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DEALING WITH TITLES IN MLA FORMAT
by Dr. Harold William Halbert
The conventions of properly marking a title in MLA style can seem confusing, but the basic issues deal with 1) capitalization and 2) marking the title.
Capitalization:
The standard conventions for capitalizing a title in MLA style are straightforward:
- The first letter of every word is capitalized except for articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
- Articles ("a," "an," and "the"), coordinating conjunctions ("for," "and," "nor," "but," "or," "yet," and "so"), and prepositions (words such as "on," "above," "below," "to," "throughout," etc.) are NOT capitalized.
- The first word is always capitalized, regardless of if it is an article or preposition.
Marking the Title:
There are three possible ways to mark a title: the use of underlining/italics, quotation marks, or no mark at all. The following general rules of thumb may help writers conceptualize the difference between the three demarcations:
- Underline or italicize large works or works that contain other works.
- Use quotation marks on shorter works.
- Do not mark sacred texts or political documents such as laws, acts, treaties, or declarations.
| Underline/Italic | Quotation Marks | No Marks |
| Novels, books, anthologies | Short stories, essays, and chapter titles. | Religious texts |
| Magazines, newspapers, and journals | Individual articles | |
| Films, TV shows, radio programs | Individual episodes of shows or programs | |
| Web sites | Individual web pages | |
| Epic poems | Regular poems | |
| Pamphlets or sermons | ||
| Albums, named symphonies, ballets | Individual songs | Numbered musical compositions |
| Painting, sculptures | ||
| Names of specific ships, spacecraft, or aircraft | Type of ship, spacecraft, or aircraft | |
| Lectures | ||
| Supreme Court Cases | Legal documents, treaties, acts, and declarations |
Note that underlining and italics signify the same type of mark.
Many traditional professors prefer underling because when the
MLA guidelines were first established, italics was not available on typewriters.
Never use BOTH italics and underlining.
Your Own Title:
Your own title for papers and other writings should follow the MLA rules on capitalization. Do not use italics, underlining, or quotation marks on it. Instead, it should appear centered one single-spaced line below the identification information and one single-spaced line above the first line of the paper. Do not increase the font size.
Titles in Titles:
If a title contains another title within it, confusion can occur. Follow the following rules to avoid confusion:
- An underlined title in an underlined title requires that the line be removed from internal title (example: Understanding The Sun Also Rises).
- A quoted title inside a quoted title requires the use of single quotation marks around the internal title (example: "The Dandy in Cather's 'Paul's Case'").
http://faculty.mc3.edu/hhalbert/shared/titles_MLA_style.html
Owned by Dr. Harold William Halbert
Based on MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th Edition)
Others are welcome to use this document provided credit is given to me.
