Title Format

Formatting Titles

A lot of people have trouble formatting titles correctly. In an English class, how you format the title of a work (a book, an article, a poem, a television show, etc.) can affect the clarity of what you are trying to communicate in your paper. Please use this reference to make sure you are formatting your titles correctly.

NOTE: Be sure to capitalize the first letter in ALL of the words of your title except for prepositions (in, of, to, about, toward, between, with, etc.), conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, so, etc.) and articles (a, an, the), UNLESS the word is the first one in the title or comes after a colon. Capitalize EVEN IF the words are not capitalized in your source. NEVER use bold type, all caps or extra large fonts in titles.

Type of Source / Document	Title Format	Examples
A book or a play	Underline or Italicize (Do one or the other and be consistent throughout the paper)	The Price of a Child or The Price of a Child Uncle Tom's Cabin: Or, Life among the Lowly or Uncle Tom's Cabin: Or, Life among the Lowly Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Death of a Salesman or Death of a Salesman Othello: The Moor of Venice or Othello: The Moor of Venice
A periodical (scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers)	Underline or Italicize	The New England Journal of Medicine or The New England Journal of Medicine Essence or Essence The Philadelphia Inquirer or The Philadelphia Inquirer
An article from a periodical	Quotation Marks	"HIV Awareness in African American Fraternities" "Referee Linked to Alleged Area Bookmaker"
A article from an anthology (a book of articles by different authors)	Quotation Marks	"Teen Pregnancy: A Different Perspective"
A short story	Quotation Marks	"The Cask of Amontillado" "Sweat" "Bloodchild"
A film	Underline or Italicize	The Matrix or The Matrix Hustle & Flow or Hustle & Flow Bowling for Columbine or Bowling for Columbine
A CD or album	Underline or Italicize	Hairspray: The Motion Picture Soundtrack or Hairspray: The Motion Picture Soundtrack The White Album or The White Album
A single song from a CD or album	Quotation Marks	"Revolution" "The Light of My Life" "Pimp & Circumstance"
A poem	Quotation Marks	"If We Must Die" "Phenomenal Woman" "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?"
A reference book	Underline or Italicize	The Oxford English Dictionary or The Oxford English Dictionary Encyclopedia Britannica or Encyclopedia Britannica
A television show	Underline or Italicize	Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Buffy the Vampire Slayer American Idol or American Idol
A single episode of a television show	Quotation Marks	"Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" "Once More with Feeling"
A web page NOTE: You should check with me before using information from ANY web page in your paper.	Plain text	If you are just mentioning the name of a web page, use the url: www.cnn.com If you are using an article, poem, etc., from a web page, format it according to its type: "Dogfighting Co-Defendant Flips; Vick Speaks"
Your own title (the title of your paper)	Plain text (no bold, no quotation marks, no all caps, no underline)	An Eating Disordered Nation: How the Obsession with Thinness Hurts Everyone Banning Specific Dog Breeds Is Unfair Responses to Global Warming
A title within the title of your paper	Format any title within your title according to this chart.	Women and Skin Color in Uncle Tom's Cabin Images of Flowers in "Sweat" Why American Idol Is Destroying the United States