When is a title underlined or italicized

You should also note that these guidelines apply to titles that appear in a text and are surrounded by other words. Should you italicize it?

See the examples below:. Punctuating titles can cause trouble for some writers, but the rule is actually quite simple: If the punctuation is part of the title, include it in the italics or quotation marks. In the first sentence, the title itself is a question, so the question mark is italicized as part of the title. In the second sentence, however, the title is not a question; rather, the sentence as a whole is a question.

Therefore, the question mark is not italicized. The rules for emphasizing titles may seem straightforward, but there are exceptions. What happens if you have more than one title, for instance? Note that if the title contains ending punctuation marks, those should be included within the quotation marks. If a punctuation mark is used in the sentence containing a title, periods and commas should go inside the ending quotation mark, while question marks and exclamation points should go outside the ending quotation mark.

Print Tweet Share on Facebook. Comments 8. Nice, quick, concise listing. Good format to save for quick reference. Thank you so much for the information. It was so helpful and easily understandable. Is it the same for MLA writing? What about the name of a community program, for example Friend's Read. Would you use quotations or italics? Sara, Librarian: Adriana, great question. Just capitalize the major words of the organization or program like you did above with Friend's Read.

Thank you for this posting. I am writing a paper on The Crucible and, surprisingly, I couldn't find on the wonderfully thorough Purdue Owl APA guide whether titles of plays are italicized or in quotes. Thank you! I am also wondering, do you capitalize only the first word of the title when using it in the text of your paper, like you are supposed to do in the references list?

But when it comes to typing in that book title, you find yourself hovering between the italics and underline buttons, unsure which to choose. If you happen across some older documents, you might see book titles underlined, as this used to be the standard.

But underlining fell out of favour as computer technology improved and formatting and style options became more varied. In contemporary practice, underlining is generally not considered a standard way of distinguishing book titles in your writing.

But if nothing is specified, italicization is the best fallback. This might all seem a bit arbitrary, but ultimately, formatting book titles correctly is a matter of producing a professional, consistent piece of writing. As writers, many of us are probably fairly pedantic when it comes to grammar , punctuation and style I know I am! Distinguishing book titles in some way is important to avoid confusion. If titles are included in the flow of a sentence without any indication, they can pull readers up as they try to read the title as part of the sentence.

When you produce a piece of writing, you no doubt hope your audience will read it closely, think about it and enjoy it.

But nothing throws a reader out of a piece of writing like incorrect or out-of-place punctuation and formatting. Readers typically expect that an underline on the web will be a hyperlink, so underlining book titles here is something to avoid.