Punctuating Titles Italics or Quotes When to Use

Punctuating Titles: Italics or “Quotes”?

When to Use Italics/underlining l l l 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 l l l 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 l l 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 l l l 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 l l l 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 l l The general rule: Use quotation marks to enclose titles of short works (often works that are part of a larger collection).

l Elements of Literature -- “The Minister’s Black Veil” l The Washington Post l Deadliest Catch l The Wasteland And Other Poems l The Dark Side of the Moon -- “USPS Plans to End Saturday Mail” -- “Long Sleepless Nights” -- “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” -- “Money”