, these sources are subject to special rules . Thus, this page presents basic guidelines for citing academic journals separate from its "ordinary" basic guidelines. This distinction is made clear below.

Note:  Because the information on this page pertains to virtually all citations, we've highlighted one important difference between APA 6 and APA 7 with an underlined note written in red.  For more information, please consult the   Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , (7 th  ed.).

Formatting a Reference List

Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text.

Your references should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page "References" in bold, centered at the top of the page (do NOT underline or use quotation marks for the title). All text should be double-spaced just like the rest of your essay.

Basic Rules for Most Sources

• All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
• All authors' names should be inverted (i.e., last names should be provided first).
• For example, the reference entry for a source written by Jane Marie Smith would begin with "Smith, J. M."
• If a middle name isn't available, just initialize the author's first name: "Smith, J."
• Give the last name and first/middle initials for all authors of a particular work up to and including 20 authors ( this is a new rule, as APA 6 only required the first six authors ). Separate each author’s initials from the next author in the list with a comma. Use an ampersand (&) before the last author’s name. If there are 21 or more authors, use an ellipsis (but no ampersand) after the 19th author, and then add the final author’s name.
• Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work.
• For multiple articles by the same author, or authors listed in the same order, list the entries in chronological order, from earliest to most recent.
• Note again that the titles of academic journals are subject to special rules. See section below.
• Italicize titles of longer works (e.g., books, edited collections, names of newspapers, and so on).
• Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as chapters in books or essays in edited collections.

Basic Rules for Articles in Academic Journals

• Present journal titles in full.
• Italicize journal titles.
• For example, you should use  PhiloSOPHIA  instead of  Philosophia,  or  Past & Present   instead of  Past and Present.
• This distinction is based on the type of source being cited. Academic journal titles have all major words capitalized, while other sources' titles do not.
• Capitalize   the first word of the titles and subtitles of   journal articles , as well as the   first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and   any proper nouns .
• Do not italicize or underline the article title.
• Deep blue: The mysteries of the Marianas Trench.
• Oceanographic Study: A Peer-Reviewed Publication

Please note:  While the APA manual provides examples of how to cite common types of sources, it does not cover all conceivable sources. If you must cite a source that APA does not address, the APA suggests finding an example that is similar to your source and using that format. For more information, see page 282 of the   Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7 th  ed.

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Home » Blog » Do You Underline Book Titles?

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Writing has been around as a form of both creativity and documentation or a long time, and it has changed a lot over the years. One of the biggest stylistic changes that have occurred has to do with the emphasis of titles and many ask the same question – do you underline book titles?

At one point the answer would have been an automatic yes due to the lack of other options. Especially when writing with pen and paper underlining is easy and quick. It is a simple way to draw attention to certain words and ensure the reader knows they are important.

This was also true when the use of typewriters was normal as they did not have an option to italicize.  Writing has evolved and technology has become more prominent. With this, additional formatting options have been created. Between italics, underlining, bold text, and quotation marks, it can cause a lot of frustration trying to keep these things straight. So, in these more modern times of writing, do you underline book titles? The answer is a definite no.

Under and Italics – A Little History

Considering the fact that underlining and italicizing do the same thing, some wonder why underlining is an issue. It used to be so common. Asking do you underline books titles is understandable as some people are still adjusting to the change. The best explanation is that technology has evolved past the necessity of doing what is easiest.

Word processors and printers have come a long way over the years and they are able to support and produce any form of text in a sophisticated manner. Italics are generally considered to look more professional, however, it was not always possible to create them. With typewriters, it was downright impossible as it was not even available. Handwritten italics could be done but they would often be too difficult to read.

Writers discovered quickly that certain things needed to be emphasized. It was necessary for the reader to understand exactly what is being talked about. It was also necessary at times to highlight the importance of certain elements. That is why it all began with underlining as it was the most practical option at the time. With more advanced technology, however, italics became more common. They are also considered to be much more professional.

With the arrival of more options, writers began using underlines and italics interchangeably at times. This creates some confusing pieces of writing. This is when guidelines began surfacing. Many had a push for italics to be the accepted form of emphasis for the titles of books and larger works. Unfortunately, not everyone is always on board with this which is why there are still different opinions and sets of guidelines out there.

Consistency is Key

While the most accepted form of emphasis for book titles is to italicize, the most important thing is to remain consistent. The different forms of Italics, bolding, underlining, and quotation marks are not governed by hard and official rules. Everything that currently exists is simply a set of guidelines. While certain things are more widely accepted than others, nothing is technically wrong. Some people may prefer the old ways and choose to underline book titles in their writing. The APA Publication Manual is an example of one style guide that continues to promote the use of underlining over italics.

It is not recommended, but at the end of the day, it is a personal choice. You might you choose to use underlining instead of sticking to the more professional method of italics. If so, it is important that you remain consistent. Don’t go back and forth, don’t do both, and don’t change it up halfway through. Remain consistent throughout a series if what you are writing is a continuous publication – such as a blog, magazine, or series of books.

Academic Writing

When it comes to writing for academic purposes, it is important that you follow your instructor’s guidelines above all else. The world will tell you that italics are the way to go. Despite this, some professors and other educators may still appreciate the old ways. Even if every other source is telling students to italicize, they must adhere to the specific guidelines for their assignment. If the instructions created by your professor tell you to underline your titles, it is acceptable to do so.

When Do You Underline?

If you choose to follow the more popular guidelines of italicizing, you may wonder when it is acceptable to underline something. There are some instances where underlining certain pieces of text is acceptable and even encouraged:

• If you are writing with a medium that does not offer italics, it would be acceptable to underline what would otherwise be italicized. Examples of this would be handwritten work or something written with a typewriter.
• If you want to draw emphasis to a particular word that is not a title of any kind. For example: “When riding your horse in a wide open field, it is a lot of fun to go fast!” Italics can also be used in these situations, but underlining is acceptable.

Underlining and Punctuation

If you choose to use underlining in any context, it is important to note that punctuation should not be underlined. You may find that your underlined word is the last within a sentence, the last before a comma, or something similar. This rule goes back to the days of typewriters. If a punctuation mark were to be underlined on a typewriter, it would simply be obscured by the underline and become useless. Exceptions to this include cases where the punctuation is an integral part of the word or phrase:

• Initials such as U.S.A.
• A title such as that of the musical Oklahoma!

It is Best to Avoid Underlining

While you are technically free to choose whichever style you want, it is not advisable to use underlining. Especially in a professional piece of writing, readers will take you more seriously if you stick to italics. It is true that underlining used to be the norm, but times have changed. Underlining is an outdated style and most people prefer the appearance of italics. You will be doing yourself a favor to keep up with the world and italicize your book titles. That’s why we see most people italicizing their book titles in our book writing software, Squibler .

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Published in What is Book Writing?

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