1. Ms. Davis’s 5th-Grade Language Arts Classes
Writing Titles
Ms. Davis’s
5th-Grade Language Arts Classes

2. Capitalizing
ALWAYS capitalize the FIRST word, the LAST word, and important words in the middle of:
book & chapter titles,
movie titles,
album & song titles,
magazine, newspaper, & article titles,
titles of television shows & episodes,
titles of works of art, and
titles of plays!

3. Capitalizing DO NOT capitalize these words in titles:
Articles (a, an, the)
Prepositions that have fewer than 4 letters
Conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

4. Capitalizing Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The Summer of the Swans
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
Out of the Dust

5. Underlining ALWAYS completely underline (when printing): book titles,
movie titles,
album titles,
magazine/newspaper titles,
titles of television shows,
titles of works of art, &
titles of plays!

6. Underlining Summer of the Swans Out of the Dust
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Summer of the Swans
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
Out of the Dust

7. Quotation Marks Consider that book titles, movie titles, album titles,
magazine/newspaper titles,
titles of television shows,
titles of works of art, &
titles of plays!
are major works, so they are underlined…

8. Quotation Marks book chapters, short stories, & poems,
What would come INSIDE a major work would be considered a minor work (a PART, not the WHOLE), so we put it in quotation marks, but we CAPITALIZE it just as we would the major works. Minor works include:
book chapters, short stories, & poems,
movie chapters,
song titles,
magazine & newspaper articles,
television episodes, &
acts or scenes in plays

9. major works can be bought in a store, but minor works cannot!
Quotation Marks
Remember this tidbit:
major works can be bought in a store, but minor works cannot!

10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Quotation Marks
Book title (major):
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
(J. K. Rowling)
Book chapters (minor):
“The Boy Who Lived”
“The Keeper of the Keys”
“The Man with Two Faces”
1) Click for first bullet, title will follow automatically. 2) Click for second bullet, titles will follow automatically.

11. Quotation Marks Suicide Squad “Crush Syndrome” “I’ve Got the Blues”
Movie title (major):
Suicide Squad
Movie chapters (minor):
“Crush Syndrome”
“I’ve Got the Blues”
“The Sandwich Saved Me”
1) Click for first bullet, title will follow automatically. 2) Click for second bullet, titles will follow automatically.

12. Quotation Marks Blurryface (Twenty One Pilots) “Stressed Out”
Album title (major):
Blurryface (Twenty One Pilots)
Song titles (minor):
“Stressed Out”
“Tear in My Heart”
“We Don’t Believe What’s on TV”

13. Quotation Marks Rolling Stone Magazine “Legends of Rock”
Magazine title (major):
Rolling Stone Magazine
Article titles (minor):
“Legends of Rock”
“The Day the Music Died”
“When Jazz Enters the ‘Hood”

14. Quotation Marks Walking Dead (AMC Network) “What Lies Ahead”
TV show (major):
Walking Dead (AMC Network)
Episode titles (minor):
“What Lies Ahead”
“Cat’s in the Bag”
“…And the Bag’s in the River”

15. POP QUIZ! Write the title of the book you’re reading now.
One Direction has an album titled made in the a.m., and one of the songs is called i want to write you a song. Write the name of the album and the song correctly.
Write the name of your favorite movie.
One episode of the TV drama, once upon a time, was called there’s no place like home. Write the name of the TV show and the episode correctly.

16. POP QUIZ! 5. Is “Life” a magazine or a magazine article ?
Based on the way each title is punctuated or italicized…
5. Is “Life” a magazine or a magazine article ?
6. Is Temper an album or a song?
7. Is Blizzard a book title or a chapter name?
8. Is “E. R.” a TV show or an episode name?
Is “Dog Team” a movie or a movie chapter?
Is Mardi Gras the name of a play or an act or scene in a play?