The rules for formatting in italic, roman, or in quotes are as follows, using title-style capitalization (See also “Titles of Works—Capitalization”).

Italicize titles of:

  • art exhibitions
  • blog names
  • books
  • concerts
  • law cases
  • long poems
  • magazines
  • movies
  • newspapers
  • plays
  • podcast series
  • radio shows
  • record albums/CDs
  • ships
  • television shows
  • web publications (e.g., Salon, Slate, and BU Today)
  • works of art

Use quotation marks, with no italics, around titles of:

  • articles and papers
  • chapters
  • individual lectures
  • podcasts and individual videos
  • short poems
  • short stories
  • single TV episodes
  • songs
  • speeches
  • unpublished works, such as theses and dissertations

Use neither quotation marks nor italics for titles of:

  • apps
  • courses
  • lecture series
  • websites

Capitalization

Title-style caps: in titles, capitalize the first word, proper nouns, and all other words except conjunctions, articles, and prepositions with fewer than five letters unless they come at the beginning or end of the headline. However, do capitalize a preposition that is emphasized or necessary to the verb that precedes it:

  • Speeding Up the Process
  • Calling Out for Help

Do not capitalize “to,” whether used as a preposition or part of an infinitive:

  • It’s Time to Celebrate

Capitalize short verbs like “is” and “be”:

  • Born to Be a Scholar
  • Where Is Boston University?

In a title containing a hyphenated compound, both parts are usually capitalized:

  • Long-Term Investment Strategies
  • Ready-Made Savings Plans

Capitalize titles of courses, but do not italicize or enclose in quotes:

  • Introduction to Communication Writing
  • Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

Music

In general, follow this rule for the titles of written works:

  • Long works are italicized
  • Short works are enclosed in quotation marks
  • They will sing three arias from Carmen and “When I Am Laid in Earth” from Dido and Aeneas.

When a title is written in the musical form, capitalize and, if appropriate, italicize, but do not use quotation marks:

  • Sonata for Four Hands; Second Suite in F, Op. 28; Fanfare from La Péri; Chopin’s op. 48, no. 1

Foreign language titles in general should be italicized unless that is confusing because of other uses of italics nearby.

Capitalize the M in Major and Minor and the letter of the key preceding the word “Major” or “Minor”:

  • Mozart’s Symphony in D Major (set in roman)

When a minor key is indicated but the word “minor” is not used, the letter is lowercase:

  • The key of c (lowercase) means C Minor. C (uppercase) means C Major.