How to Write a Book Title In an Essay with a Simple Guide

Knowing how to write a title of a book in an essay means applying consistent formatting so the work stands apart from your own words. In most academic formats, full-length books appear in italics, while shorter pieces use quotation marks. Titles usually follow title case, where major words are capitalized to match standard style guidelines.

Guidelines on How to Format a Book Title in an Essay

Book title format changes based on what you name: a full work, a part of a work, or the structure of the title. The sections below explain the entire process of formatting book titles in your essay.

Use Italics for Complete Works

A title switches to italics when the text exists as its own publication. Think of novels, full nonfiction books, plays, or collected volumes sold as a complete unit. The formatting quietly tells the reader they are looking at a whole work, not a fragment tucked inside another book.

Examples:

• The essay connects memory and migration in On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.
• The discussion of online behavior draws heavily on The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.
• Environmental ethics become clearer after reading Braiding Sweetgrass.

Pro Tip: Copy the title from a library catalog, not the cover. Databases like Google Books or a university catalog show the official publication title you should use in academic writing.

Use Quotation Marks for Sections of Books

The process of writing book title in essay changes once the text is placed inside a larger container. A chapter, short story, or individual poem is treated as a component. That smaller piece takes quotation marks, while the book that holds it remains italicized.

Examples:

• The narrator in “The Husband Stitch” complicates the themes presented in Her Body and Other Parties.
• The argument refers to “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” when discussing moral choice in speculative fiction.
• Identity is examined through “The School Days of an Indian Girl” within a broader autobiographical collection.

Apply Title Case Capitalization

Writing the name of a book in an essay also means paying attention to capitalization. Title case capitalizes the first word, the last word, and the important words in between: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns. Small connecting words stay lowercase unless they open or close the title.

Examples:

• The paper compares narrative voice in The Night Watchman.
• Scientific communication is illustrated using A Brief History of Time.
• Memory and control intersect in The Memory Police.

Include Subtitles After a Colon

Some titles include a subtitle after a colon, which you need to keep in place. The main title and subtitle are both parts of one name, so they remain in italics because they refer to the same publication.

Examples:

• The student cites How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy in a discussion of productivity culture.
• Housing inequality appears in Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.
• The research references Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism to support its claim.

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How to Use Punctuation in Titles

Titles already come with their own punctuation. Your sentence also has punctuation. The trick about how to write book titles in essays correctly is knowing which one belongs to which.

• When a question mark or exclamation point is part of the title, keep it inside the italics. This punctuation is part of the official name, so it stays attached. For example: I kept returning to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? because the tension never fully settles.
• When a book title ends your sentence, the period goes outside the italics. For example: The author frames uncertainty as a habit in The Order of Time.
• When the whole sentence is a question, the question mark goes outside the italics. For example: How does The Fifth Discipline define a learning organization?

How to Format Book Titles in Essays

Different citation styles have their own rules for formatting book titles. The most common styles include:

• MLA: Italicizes book titles and uses quotation marks for shorter works.
• APA: Also italicizes book titles, with quotation marks for shorter works like articles or chapters.
• Chicago: Uses italics for book titles and places shorter works in quotation marks.

How to Write Book Titles in APA Style

APA makes titles look clean and consistent, which matters in academic writing where readers scan fast. You will mainly deal with italics, capitalization, quotation marks for shorter works, and what happens after a colon.

• Capitalization: Use the title as published without changing capitalization.  Don't capitalize small words like "and," "or," "to," or "the" unless they're the first word of the title.
  Example: The paper uses The Warmth of Other Suns to frame migration as a lived experience.
• Italics: Italicize full-length, standalone works such as books. This is the default for a book title in APA.
  Example: I cite Invisible Women when discussing how data gaps shape policy decisions.
• Quotation marks: Use quotation marks for shorter works, such as a chapter or a short story. Keep the original book titles italicized.
  Example: The paper references “The Husband Stitch” while analyzing symbolism in Her Body and Other Parties.
• After a colon: When a title includes a subtitle, keep the subtitle and use a colon between them. If the full title is a book, the whole thing stays italicized.
  Example: The author’s critique of attention appears in How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.

Writing the Name of the Author in APA

In APA style, the book title appears in italics as part of the sentence, while the author’s name and year identify the source. When the author is named in the sentence, include only the year in parentheses:

• Westover’s Educated (2018) presents education as a personal reinvention.

If the author is not named in the sentence, include the author and year in parentheses:

• The argument about attention appears throughout Stolen Focus (Hari, 2022).
• The case studies in Invisible Women support the claim about design inequality (Criado Perez, 2019).

