How to Write a Book Title in an Essay

Before formatting, identify if the title refers to a standalone work or a contained work. Standalone works include novels, memoirs, and textbooks. These must always be italicized. If you are referring to a specific chapter, a short story within a collection, or an essay within an anthology, use quotation marks instead. Consistency is key: if the work was published on its own as a bound volume, use italics. This rule applies across MLA, APA, and Chicago styles to help readers quickly identify the type of source you are citing.

In the body of your essay, use title case regardless of your citation style. This means you must capitalize the first word, the last word, and all principal words. Principal words include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor), or prepositions (in, on, at, by) unless they start or end the title. For example, in the title The Catcher in the Rye, 'in' and 'the' remain lowercase because they are a preposition and an article located in the middle of the title.

While body text rules are similar, reference lists vary by style. In MLA style, always use italics and title case in both the text and the Works Cited page. In APA style, use italics and title case in the body text, but switch to sentence case in the reference list (e.g., The catcher in the rye). In Chicago style, use italics and title case for both. If you are handwriting your essay, underline the title; underlining is the manual equivalent of italics and signals the same hierarchy to your instructor.