How to Write Song Titles in an Essay: Formatting Guide

MLA style is common in humanities and literature classes. When mentioning a song, place the title in quotation marks. Ensure the punctuation, such as a comma or period, stays inside the quotation marks if it follows the title. Example: Many people consider "Imagine" to be a timeless anthem for peace.

APA style is used primarily in the social sciences. While the in-text citation rules are strict, the formatting for the song title itself remains the same: use quotation marks. If you are creating a reference list entry, the song title is not italicized, but the album name is.

Properly capitalizing a song title is just as important as the punctuation. Follow these general rules:

• Capitalize the first and last word of the title.
• Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
• Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the) unless they are the first word.
• Do not capitalize short prepositions (in, on, at, by) unless they are the first word.

A common point of confusion is where to put the period or comma. In American English, periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation mark. If the song title itself ends in a question mark or exclamation point, that mark stays inside the quotes, and you do not need an additional period at the end of the sentence.