Should book titles be italicized? The short answer is yes. Every major style guide — APA, MLA, Chicago, and AP — agrees that book titles should be set in italics when you reference them in your writing.
The longer answer involves a few edge cases worth knowing, especially if you write academic papers, blog posts, or manuscripts that follow different formatting standards.
The general rule
Italicize the titles of long, standalone works. Books, novels, anthologies, textbooks, and epic poems all get italics. This convention has been standard since typewriters replaced handwritten underlines with italic typefaces.
The reason is practical. Italics signal to the reader that a word or phrase is a proper title rather than ordinary text. When you write To Kill a Mockingbird, the formatting instantly communicates that you are naming a specific work.
According to the Purdue OWL, titles of longer works are always italicized, while shorter works use quotation marks. Grammarly confirms this as the standard across all major English style guides.
Style guide comparison
Each style guide has its own specific rules. Here is how they handle book titles:
| Style Guide | Book Titles | Short Works (Chapters, Poems) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLA | Italicized | ”Quotation marks” | Standard for humanities papers |
| APA | Italicized | ”Quotation marks” | Standard for psychology and social sciences |
| Chicago | Italicized | ”Quotation marks” | Two sub-systems (notes and author-date) |
| AP | ”Quotation marks" | "Quotation marks” | Exception — used in journalism |
The big outlier is AP style. The Associated Press stylebook puts book titles in quotation marks rather than italics. This exists because newspapers historically could not render italics in print. If you write for a news outlet, magazine, or press release, check whether they follow AP guidelines.
For everyone else — students, authors, bloggers, academics — italics are correct.
When to use quotation marks instead
Quotation marks replace italics for shorter works that are part of a larger whole. Think of it this way: the container gets italics, and the contents get quotes.
Use quotation marks for:
- Chapter titles (“The Boy Who Lived” from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone)
- Short stories (“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson)
- Individual poems (“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost)
- Articles and essays
- Episodes of a TV show
- Song titles
Use italics for:
- Books and novels
- Anthologies and collections
- Newspapers and magazines (The New York Times)
- Albums (Abbey Road)
- Films and TV series (Breaking Bad)
- Long musical compositions
The Chicago Manual of Style provides the most detailed breakdown of these categories. When in doubt, ask yourself whether the work stands alone or lives inside something bigger.
Special cases
A few situations trip people up regularly.
Book series. Series names are not italicized. Write “the Harry Potter series” in plain text, but italicize individual titles: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Sacred texts. The Bible, the Quran, and the Torah are not italicized in most style guides. Neither are their individual books (Genesis, Psalms). The MLA Handbook treats these as exceptions to the general rule.
Handwritten or plain-text formats. When you cannot use italics — like in a handwritten essay or a plain-text email — underline the title instead. Underlining and italicizing mean the same thing; italics just look cleaner in print and digital formats.
Titles within titles. If a book title appears inside another book title, the inner title is set in regular (roman) type: A Reader’s Guide to Hamlet.
How to italicize in common tools
Formatting varies by platform:
| Platform | How to Italicize |
|---|---|
| Google Docs / Word | Ctrl+I (Cmd+I on Mac) |
| Markdown | Wrap in asterisks: *Book Title* |
| HTML | Use <em>Book Title</em> or <i>Book Title</i> |
| Social media | Most platforms do not support italics natively |
On platforms like Twitter/X and Facebook that lack italic formatting, you can use Unicode italic text generators — though these can cause accessibility issues with screen readers. A simple workaround is to put the title in ALL CAPS or quotation marks when italics are unavailable.
Quick reference
When someone asks you whether book titles should be italicized, here is the one-sentence answer: Yes, italicize book titles in all major style guides except AP style, which uses quotation marks.
If you are writing a book of your own and need to reference other titles in your manuscript, most publishing tools handle italic formatting automatically. Chapter.pub supports standard markdown formatting, so you can italicize titles as you write without worrying about export issues.
For deeper formatting questions — like how to handle titles in your book’s front matter or bibliography — check the specific style guide your publisher or institution requires.
