Are Book Titles Underlined or Italicized?

You’re finishing an essay, your argument is solid, and you’re ready to submit. Then your eyes land on one title in the first paragraph and everything slows down.

Is the book title supposed to be underlined? Italicized? Put in quotation marks?

That tiny formatting choice causes a surprising amount of stress because people learn different versions of the rule at different times. A teacher who learned on a typewriter may remember underlining. A current style guide may require italics. A journalism class may tell you something else entirely.

The good news is that the rule is much simpler than it seems once you match it to the situation. Most of the confusion comes from mixing old habits, school-specific rules, and online writing conventions.

The Final-Sentence Problem Everyone Faces

A student usually asks this question at the very end of the writing process.

They’ve already picked a thesis, found sources, drafted paragraphs, fixed citations, and rewritten the conclusion. Then they spot a title like To Kill a Mockingbird and suddenly feel unsure about the smallest detail on the page.

That hesitation makes sense. Formatting rules often get taught in fragments.

Maybe you were told in middle school to underline titles. Maybe your current professor says to italicize them. Maybe you’ve seen book titles in quotation marks in news articles and thought, “Now what?”

Practical rule: If your work is typed or digital, book titles are usually italicized. If your work is handwritten, underlining may still be the correct substitute.

That’s the answer most students need. But it helps to know why, because once you understand the logic, you stop second-guessing yourself.

Think of title formatting like clothing for the text. A full book is a complete, stand-alone work, so it gets a distinctive look. A shorter piece inside a larger work, like a chapter or article, usually gets quotation marks instead.

When readers ask “are book titles underlined,” they’re really asking something bigger. They want one rule they can trust when the deadline is close.

The Simple Answer and Why Underlining Became Outdated

For almost all typed and digital writing, book titles should be italicized.

Underlining is the older method. It came from the typewriter era, when writers couldn’t create true italics. Before personal computers became common in the 1980s, typewriters could not produce italics, so underlining became the standard. An analysis of documents from 1990 to 2020 found that underlining for book titles dropped from 92% in pre-1995 samples to under 5% after 2010, as digital style guides shifted toward italics, according to GrammarBook’s discussion of titles of works.

Why italics won

Underlining is a bit like a cassette tape. It worked well for the technology of its time, but it was largely abandoned once a better option appeared.

Italics are cleaner on a screen and neater on a printed page. They separate the title from the surrounding sentence without drawing a thick line through the letters. Underlining can also create a visual problem online, where readers often assume underlined text is a hyperlink.

Here’s the practical version:

• Typed essay
  Use italics: Beloved changed the way many readers discuss memory and trauma.

• Research paper in Word or Google Docs
  Use italics: In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald links wealth to illusion.

• Blog post or website copy
  Use italics if your platform allows them.

The easy memory trick

Use this sentence in your head:

Books get italics when your keyboard can make italics.

That won’t cover every edge case, but it will get you right most of the time.

How Major Style Guides Handle Titles

The broad rule is stable across academic writing. Long, stand-alone works such as books are usually italicized. Shorter works inside larger works are usually placed in quotation marks.

What MLA, APA, and Chicago agree on

If you’re writing an essay, research paper, or literature analysis, MLA, APA, and Chicago all point you toward italics for books.

That means you’d write:

• Jane Eyre
• The Catcher in the Rye
• A Brief History of Time

A book chapter, poem, or journal article is different because it belongs inside something larger. Those usually go in quotation marks.

Examples:

• “The Tell-Tale Heart”
• “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
• “Self-Reliance”

Where the guides matter most

The biggest reason to check your style guide isn’t the book-title rule itself. It’s the small surrounding details like capitalization, references, and whether a title belongs to a larger container.

Chicago also raises an important web-based concern. The Chicago Manual of Style favors italics because underlined text can be confused with links online. One cited benchmark says underlined text can lead to 25% higher bounce rates on academic blogs, and the same source notes that APA 7 parsing systems may flag underlined titles as outdated in some automated submission settings. That point appears in this CMOS-focused video discussion.

Underlining on the web asks readers to solve the wrong problem. They stop asking “What title is this?” and start asking “Can I click it?”

If you’re also cleaning up citations, this quick guide to et al. punctuation helps with another common formatting issue that often appears in the same final proofread.

Title formatting rules at a glance

Type of Work	Example	MLA 9	APA 7	Chicago 17
Book	Frankenstein	Italics	Italics	Italics
Play	Hamlet	Italics	Italics	Italics
Journal	Nature	Italics	Italics	Italics
Short story	“The Lottery”	Quotation marks	Quotation marks in running text	Quotation marks
Poem	“Ozymandias”	Quotation marks	Quotation marks in running text	Quotation marks
Book chapter	“The Minister’s Black Veil”	Quotation marks	Quotation marks in running text	Quotation marks

A fast way to decide

Ask one question: Can this work stand on its own?

If yes, it usually gets italics. If it lives inside a larger work, it usually gets quotation marks.

That single test solves most title-formatting confusion.

Formatting Titles in Plain Text and Online

Sometimes you can’t use italics even though you know that’s the correct style.

Maybe you’re writing in a plain-text email. Maybe a discussion board strips formatting. Maybe you’re posting in a basic app that won’t preserve italics after you hit send.

What to do when italics aren't available

In plain text, the most readable workaround is to use asterisks around the title:

• I finally finished Dune last night.
• Our class is reading Night this week.

