You are halfway through a sentence when suddenly the title of a book stops you.

Should it be italicized? Underlined? Surrounded by quotation marks?

Questions such as do you underline book titles, do you italicize book titles, and do you put book titles in quotes sound like grammar questions, but they are really questions of style. The correct choice depends on the style guide you are following, the type of writing you are doing, and—in a few cases—the medium you are writing in.

The good news is that the modern rule is much simpler than it first appears.

Quick answer: In most typed or digital writing, book titles are italicized. If you are writing by hand and cannot produce italics, underline the title instead. If you are following AP style for journalism, book titles are generally placed in quotation marks. Always follow a publisher, school, publication, or organization’s house style when one is provided.

MLA’s current guidance treats books and other long, independent works in italics and shorter works in quotation marks. Chicago likewise uses italics for book titles. AP-style publications are the notable exception, generally using quotation marks around composition titles.

Are Book Titles Italicized?

For most writers, the answer to are book titles italicized is yes.

If you are writing an essay, novel, blog post, academic paper, manuscript, or most other modern prose, a complete book title will normally appear in italics.

For example:

Mara pulled The Lighthouse at Winter’s End from the shelf.

Or:

I finished The Architecture of Memory over the weekend.

The italics tell the reader that the words represent the title of a complete, stand-alone work rather than simply a phrase within your sentence.

This is also why someone asking are books italicized or should book titles be italicized will usually receive the same practical answer: yes, unless the style guide governing the document tells you otherwise.

MLA explicitly uses italics for books, plays, and other long-form works, while shorter works such as stories are normally placed in quotation marks.

Do You Underline Book Titles?

So where did underlining a book title come from?

Long before writers could click an Italic button, manuscripts were commonly produced by hand or on typewriters. Most typewriters could not easily produce italic type. Writers therefore underlined words that were intended to appear in italics when typeset.

The convention survived for decades, which explains why many people still ask are book titles underlined or do I underline book titles.

Today, the distinction is straightforward:

Situation	Recommended treatment
Typed or digital document	Italicize the book title
Handwritten document	Underline when italics cannot be shown
Traditional typewriter	Underline when italic type is unavailable
MLA	Italicize complete book titles
Chicago	Italicize complete book titles
APA	Italicize book titles
AP/news style	Use quotation marks
Publisher or organization with its own style	Follow its house style

MLA still recognizes underlining as a substitute when italic characters are unavailable in handwritten or typewritten material.

So if you are deciding whether to underline or italicize a book title, italics are the better choice in almost every modern digital document.

Do You Italicize Book Titles?

The high-volume question do you italicize book titles deserves an equally simple answer:

Usually, yes.

Chicago, MLA, APA, and much of general publishing use italics for book-length works. The more useful rule to remember is:

Whole work = italics

Part of a larger work = quotation marks

Imagine a fictional book called The Cartographer’s Secret. Inside it is a chapter called “The Map Beneath the Floor.”

You would write: In The Cartographer’s Secret, the chapter “The Map Beneath the Floor” changes the direction of the story.

The novel is a complete work, so its title is italicized. The chapter is one component of that larger work, so its title appears in quotation marks.

That same principle helps with many other types of writing.

Complete or stand-alone work	Part of a larger work
Book	Chapter
Novel	Short story
Magazine	Magazine article
Newspaper	Newspaper article
Album	Song
Television series	Episode

MLA describes essentially this distinction: long and independent works are generally italicized, while shorter works contained within larger works are generally enclosed in quotation marks.

Are Novels Italicized?

Yes. If you are wondering are novels italicized, treat a novel exactly as you would another full-length book.

Correct:

Her favorite novel is The City Beyond the Rain.

Not: Her favorite novel is “The City Beyond the Rain.”

And not, in ordinary typed prose: Her favorite novel is underlined.

The same applies when deciding whether to underline or italicize novels. In modern typed writing, italics are normally the cleaner and more widely accepted choice.

Do You Put Book Titles in Quotes?

This is where things become slightly more interesting.

