How to Write a Book Title in an Essay (MLA, APA & More)
When you write a book title in an essay, you italicize it. That is the rule in MLA, APA, Chicago, and most other academic style guides — any work that stands alone as its own publication gets italicized. Shorter works that appear inside a larger work (articles, chapters, songs, short stories) get quotation marks instead. This guide explains the rules for book titles, movie titles, song titles, article titles, and more — across MLA, APA, and Chicago style.
The core rule: italics vs. quotation marks
| Format | Use for | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Italics | Standalone, long-form works | Books, films, albums, newspapers, journals, plays, TV shows, websites |
| Quotation marks | Works within a larger work | Articles, chapters, short stories, poems, songs, episodes |
Think of it this way: if the work could sit on a shelf by itself, italicize the title. If it lives inside something larger, use quotation marks.
Examples:
- The Great Gatsby (novel — italics)
- The New York Times (newspaper — italics)
- “The Yellow Wallpaper” (short story — quotation marks)
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” (song — quotation marks)
- A Night at the Opera (album — italics)
- “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (song from the album Nevermind — quotation marks)
How to write a book title in an essay
Italicize the title. Capitalize the first word, the last word, and all major words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs). Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so), or short prepositions (in, on, at, by) unless they are the first or last word.
Correct:
In Pride and Prejudice, Austen examines the relationship between social class and personal integrity.
Incorrect:
In “Pride and Prejudice”, Austen examines… In Pride and Prejudice, Austen examines…
Do not put a title in both italics and quotation marks. Choose one, based on the type of work.
How to write a movie title in an essay
Movie titles are italicized, following the same rule as books.
Parasite won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2020. The editing in Mad Max: Fury Road redefined action filmmaking.
Do not capitalize “the” when it is part of a sentence but not part of the title itself:
- The Godfather is one of the most quoted films in American cinema.
- I watched a documentary about the making of The Godfather last night.
In both cases, italicize The Godfather as a unit. The lowercase “the” before “making of” is part of the sentence, not the title.
How to write a song title in an essay
Song titles use quotation marks. Album titles use italics.
“Yesterday” is one of the most covered songs in recording history. The Beatles released “Yesterday” on the album Help! in 1965.
When a song and its album have the same name, italicize the album and put the song in quotation marks:
“Nebraska” opens the album Nebraska with a spare acoustic guitar.
How to write an article title in an essay
Article titles (from newspapers, journals, magazines, or websites) use quotation marks. The publication name is italicized.
In “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates argues that the United States has never reckoned with the economic legacy of slavery. The article was published in The Atlantic.
Online articles follow the same rule: quotation marks for the article title, italics for the website name.
The piece “How Algorithms Shape Our Choices” appeared on Wired.
Rules by style guide
MLA (Modern Language Association)
Italicize titles of standalone works. Use quotation marks for works within larger works. Capitalize major words in the title. Use the title exactly as published (including subtitles).
APA (American Psychological Association)
In in-text citations, only capitalize the first word of a book or article title and the first word after a colon. In the reference list, apply the same rule: sentence case for books and articles. In running text, italicize book titles and use quotation marks for article titles.
Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow introduced the concept of System 1 and System 2 thinking to general readers.
Note: APA capitalizes all major words in journal titles in the reference list, but uses sentence case for book and article titles.
Chicago style
Chicago follows the same italics/quotation marks rule as MLA. In notes and bibliographies, Chicago may require additional formatting (publisher information, page numbers) that does not affect how the title itself is written in the text.
Title formatting quick reference
| Work type | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Novel | Italics | To Kill a Mockingbird |
| Play | Italics | Hamlet |
| Film | Italics | Schindler’s List |
| TV show | Italics | Breaking Bad |
| Album | Italics | Abbey Road |
| Newspaper | Italics | The Guardian |
| Academic journal | Italics | Journal of Applied Psychology |
| Short story | Quotation marks | ”The Lottery” |
| Poem | Quotation marks | ”The Road Not Taken” |
| Song | Quotation marks | ”Hallelujah” |
| Article | Quotation marks | ”A Room of One’s Own” |
| Chapter | Quotation marks | ”Chapter 3: The Fall” |
| Episode | Quotation marks | ”The One Where Everyone Finds Out” |
Frequently asked questions
How do you write a book title in an essay? Italicize the title and capitalize all major words. Do not use quotation marks for book titles — quotation marks are for works within a larger work (articles, songs, chapters).
Do you italicize or put quotes around a book title? Italicize. Quotation marks are for shorter works that appear inside a larger publication — articles, chapters, songs, and short stories.
How do you write a movie title in an essay? Italicize it, the same as a book title. Movies are standalone works and follow the same formatting rule.
How do you write a song title in an essay? Use quotation marks for song titles. Italicize the album name. Example: “Yesterday” from the album Help!.
How do you write an article title in an essay? Put the article title in quotation marks and italicize the name of the publication it appears in.
What if I’m handwriting — can I underline instead of italicize? In handwriting and typewritten work (before word processors), underlining was the convention for what is now expressed as italics. In any typed or word-processed essay, use italics.