1. Punctuating Titles: Italics or “Quotes”?

2. When to Use Italics/underlining
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.

3. When to Use Italics/underlining
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

4. When to Use Italics/underlining
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.)

5. When to Use “Quotes” Around a Title
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”

6. When to Use “Quotes” Around a Title
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.”

7. When to Use “Quotes” Around a Title
The general rule:
Use quotation marks to enclose titles of short works (often works that are part of a larger collection).

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