If you are following MLA, Chicago, APA, or conventional publishing style, the answer to do you put book titles in quotes is generally no. Use italics.

However, AP style the style widely associated with journalism uses quotation marks around many composition titles, including books.

An AP-style sentence might therefore look like this:

The author discussed her new novel, “The Last House on Bell Street.”

This isn’t a contradiction. It is simply a different style system.

A number of universities that formally follow AP style summarize the rule the same way: book titles and similar composition titles take quotation marks, with exceptions including sacred texts and many reference works.

That is why questions such as do book titles go in quotes, do you quote book titles, do names of books go in quotes, and are book titles in quotes can all legitimately receive different answers depending on context.

For authors writing fiction or nonfiction manuscripts rather than journalism, italics will usually be the more natural choice.

Book Titles: Italics or Quotes?

When deciding between book titles in quotes or italics, start by identifying the style system governing your document rather than trying to remember one universal rule.

MLA

MLA normally italicizes book titles.

The Museum of Forgotten Things

A short work within the book would take quotation marks: “The Locked Gallery”.

MLA’s current guidance continues to distinguish longer works in italics from shorter works in quotation marks.

Chicago

Chicago also normally italicizes titles of books.

Building Stories That Last

Chicago’s current guidance continues to treat a book title as an italicized title.

APA

APA likewise uses italics for book titles. One detail matters particularly in reference lists: APA normally uses sentence case for the title of a book in a reference entry rather than capitalizing every major word.

Rivers, A. (2026). Writing a novel from first idea to final draft. Northstar Press.

Purdue’s current APA guidance identifies books and journals as longer works whose titles are italicized.

AP Style

AP is the major exception writers frequently encounter.

In AP-style journalism, book titles are generally put in quotation marks rather than italics.

“The Forest Between Us”

AP-style guidance also traditionally exempts works such as the Bible and certain reference books from those quotation marks.

House Style

A magazine, publisher, website, university, company, or literary journal can choose its own house rules.

That means a publication may intentionally depart from MLA, Chicago, or AP.

This remains good advice: consistency matters more than switching styles halfway through a manuscript. A publisher may ultimately change a manuscript to match its own style.

How to Write a Book Title Correctly

Formatting is only one part of how to write a book title in running text.

You also need to consider capitalization.

In ordinary prose using MLA or Chicago-style conventions, major words in an English-language book title are usually capitalized:

The Girl Who Waited for Morning

Notice that short articles and certain short prepositions remain lowercase unless they begin or end the title.

APA introduces an important exception in its reference list. A book title there is generally written in sentence case:

The girl who waited for morning

So if you are wondering how to type a book title, first determine where it will appear. A book title in the prose of your article and the same title in an APA reference list may be capitalized differently even though both are italicized.

What About Book Chapters?

Book chapters are an easy place to get the rules mixed up.

The book is the larger work:

Maps for Imaginary Places

The chapter is a smaller work contained within it: “Drawing the First Coastline”

So you might write: Chapter 6, “Drawing the First Coastline,” is one of the strongest sections of Maps for Imaginary Places.

This whole-work-versus-part-of-a-work principle is one of the most useful shortcuts for remembering when to use italics and when to use quotation marks.

What About Book Series?

An individual book and the name of a series are not always treated identically.

An individual novel would normally be italicized:

The Ember Crown

But an informal series name may remain in ordinary roman type: the Ember Chronicles series.

Series styling can become more nuanced when the series itself has an official published title or derives directly from a book title. Context can affect how an informal series title is treated.

When publishing professionally, check the relevant style guide or publisher’s house style rather than inventing a rule.

What About Sacred Texts?

Sacred works can be exceptions to the normal book-title rule.

General references to works such as the Bible or Quran are commonly written without italics or quotation marks.

However, when identifying a particular published edition, formatting may change.

MLA distinguishes between referring generally to the Bible and referring to a specific published edition of it. This is also one of the exceptions noted in AP-style rules.

What If You Can’t Use Italics?

Digital writing has made this problem uncommon, but it still happens.

