Writing a book title in an essay? That is a no-brainer, right? However, you would be surprised by how challenging it is. This is because it involves understanding the little details of the various style guides, such as MLA, APA, Harvard, or Chicago, to ensure clarity and professionalism. Properly formatting book titles in an essay also helps to distinguish it from the rest of the content. If you are having trouble writing a book title in an essay, do not worry; we can help. In this guide, we provide all the right information to help you master this art.
APA stands for American Psychological Association. Writing a book title in APA requires abiding by the APA rules and guidelines. Here are the general guidelines you must follow to ensure clarity and consistency.
Italicization
All book titles must be italicized in APA style to distinguish the title from other parts of your essay, making it clear to the readers that the title is important.
For example,
Please note that this is only for types of documents. If writing your essay by hand, underline the title, for example, Writing a Book Title in an Essay. This consistently ensures that the titles can be easily identified across all mediums.
Many books do not include punctuation such as commas, full stops, question marks, etc, but you will encounter it occasionally. If there are any punctuations in a title, please include them in italics.
Capitalization
APA also requires that the sentence case be used, i.e., capitalize the first word of the title and all major words in the title, like nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Minor words such as "and," "in," "of," and "the" should not be capitalized unless they are the first or last word of the title. Also, do not capitalize coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, or, or prepositions, in, of, to except if they are the first or last word of the title.
For example,
Please note that besides book titles, APA requires that you also follow the above rules for titles of poems, songs, tweets, movies, skits, YT videos, reports, journals, films, etc.
Other instructions to keep in mind include:
If providing a book title within the body of your essay, make sure you follow the above rules to distinguish the book from the discussion. For instance
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee explores the concept of heroism.
For every book title you provide within the body part, make sure to include a corresponding entry in the reference list. Follow these rules when including a book in your reference list:
Here is an example,
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name.
Mulholland, K. (2003). Class, gender, and the family business. Palgrave McMillan.
MLA stands for Modern Language Association. Like APA style, MLA has specific guidelines for writing book titles.
Here are general rules you should follow when formatting titles in MLA style.
Please note that there are exceptions to these rules:
Works Cited Entries
When you list books on the works cited page, abide by the following MLA rules.
The title of the work should come after the author and end with a period.
For example, Danticat, Edwidge. Brother, I'm Dying. Knopf, 2007.
For subtitles, include the main title after listing them. Separate a subtitle with a colon and a space.
If the title mentioned is in double quotation marks, put the title in single quotation marks. Some of these titles include poems, short stories, book chapters, and journal articles.
Put the title of a story, poem/ essay in a collection, as part of a larger whole, in quotation marks.
Dewar, James A., and Peng Hwa Ang. "The Cultural Consequences of Printing and the Internet." Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Eisenstein. U of Massachusetts P /Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007, pp. 365-77.
Independent work in a collection
When a work that is independent, for instance, a novel or play, is in a collection, its title should be in italics.
For instance,
Euripides. The Trojan Women. Ten Plays, translated by Paul Roche, New American Library, 1998, pp. 457-512.
The title of a periodical, such as a journal, magazine, or newspaper, must be in italics, and the title of the article should be in quotation marks. For example,
Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Integrity: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, 2010 pp. 69-88.
Please note that the above rule only applies to all media forms, such as the title of a television series or episode, a song or piece of music in an album, a post, or an article on a web page.
Television Series
NightShade. Created by the Duffer Brothers, starring Winona Ryder, HBO, 2016-present.
Episode in a Television Series
"The Upside Down." Stranger Things, created by the Duffer Brothers, starring Winona Ryder, season 1, episode 1, HBO, 1998-2008.
Website
Smith, John. The Literary Digest. 2008-2023, theliterarydigest.com
(Note: When providing URLs, omit "http" and "https.")
Posting of an Article on a Website
Smith, John. "E-Books vs. Print Books: A Comparative Study." The Literary Digest, 15 March 2022, theliterarydigest.com/2022/03/15/e-books-vs-print-books-a-comparative-study/.
Song or Piece of Music on an Album
Smith. "Rolling in the Deep." 21, XL Recordings, 2011, www.smith.com/music/21.
Untitled Source
Use a generic description of the item for untitled sources and capitalize the first word and any proper nouns. Do not use italics or quotation marks.
Gauguin, Paul. Self-Portrait with Yellow Christ. 1890, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Comment or in Title Review an Online Forum
Lee. Comment on "E-Books vs. Print Books: A Comparative Study." The Literary Digest, 15 March 2022, 2:45 p.m., theliterarydigest.com/2022/03/15/e-books-vs-print-books-a-comparative-study/#comment-56789.
Review of a Title in an Online Forum
Jackson, Emily. Review of The Art of Fiction, by John Doe. Online Literary Review, 10 July 2020, www.onlineliteraryreview.com/book-review/art-of-fiction.
Tweet
Replicate the entire tweet text exactly as it is without omitting anything, then enclose it in quotation marks.
@natureenthusiast: "we saw a rare bird species in the park today! #birdwatching." Twitter, 5 August 2021, 9:00 a.m., twitter.com/naturegeek/status/1422103672080000000.
Email Message
The subject line is the title and should be enclosed in quotation marks.
Jones, Rebecca M. "Re: Meeting Schedule." Received by Lindsay Hope, 12 November 1999.
Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword
When listing the works cited, capitalize the term but do not italicize or use quotation marks. In-text references do not need capitalization.
Gibson, Stuart. Foreword. Neuromancer, by William Gibson, Ace Books, 2000, pp. vii-xii.
Translations of Titles
Provide translations of foreign titles in square brackets in the works cited list. The translations should come next to the original title.
Shortened Titles
Use the full title the first time you mention it in your essay. For subsequent mentions, use a shortened form if it's commonly recognized (e.g., use The Da Vinci Code for The Da Vinci Code: A Robert Langdon Mystery).
Chicago Manual of Style requires that you follow these rules when formatting titles in your essay:
Italicize and capitalize titles of full-length of the following:
There is an exception for this:
However, titles of shorter works should be in quotation marks. These short titles include the following:
Unlike APA or MLA style, the Chicago style treats book titles in a specific way. Here is how this is done.
Chicago uses headline-style capitalizations, also known as title cases. This means that:
There are also instances where you are not supposed to italicize titles or put them in quotation marks. For instance, when writing names of websites, musical instruments, and classical arts of unknown creators.
Related: Sample book review.
The American Medical Association (AMA) style is commonly used in medical and science papers. Here are general formatting rules for formatting titles in AMA:
For book chapters, write in lowercase except for the first word and any proper nouns. Insert the word "In" and a colon (:) before the book title.
For journal titles, italicize and abbreviate using National Library of Medicine (NLM) abbreviations. On the other hand, articles on websites and posts should be in lowercase, except for the first word and proper nouns.
Related: ASA Style guide.
When assigned an essay, there are things you should keep in mind to ensure you format titles the right way in an essay. First, before you begin writing the title, do the following:
Related Guides:
Mastering the art of writing a book title becomes easy when you have all the nitty-gritty of each citation style. This way, you can ensure clarity, consistency, and professionalism within your essay. That said, by following the above rules and guidelines, you can write a book title the right way.
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