How to Write Book Titles in MLA Format

In MLA Style, here’s how to put a book title in an essay with simple rules:

• Italics: Italicize book titles and other full-length works. This includes books, films, albums, and plays.
  Example: The narrator’s self-awareness in The Argonauts becomes part of the meaning.
• Quotation marks: Put shorter works in quotation marks, such as chapters, articles, and short stories. If it appears inside a book, the book title stays italicized.
  Example: The essay references “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” when discussing moral choice.
• Capitalization: Capitalize the first and last words and the important words in between. Keep articles, short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions lowercase unless they sit at the beginning or end.
  Example: The argument depends on the framing in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.
• No underlining: MLA expects italics. It no longer uses underlining for book titles.
• Subtitles: Keep the subtitle if it appears in the official title. Use a colon, then capitalize the first word after the colon.
  Example: The author’s attention critique is clearest in How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.

Writing the Name of the Author in the MLA Handbook

When you refer to a book in MLA format, italicize the title and treat it as part of the sentence. The citation stays minimal because the Works Cited page contains the full publication details.

Example in a sentence:

• In On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong presents belonging as both intimate and costly.

If the author’s name is not already in the sentence, add the last name and page number in parentheses:

• The narrator reflects on belonging (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous Vuong 58).

If the author’s name appears in the sentence, include only the page number in parentheses:

• Vuong describes memory as fragmented (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous 58).

For works with two authors, include both last names:

• The argument develops across later chapters (The Rebel Sell Heath and Potter 214).

For three or more authors, use the first author’s last name followed by et al.:

• The definition becomes narrower in the methods section (Methods in Social Research Klein et al. 91).

How to Write Book Titles in Essays in Chicago Style

Chicago style is common in history, literature, and some humanities classes. It uses the same core formatting logic as MLA for titles, then adds flexibility depending on whether your class uses Notes and Bibliography or Author-Date. The title rules stay stable either way. This matters when you’re figuring out how to write the title of a book in an essay without mixing systems.

• Italics: Italicize full-length works such as books, films, and albums.
  Example: The paper references The New Jim Crow when explaining structural policy effects.
• Quotation marks: Use quotation marks for shorter works such as chapters, articles, and essays.
  Example: The paper analyzes “The Yellow Wallpaper” to explain unreliable narration.
• Capitalization: Capitalize the first and last words and the important words in between. Keep articles, short prepositions, and conjunctions lowercase unless they are first or last.
  Example: The framing shifts halfway through The Order of Time.
• Subtitles: Include subtitles when they are part of the official title. Use a colon and capitalize the first word after it.
  Example: The critique of attention economics appears in How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.
• No underlining: Chicago also expects italics, not underlining, in modern documents.

Writing the Name of the Author in Chicago

In Chicago style, book titles appear in italics within the sentence, and the author’s name is written in normal order (First Name Last Name). 

Example in a sentence:

• In Educated, Tara Westover reflects on identity and self-invention.

Chicago has two citation systems. In the Notes and Bibliography system, citations appear in footnotes, while the Author-Date system places the author's last name and publication year in parentheses.

Author–Date examples:

• In Educated, Tara Westover reflects on identity and self-invention (Westover 2018).
  
• The argument about consumer culture appears in The Rebel Sell (Heath and Potter 2004).
  
• A global history perspective shapes the discussion in Sapiens (Harari 2015).

Notes & Bibliography examples:

• Tara Westover, Educated (New York: Random House, 2018), 45.
  
• Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter, The Rebel Sell (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2004), 214.
  
• Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens (New York: Harper, 2015), 91.

Pro Tip: Set italics once in your editor’s style settings. In Microsoft Word or Google Docs, create a character style for book titles. Applying one style prevents random formatting drift during revisions.

Comparing Examples in Different Styles

All style guides follow the same basic idea: full works use italics, smaller parts use quotation marks. The differences are small and mostly affect capitalization and punctuation around the title. Seeing them together makes the pattern easier to remember.

Tips for Book Titles in Handwritten Essays

When you're writing an essay by hand, formatting book titles can be a bit tricky since you don't have the option to italicize text as you would on a computer. In these cases, underlining is your go-to alternative. Here's how to handle book titles in handwritten essays:

• Underlining: Instead of italics, underline the title of any full-length work like books, plays, or albums. This was the standard before digital text became widely available, and it still works well when you're writing by hand. For example, if you're writing the title of Pride and Prejudice, you would underline it like this: Pride and Prejudice.
• Shorter Works: If you're including a short story, article, or poem, enclose the title in quotation marks, just like you would for typed essays. For example, "The Scarlet Ibis" or "The Yellow Wallpaper."
• No Extra Underlining: Don't underline any part of the title unnecessarily, and avoid underlining words that don't need it, like "and" or "the," unless they're part of the title's beginning or end.

Examples:

• The Great Gatsby (book title underlined in handwritten text)
• "The Necklace" (short story title in quotation marks)