Quotation Marks? Italics? Bold? All Caps?

What to do? What to do? Should I put this in quotation marks or italics?

Today begins a five-part series on quotation marks and italics (interspersed with some guest posts for your edutainment). 

1. Quotes Versus Italics
2. Other Uses for Italics
3. Other Uses for Quotation Marks
4. Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation
5. Quiz on Quotation Marks and Italics

First of all, to simplify, you can pretty much forget about all caps and bold. They aren’t punctuation marks (well, okay, neither are italics), and they are more decorative. You might use bold or all caps for titles or headings of chapters, or sections of something you are writing, or possibly promotional writing or other graphics-related items (like book covers, social media banners, etc.). But if you are writing text, there is really no place for all caps or bold in more formal writing. Of course, in texts or social media posts, be my guest!

However, there is often confusion about when to put something in italics versus when to put it in quotation marks, and there is a distinction. Before we go any further, I know that sometimes italics aren’t available, for example, on Facebook or Twitter. In these cases, just use quotation marks instead. 

Here is the general rule:

• Complete things are put in italics
• Parts of things are in quotation marks,

Here are some examples:

1.If you are writing something and need to refer to a book title, the title goes in italics; a chapter title in the book would be in quotation marks. A short story would also be in quotation marks.

• Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird?
• We need to read chapter two, “Birds of Africa,” for homework.
• The story “Frankie Tells a Lie” is my favorite in that anthology.

2. Albums or CDs (what are those these days??) are in italics. Song titles are quoted.

• I still have my copy of Abbey Road by the Beatles!
• “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is my favorite song on that album.

3. Names of magazines and newspapers are in italics; title of articles within them are in quotation marks.

•  I still subscribe to Vogue.
• I read a great article called “Things Not to Do in a Pandemic.”

3. TV series are in italics; episode names are in quotes.

• Star Trek is one of my favorite shows of all times (it isn’t).
• I remember watching “The Enemy Within” episode when I was a kid. 

Here are some other “complete” things that are in italics:

• Movie titles
• Pieces of art (The Mona Lisa)
• Titles of plays
• Titles of operas
• Poems long enough to fill a book (Howl by Allen Ginsburg)
• Planes, boats, and spacecraft if they are given names other than their brand or model (Titanic)

Here are some parts of things that would be in quotation marks:

• Short poems
• Names of acts or scenes in a movie or play
• Newspaper articles

It goes without saying that we are talking here only about when you are referring to these things in text. Obviously, the titles of books that are on the covers are not in italics necessarily. (That is when we use all caps and bold!)