The Rules of Writing Title Based on MLA

The Rules of Writing Title Based on MLA


Written by The Modern Language Association of America in MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Paper: New York. 2009. pp. 86-92


1. Capitalization
capitalize the first word, the last word, and all principal words, including those that follow hyphens in compound terms. Therefore, capitalize the following parts of speech:
a. Nouns (e.g., flowers, as in The Flowers of Europe)
b. Pronouns (e.g., our, as in Save Our Children; that, as in The Mouse  That Roared)
c. Verbs (e.g., watches, as in America Watches Television; is, as in What Is Literature?)
d. Adjectives (e.g., ugly, as in The Ugly Duckling; that, as in Who Said That Phrase?)
e. Adverbs (e.g., slightly, as in Only Slightly Corrupt; down, as in Go Down, Moses)
f. Subordinating conjunctions (e.g., after, although, as if, as soon as, because, before, if, that, unless, until, when, where, while, as in One If by Land and Anywhere That Chance Leads)
- Do not capitalize the following parts of speech when they fall in the middle of a title:
a. Articles (a, an, the, as in Under the Bamboo Tree)
b. Prepositions (e.g., against, as, between, in, of, to, as in The Merchant of Venice and "A Dialogue between the Soul and Body")
c. Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, as in Romeo and Juliet)
d. The to in infinitives (as in How to Play Chess)

- Use a colon and a space to separate a title from a subtitle, unless the title ends in a question mark or an exclamation point. Include other punctuation only if it is part of the title or subtitle.

- When the first line of a poem serves as the title of the poem, reproduce the line exactly as it appears in the text.Dickinson's poem u heard a Fly buzz-when' died-" contrasts the everyday and the momentous.

2. Italicized Titles
Italicize the names of books, plays, poems published as books, pamphlets, periodicals (newspapers, magazines, and journals), Web sites, online databases, films, television and radio broadcasts, compact discs, audio cassettes, record albums, dance performances, operas and other long musical compositions, works of visual art, ships, aircraft, and spacecraft.

The Awakening (book)
The Importance of Being Earnest (play)
The Waste Land (poem published as a book)

3. Titles in Quotation Marks
Use quotation marks for the titles of articles, essays, stories and poems published within larger works, chapters of books, pages in Web sites, individual episodes of television and radio broadcasts, and short musical compositions (e.g., songs). Also use quotation marks for unpublished works, such as lectures and speeches.

"Literary History and Sociology" (journal article)
"Sources of Energy in the Next Decade" (magazine article)
"Etruscan" (encyclopedia article)

4. Titles and Quotations within Titles
Italicize a title normally indicated by italics when it appears within a title enclosed in quotation marks.
"Romeo and Juliet and Renaissance Politics" (an article about a play)
"Language and Childbirth in The Awakening" (an article about a novel)

- Enclose in single quotation marks a title normally indicated by quotation marks when it appears within another title requiring quotation marks.
"Lines after Reading 'Sailing to Byzantium'" (a poem about a poem)
'The Uncanny Theology of 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'" (an article about a story)

- Also place single quotation marks around a quotation that appears within a title requiring quotation marks.
"Emerson's Strategies against 'Foolish Consistency'" (an article with a quotation in its title)

- Use quotation marks around a title normally indicated by quotation marks when it appears within an italicized title.
"The Lottery" and Other Stories (a book of stories)
New Perspectives on "The Eve of St. Agnes" (a book about a poem)

If a period is required after an italicized title that ends with a quotation mark, place the period before the quotation mark.
The study appears in New Perspectives on "The Eve of St. Agnes."

5. Exceptions
The convention of using italics and quotation marks to indicate titles does not generally apply to the names of scriptural writings (including all books and versions of the Bible); of laws, acts, and similar political documents; of musical compositions identified by form,number, and key; of series, societies, buildings, and monuments; and of conferences, seminars, workshops, and courses. These terms all appear without italics or quotation marks.
SCRIPTURE
Bible
Old Testament
Genesis
Gospels
Talmud
Koran
Upanishads

- Words designating the divisions of a work are also not italicized or put within quotation marks, nor are they capitalized when used in the text ("The author says in her preface ... ," "In canto 32 Ariosto writes ...").
preface
introduction
list of works cited
appendix

6. Shortened Titles
scene 7
stanza 20
chapter 2
If you cite a title often in the text of your paper, you may, after stating the title in full at least once, use a shortened form, preferably a familiar or obvious one [e.g., "Nightingale" for "Ode to a Nightingale"), or an abbreviation.