How to Write a Book Title In An Essay?

Know How to Write a Book Title within an Essay – A Guide

Are you mulling over how to correctly write a book title in your essay?

Well, join the club. Several students lack the proper know-how and often enquire from experts or search online for apt guidance.

Experts recommend writing the book title in Italics to make it distinguishable. 

Fun fact, however, not all essays require a title. Some do well without it. Still, possessing the correct know-how to write a book title correctly makes a decisive difference in your essay. 

Fortunately, it’s not that difficult once you learn the correct rules. Of course, how you write the title will differ per your writing style or how your professor instructs you. 

Let us now discuss this in detail.

How to Write a Book Title in an Essay

Capitalizing the First Letter of All Verbs, Nouns, and Adjectives

Students often pick this method to write the book title in their essays by capitalizing the first alphabet of every noun, verb, and adjective.

If you don’t know the proper capitalization rules, learn them quickly from reliable online sources or YouTube videos. 

Ideally, all crucial words in the title case must be capitalized, including ones after a colon. 

Common Examples of Titles in Capitalization Are –

• Wuthering Heights
• The Lord of the Flies
• To Kill a Mockingbird

Don’t capitalize everything. It is a common mistake most students make when they capitalize titles. Don’t make the same blunder, as it is the wrong way to do it.

Academic experts state; one should avoid capitalizing prepositions, synchronizing conjunctions, or articles. Such terms aren’t as important in the book title, so capitalization’s unnecessary.

• Articles include– a, the, an, etc.
• Synchronizing conjunctions include– for, not, but, yet, etc.
• Prepositions include– at, in, of, since, until, over, above, during, between, beneath, opposite, etc.

Incorporate Punctuation within Italics If It Has a Part of the Book Title 

Most book titles don’t have any punctuation marks. However, sometimes book titles have question marks or commas. In such scenarios, you must make the punctuation marks in Italics too. 

For Example – Absalom, Absalom! –William Faulkner

Refer to the example where both comma and exclamation mark is in italics.

Using Direct Quotation Marks for Book Titles Part of a Trilogy or Anthology

Students often use direct quotations in their essays to substantiate or complement their arguments or research findings. Using quotes in those areas helps readers determine the significance of those sections while reading your written piece. It could be a handful of terms or a full-bore statement extracted directly from the book.

Moreover, you must use quotation marks in the book title if it refers to a particular text. 

For Example – “The Fellowship of the Ring” in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy! Or “In his book The Catcher in The Rye” - J.D Salinger writes (so on and so forth). 

Additional Note for Students

Additionally, whenever using a book passage directly into your essay, use direct quotations in and around the passage and also include the page number in the citation. 

For Example – “Fair is foul and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air” (3rd Witch, 12 Act 1, Scene 1, MACBETH) 

Using In-Text Source Citations to Write Book Title in the Essay

Another recommendation to include a book title in your essay writing help is through in-text source citations. Incorporating correct references into an academic essay is compulsory for most writers to adhere to. 

It adds more depth and credibility to the write-up and compels readers to go through it. 

Moreover, adding in-text source citations also help readers discover where you sourced the information you’re citing. You can pick from different citation styles: APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.

Although, most times, the professor mentions the referencing style to adopt the paper!

If you write a book title in your essay per the APA citation style, then all the initial alphabet of each word of the book title will be capitalized.

Example of Book Title in APA Citation Style – Blue River: Trial of the Mayor-Elect.

See how the first alphabet of every word is capitalized. Since there is a colon or dash, capitalize the following word (no matter how long the term is). 

Using Abbreviating Titles in an Essay

Certain book titles can be lengthy. Using them frequently in an essay can prove burdensome. Fortunately, academic experts recommend abbreviating lengthy book titles in your essay.

However, the title must comprise more than 4 terms or words. When abbreviating the book title, ensure the first word remains intact along with the following words. 

For Example –The Catcher in the Rye” is abbreviated into “Catcher.”

Furthermore, remember to introduce the abbreviation in the foremost reference of the book title and enclose it in parentheses. Once done, you can use the abbreviated title in your essay.

For Instance – JD Salinger in “The Cather in the Rye (Catcher),” the protagonist (so on and so forth)! 

Additional Suggestions for Students

• Use Title case for stand-alone book titles or fragments of a complete volume. 

For Instance – “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” from The Poems of Emily Dickinson

• Use single quotations for book titles within another title in double-quotes. 
• Self-contained and independent book titles must be in Italics- Shakespeare’s Hamlet or John Donne’s Holy Sonnets.
• For titles, part of a whole volume must be quoted in the essay. It could be a title of Acts, A short poem, or even a song within the book. 

For Example –“The Knight Bus” from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, or “The Tyger” via Songs of Experience!

Final Lines 

There you have it – various ways to write a book title in your essay piece. So, remember these suggestions and use them whenever you start writing. If the professor hasn’t clarified what citation style to use, clarify beforehand. 

It could simplify things and give you confidence when working on your essay. 

However, if you get stuck anywhere, our online essay helpers are reachable 24x7 and will gladly offer customized essay writing guidance and mentoring.