Many readers recognize this instantly because it comes from early internet writing and Markdown conventions.

If asterisks don’t display well on your platform, use clear wording instead. You can write something like:

• In the book The Road, McCarthy strips language down to its bones.

Or, if needed:

• In the book “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy...

That last option isn’t ideal for formal style, but in plain text it can prevent confusion.

What not to do online

Don’t underline titles on a webpage unless your style system specifically forces it. Online, underlining usually means “clickable.”

That visual habit is strong. Readers see an underline and expect a link.

Best fallback: If italics are unavailable, use asterisks and stay consistent from start to finish.

If you’re formatting quotations in the same assignment, this guide on how to do block quotes in MLA can save another last-minute trip to the style manual.

The One Time You Should Still Underline

If you’re writing by hand, underlining is still the safe, familiar choice.

This is the exception many students don’t hear clearly enough. They learn “always italicize book titles,” then walk into an exam room with a blue pen and no way to create real italics neatly.

Why handwriting changes the rule

Handwritten italics are messy for many people. A slight slant isn’t always visible, and some letters become harder to read. Underlining gives the teacher a clearer signal.

That matters more than perfection. Your instructor needs to recognize the title immediately.

One teaching gap is that handwritten title rules are often underexplained. A lesson page on title formatting notes that guidance here is thin, and it reports anecdotal educator feedback suggesting that up to 20-30% of grading penalties in some humanities courses come from inconsistent title formatting, especially when students shift from AI-generated or typed drafts to handwritten exam answers. That claim appears in this Tutors.com lesson on titles of works.

How to underline well in handwritten work

• Draw one clean line under the full title, not each word separately.
• Skip fancy double underlines unless your teacher specifically asks for them.
• Underline the subtitle too if it’s part of the full book title.
• Keep the line straight and avoid crossing into the letters.

Example:

I wrote my response on Their Eyes Were Watching God during the exam.

If you’re holding a pen, underlining isn’t old-fashioned. It’s practical.

A Quick Look at Global and Other Styles

American classrooms often treat MLA, APA, and Chicago as if they’re the whole world. They aren’t.

Different professions and language traditions format titles differently, which is one reason this question never fully goes away.

Journalism does it differently

In AP style, book titles are commonly placed in quotation marks, not italics.

So a journalist may write “The Great Gatsby” where a literature student would write The Great Gatsby. Neither writer is automatically wrong. They’re following different systems.

International conventions vary

Some non-US traditions don’t rely on italics in the same way. One library FAQ notes that many style guides are US-centric and points to examples such as French typography using guillemets (« »), while newer EU digital accessibility rules are pushing writers away from underlining because of hyperlink confusion in digital reading environments. You can see that summary in this library guidance on title formatting conventions.

That matters for international students, bilingual writers, and anyone submitting work across different institutions.

Check the house style before you check your memory. Your audience decides the rule.

The useful takeaway

If you’re asking “are book titles underlined,” the better question is often this:

Under which style system, in which country, for which audience?

For most student essays in the US, italics are the answer. But once you move into journalism, multilingual publishing, or international academic settings, the local rules matter more than the general rule.

Your Quick-Reference Rules for Book Titles

If you want the shortest possible version, keep this list nearby.

• Typed school papers
  Use italics for book titles.

• Handwritten assignments or exams
  Underline book titles.

• Short works inside larger works
  Use quotation marks for things like poems, chapters, essays, and short stories.

• Plain-text emails or posts
  Use asterisks if italics aren’t available.

• Online pages
  Avoid underlining because readers may think the text is a link.

• Journalism or AP-based writing
  Check the style sheet first, because book titles may appear in quotation marks.

• International or multilingual writing
  Don’t assume US classroom rules apply everywhere.

The memory trick that works

Use this:

Book equals big enough to stand alone.
Stand-alone works usually get italics. Handwriting gets underlining.

That rule won’t replace every style guide, but it will keep you out of trouble most of the time.

Frequently Asked Questions on Title Formatting

Do I italicize the subtitle too

Yes. If the subtitle is part of the full book title, italicize it too.

Example: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

If you’re handwriting, underline the full title, including the subtitle.

What about “the,” “a,” or “an” at the beginning

Include them if they’re part of the official title.

Write The Lord of the Rings, not just Lord of the Rings, unless you’re shortening it informally in discussion and your instructor allows that.

Are series titles treated like book titles

Usually, yes, if you’re referring to the series as a stand-alone named work.

Example: Harry Potter can refer to the series in casual discussion. But be careful. If you mean one specific book, name that specific title instead, such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Do I use quotation marks around a chapter inside a book

Yes. A chapter title is a shorter work inside a larger work.

Example: “The Garden Party” would take quotation marks if it appeared as a short work, while the larger collection or book title would be italicized.

What if my teacher says something different

Follow your teacher’s instructions first.

A classroom rule beats a general rule because your teacher is grading that assignment. Style guides matter, but assignment directions matter more in practice.

What if I mention a title many times in one paragraph

Format it correctly the first time and keep it consistent every time after that. Don’t switch between italics, quotes, and plain text.

Do poems follow the same rule as books

No. Poems are usually treated as shorter works, so they typically go in quotation marks rather than italics. If you need help with that, this guide on how to cite a poem is a useful companion.

Can I bold a book title instead

Usually, no. Bold is not the normal replacement for italics in standard academic writing unless a specific format requires it.

The cleanest choice is still simple. Type it in italics. Write it with an underline.

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