Articles > Titles
Titles: Quote Marks, Italics, Underlining, or Naked?
Remember the days when your manual typewriter didn’t have a key for the number 1, so you used a lowercase letter L instead? And to type an exclamation point, you typed an apostrophe first, backspaced, and then typed a period beneath it? Sure you do, punk.
Clarification: I’m not that old; my high school was poor. We pasted our newspaper dummies together with wax and made type changes with a dull razor.
Well, we don’t type that way anymore, because technology has blessed us with 1s and !s on our keyboards. Likewise, because we are capable of rendering type in italics, you underline titles only when writing them by hand or using software that doesn’t italicize. As long as you remember that underlining equals italics and to never underline when you can italicize, you’re good.
You can get pretty far by following the “Big/heavy equals italics” (like books) and “Small/light equals quotes” (like poems) generalizations.
As for enclosing titles in quotation marks or italicizing them, you can get pretty far by following the “Big/heavy equals italics” (like books) and “Small/light equals quotes” (like poems) generalizations, but Associated Press style doesn’t italicize nothin’ and Chicago style has layers of specificity and if-then statements. Fun!
Because the Associated Press stylebook is not indexed and the manual for Chicago style covers title style in several sections (intermixed with name style and capitalization style), some title styles may have been inadvertently omitted due to oblivion on my part. Please send me a note if any oversight makes you twitch.
It’s all arbitrary, so go for clarity and sustainability.
Following is the breakdown between AP style and Chicago style. This is intended as a quick rundown or cheat sheet; for examples of each, please refer to the pages and sections indicated. “Neither” means that the usual headline-style (or title-style) caps still apply, but the title/name is naked as far as quotes and italics are concerned. (Capitalization for titles will be covered in a future blog entry.)
| Titles for . . . | AP | Chicago |
|---|---|---|
| Albums | Quotes (p. 62) | Italics (8.192) |
| Almanacs | Neither (p. 62) | |
| Apps | Neither (p. 62), e.g., Facebook, Foursquare | Italics (8.193) |
| Art | Quotes (p. 62) | Italics (8.193) |
| Articles | Quotes (8.175) | |
| Bible | Neither (p. 62) | |
| Blog entries | Quotes (8.187) | |
| Blogs | Italics (8.187) | |
| Books | Quotes (p. 62)—but the Bible and catalogs of reference material use neither | Italics (8.166)—but book series and editions use neither (8.174) |
| Cartoons | Italics (8.194) | |
| Catalogs | Neither (p. 62) | |
| Chapters | Quotes (8.175) | |
| Classical music, nicknames | Quotes (p. 63) | |
| Classical music, identified by sequence | Neither (p. 63) | |
| Columns (in periodicals) | Neither (8.175, 14.205) | |
| Comic strips | Italics (8.194) | |
| Computer games and computer-game apps | Quotes (p. 62), e.g., “Farmville” | Italics (Chicago Style Q&A) |
| Computer software | Neither for software such as WordPerfect or Windows (p. 62) | |
| Conferences | Neither (8.69)—unless it has “status,” then use quotes | |
| Departments (in periodicals) | Neither (8.175, 14.202) | |
| Dictionaries | Neither (p. 62) | |
| Directories | Neither (p. 62) | |
| Drawings | Italics (8.193) | |
| Encyclopedias | Neither (p. 62) | |
| Essays | Quotes (8.175) | |
| Exhibitions (large) | Neither (8.195) | |
| Exhibitions (small) | Italics (8.195) | |
| Fairs (large) | Neither (8.195) | |
| Fairs (small) | Italics (8.195) | |
| Gazetteers | Neither (p. 62) | |
| Handbooks | Neither (p. 62) | |
| Journals | Italics (8.166)—unless part of name of award, organization, etc. (8.170) | |
| Lecture series | Neither (8.86) | |
| Lectures (individual) | Quotes (p. 62) | Quotes (8.86) |
| Magazines | Neither (p. 159) | Italics (8.166)—unless part of name of award, organization, etc. (8.170) |
| Meetings | Neither (8.69)—unless it has “status,” then use quotes | |
| Movies | Quotes (p. 62) | Italics (8.185) |
| Newspapers | Italics (8.166)—unless part of name of award, organization, etc. (8.170) | |
| Operas | Quotes (p. 62) | Italics (8.189)—for long musical compositions or instrumental works, see 8.189-8.190 |
| Paintings | Italics (8.193) | |
| Pamphlets | Italics (8.193) | |
| Periodicals | Italics (8.166), unless part of name of award, organization, etc. (8.170) | |
| Photographs | Italics (8.193) | |
| Plays | Quotes (p. 62) | Italics (8.181) |
| Podcast episodes | Quotes (8.187) | |
| Podcasts | Italics (8.187) | |
| Poems | Quotes (p. 62) | Quotes (8.179)—unless book length, then treated as book (italics) |
| Radio episodes (in series) | Quotes (8.185) | |
| Radio programs and series | Quotes (p. 62) | Italics (8.185) |
| Reports | Italics (8.193) | |
| Short stories | Quotes (8.175) | |
| Songs | Quotes (p. 62) | Quotes (8.189) |
| Speeches | Quotes (p. 62) | Neither (8.75)—unless it has “status,” then use quotes. |
| Statues | Italics (8.193) | |
| Television episodes (in series) | Quotes (8.185) | |
| Television programs and series | Quotes (p. 62) | Italics (8.185) |
| Unpublished works | Quotes (8.184) | |
| Video blogs | Italics (8.187) | |
| Video-blog episodes | Quotes (8.187) | |
| Web pages and sections | Quotes (8.186) | |
| Websites | Neither (8.186) |
When it gets confusing, just remember these golden rules of copyediting:
- Whatever you choose, be consistent.
- But beware of having a tin ear.
- It’s all arbitrary, so go for clarity and sustainability.
Good luck.
This was awesome! Thank you soooo much! I've been going back and forth trying to figure it out forever.
Have a Sparkling Day!
Rebecca Rose
I'm late to the feast — but I just found this today, and it's very useful. Thanks so much — Sandy
Hysterical! I do believe I have a MUCH greater understanding of all this just by reading the first few paragraphs.
CMOS has weighed in on video games in the online Q&A section. Might be worth adding, though not yet official?
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/InternetWebandOtherPost-WatergateConcerns/faq0008.html
Thank you so much, Pete! I'll include it in the next update.
What about TV networks/station (ie Food Network, NBC Universal)
Naked!
I can't figure out when/why AP uses quote marks around book titles but Chicago-style doesn't. I've always italicized (or underlined), and then what would you do if you were talking about a chapter within the book, and then they're both in quotation marks? I find this confusing and prefer the Chicago style.
Italicized words are still iffy for wire transmission (AP stories), so book titles are enclosed in quote marks. I don't know if this will help, but for chapter style, AP says: "Capitalize chapter when used with a numeral in reference to a section of a book or legal code. Always use Arabic figures: Chapter 1, Chapter 20. Lowercase when standing alone." No quote marks! (But I prefer Chicago, too.)