Titles - italicisation

This page is one of a group on how to present titles. You may also want to see how to use CAPITAL letters in titles.

When considering how to mark the title of a source in academic work (or, in any writing, to give the title of a published work), we divide them into two groups. You can find our grouping at Title - taxonomy. The two groups are marked as titles in different ways.

• The 'heavyweights' are italicised, in our current conventions. (For an older convention, see Title - italic or underlined.) Examples: Romeo & Juliet, Das Kapital and The Origin of Species.
• The 'lightweights' are enclosed within single inverted commas (' ') in AWE. This allows the distinction to be clear even inside a quotation. Examples: "The chapter 'Airs and Graces' in Lynne Truss's book on punctuation, Eats, Shoots and Leaves"¦ or "The song 'Voi che sapete' [the Italian song 'You who Know'] in Mozart's Figaro"¦ or "Meron's article, 'The Geneva Conventions as Customary Law' in The American Journal of International Law".

As the precise memberships of the two groups is largely a matter of judgement and taste, this Guide can only be that - a guide, whose advice you must take or leave. In general, try to adapt your practice to a consistent view of what constitutes a long and what a short piece of work. Over time, it will change; and there will always be borderline cases which will be disputed by pedants.

You may also want to see Titles - capitalisation.

Be aware that different publishers and different academic departments and subjects have different rules for how to mark titles. Follow the appropriate guidelines for your current purposes.