Answered By: Kate Anderson, Business Librarian Last Updated: Jul 25, 2018 Views: 1157994
Simply put: no.
APA's Publication Manual (2010) indicates that, in the body of your paper, you should use italics for the titles of:
- books
- periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers)
- films
- videos
- TV shows
- Microfilm publications
Beyond APA's specific examples, know that certain types of titles are almost always written in italics.
Use italics in a word-processed document for the types of titles you'd underline if you were writing by hand. A general rule of thumb is that within the text of a paper, italicize the title of complete works but put quotation marks around titles of parts within a complete work.
The table below isn't comprehensive, but it's a good starting point
Titles in Italics | Titles Placed in "Quotation Marks" |
Title of a periodical (magazine, journal, newspaper) | Title of article in a periodical |
Title of a book | Title of a chapter in a book |
Title of a movie or play | Name of an act or scene in a movie or a play |
Title of a television or radio series | Title of an episode within a tv or radio series |
Title of a musical album or CD | Title of a song |
Title of a long poem | Title of a short poem |
Names of operas or long musical composition | |
Names of paintings and sculptures | |
Title of a short story
|
On an APA-style reference page, the rules for titles are a little different. In short, a title you would italicize within the body of a paper will also be italicized on a reference page. However, a title you'd place in quotation marks within the body of the paper (such as the title of an article within a journal) will be written in normal lettering and will not be in quotation marks.
Here are some examples:
Smith (2001) research is fully described in the Journal of Higher Education.
Smith's (2001) article "College Admissions See Increase" was published in the Journal of Higher Education after his pivotal study on the admissions process.
Visit the APA Style Blog's page How to Capitalize and Format Reference Titles in APA Style to learn more!
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Sara, Librarian: Lesa, Rasmussen College doesn't teach or focus on MLA for students. But if you have specific MLA formatting questions, I recommend you take a look at the MLA FAQ website here: https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style/FAQ-about-MLA-Style
Sara, Librarian: Adriana, great question. for organization or program names in the text of a paper you don't need to use italics or quotation marks. Just capitalize the major words of the organization or program like you did above with Friend's Read.
Sara, Librarian Reply: Ashley, within the text of your paper you should capitalize all the important words like you normally would. Thank you for your question!