Formatting titles

Key Notes:

1. Importance of Formatting Titles

  • Titles help grab the reader’s attention and give insight into the content.
  • Proper formatting helps the title stand out and makes it easier to read.

2. Capitalization of Titles

  • In titles, capitalize the first and last word, as well as all major words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions).
  • Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the), short prepositions (in, on, at), or coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) unless they are the first or last word of the title.

Example: The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog

3. Italicizing Titles

  • Titles of books, movies, newspapers, albums, or other long works should be italicized.
  • For websites and magazines, italics are also used.

Example: The Great Gatsby, National Geographic

4. Quotation Marks for Short Works

  • Shorter works, such as articles, poems, short stories, and chapters within books, are placed in quotation marks.
  • Quotation marks help differentiate short works from longer ones.

Example: “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Road Not Taken”

5. Underlining Titles

  • In handwritten or typed work where italics are unavailable, titles may be underlined instead.

Example: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone or Romeo and Juliet

6. Punctuation in Titles

  • Punctuation marks like question marks, exclamation points, or colons can be part of the title if they appear in the original title.
  • For example, a title like Did You Know? includes the question mark.

7. Consistent Formatting

  • Ensure that the title is formatted consistently throughout your writing.
  • Be mindful of different formatting requirements (e.g., MLA, APA) for specific contexts (academic papers, essays).

8. Spacing and Alignment

  • Titles are typically centered on the page and formatted with bold or larger font size to make them stand out.

Example:
Title of the Essay
(centered and in a larger font)

9. Subtitles

  • If a work has a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon.

Example: The Great Gatsby: A Story of the Roaring Twenties

Learn with an example

Which correctly shows the title of a newspaper?

  • ‘Stranraer and Wigtownshire Free Press’
  • Stranraer and Wigtownshire Free Press
  • A newspaper should be in italics.
  • The correct title is Stranraer and Wigtownshire Free Press.

Which correctly shows the title of a book?

  • ‘Green Eggs and Ham’
  • Green Eggs and Ham
  • A book should be in italics.
  • The correct title is Green Eggs and Ham.

Which correctly shows the title of a film?

  • Nothing but Net‘
  • Nothing but Net’
  • A film should be in italics.
  • The correct title is Nothing but Net.

let’s practice! 🖊️