Titles of artworks, books, articles, songs, etc. are indicated with italics or quotation marks, depending on the nature of the material. In this respect, CalArts’ style departs from AP’s, which does not use italics for titles at all (a vestige of the newswire days, when italics couldn’t be transmitted over the wires).
Italics
Use italics for titles of works that are published independently. If you can hold it in your hand as a single volume or if it’s a long-form production, italicize it.
- Books: The Great Gatsby, The Color Purple
- Movies: Toy Story, The Godfather
- TV shows: Succession, Stranger Things
- Albums: Sticky Fingers, The Life of a Showgirl
- Newspapers and magazines: The Los Angeles Times, Variety, Wired
- Plays and operas: Hamlet, Hamilton, La Bohème
- Video games: The Legend of Zelda,Fortnight
- Paintings and sculptures: The Starry Night, David
- Blogs and online publications: The Daily Beast, 24700
Quotation marks
Use quotation marks for titles of works that are part of a larger collection.
- Songs: “Anti-Hero” (from the album Midnights)
- TV episodes: “The Rains of Castamere” (from Game of Thrones)
- Short stories and poems: “The Lottery,” “The Raven”
- Book chapters: “Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived”
- Newspaper and magazine articles: “The Economy is Booming”
Standard/Roman type
Use neither italics nor quotation marks for certain religious and legal texts.
- Holy books: The Bible, the Quran, the Torah (and specific books like Genesis)
- Legal documents: The Constitution, the Bill of Rights
- Websites: Facebook, Wikipedia, Google