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Composition Titles/Works

Names/titles that are capitalized and set in italics:

  • Album names
  • Books
  • Cartoons or comic strips
  • Drawings
  • Epic poems
  • Exhibition catalogs
  • Journals
  • Long musical compositions
  • Movies
  • Newspaper sections
  • Newspapers
  • Operas
  • Oratorios
  • Paintings
  • Pamphlets
  • Performances
  • Periodicals
  • Plays
  • Soon-to-be-published books (forthcoming should be set in parentheses following the title)
  • Statues
  • Television and radio programs

Capitalize an initial “the” only when it is part of formal title of a publication and when syntax permits its use:

  • A recent article in The New York Times
  • In a recent New York Times editorial …

Subsequent shortened references to titles are fine as long as reference is clear:

  • The New York Times last week reported on the endowments of Ivy League colleges and universities. The same Times article notes Penn’s 10 percent rise in its endowment.

Names/titles that are capitalized and set within quotation marks:

  • Book chapters
  • Book manuscripts
  • Conferences
  • Courses
  • Essays
  • Exhibitions
  • Journal articles
  • Lectures and seminars
  • Magazine articles
  • Newspaper articles
  • PhD dissertations
  • Photographs
  • Poems
  • Songs
  • Symposia
  • Television series episodes
  • Theses

Names/titles that are capitalized and set Roman (plain text):

  • Broadcast networks
  • Major speeches
  • Channels