A plain-text platform, basic messaging system, or social network may not provide italic formatting.

Chicago notes that where italics are unavailable, writers have several practical alternatives, including leaving the title in title case, using quotation marks, or using all caps; there isn’t one universally settled social-media convention.

For ordinary communication, quotation marks are often the easiest way to make the title immediately clear:

I just started “The Quiet Observatory.”

If you are writing by hand, however, underlining remains the traditional substitute:

I just started The Quiet Observatory. [Underline the title when handwriting.]

That distinction answers most questions about book titles underlined or italics.

What About Titles Within Titles?

Here’s one of the trickier cases.

Suppose your fictional nonfiction book is titled:

Reading The Invisible City

But The Invisible City is itself the title of another book.

When an italicized title contains another title that would normally also be italicized, style guides may switch the inner title to roman type or otherwise differentiate it. This is the kind of edge case where checking the exact style manual is better than relying on memory.

Does It Matter in a Novel Manuscript?

Yes—but not enough to stop writing.

Suppose a character mentions a book in Chapter 2. You italicize it: Lena had carried The Atlas of Vanishing Roads since childhood.

Then the same book appears again in Chapter 24. Italicize it again.

Don’t suddenly switch to quotation marks or underlining.

Professional presentation matters, but consistency is the more important habit. If a publisher uses a different house style, an editor can change the styling later.

That means writers should not lose half an hour worrying about whether do you italicize or underline book titles while drafting a scene.

Choose the appropriate convention, apply it consistently, and keep writing.

Common Book-Title Formatting Mistakes

Writers usually run into trouble not because the rules are impossibly complicated, but because they mix several conventions in one document.

A manuscript might italicize a title in Chapter 1, place it in quotation marks in Chapter 4, and underline it in Chapter 12. Another writer might italicize the novel but also italicize every chapter title, making it difficult to distinguish the complete work from its components.

A simple editing pass can catch most of these inconsistencies.

For a modern manuscript, the safest default is:

• Full book → italics.
• Chapter or short work → quotation marks.
• Handwritten title when italics are unavailable → underline.
• AP journalism → quotation marks around the book title.
• Specific publication instructions → follow those instructions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a book title italicized?

Usually, yes. MLA, Chicago, APA, and conventional publishing normally italicize the title of a complete book.

Do I italicize book titles?

If you are writing a normal typed manuscript, essay, blog post, or academic paper and are not required to follow AP or another house style, italics are usually the right choice.

Are books underlined or italicized?

Modern typed text generally uses italics. Underlining is mainly useful when handwriting or when italic formatting is unavailable.

Do you underline the name of a book?

Normally not in digital writing. Italicize the book title instead. If you’re writing by hand, underlining is an accepted substitute for italics.

Underline or italicize a book title?

Use italics in modern typed writing. Underline when italics cannot be represented or when specific instructions require it.

Do you put quotation marks around book titles?

Under MLA, Chicago, and APA, normally no. Under AP style, yes.

Are books italicized or quoted?

They are usually italicized in publishing, academic, and literary contexts, but AP-style journalism generally uses quotation marks.

Book title italics or quotes?

Check your style guide. If none has been specified and you are writing general prose, italics are usually the clearest default.

Do you put quotes around book titles?

Only when your style guide calls for them—most notably AP—or when italics are unavailable and quotation marks are the clearest practical substitute.

Do you underline or italicize book titles?

For a typed manuscript, italicize them. For handwritten text where italics cannot be shown, underline them.

The Rule Worth Remembering

There isn’t one piece of punctuation that is universally correct in every publication.

There is, however, a useful default:

In modern typed writing, italicize the titles of complete books. Use quotation marks for shorter works contained inside larger works. Use underlining when italics aren’t available. If a style guide or publisher says otherwise, follow that style.

Once you have made the choice, stay consistent.

A reader should be thinking about the book you are discussing—not about why its title changed formatting three times.

And if you are writing your own book, that is even more important. Formatting rules should help your manuscript feel professional without pulling you out of the creative work.