when to use single quotation marks in an essay

When to Use Quotation Marks for Titles

Do you know when to use quotation marks for titles? Knowing whether to use italics or quotation marks for titles is one of the most common problems students have, especially when it comes to academic writing where you discuss your sources. Luckily, there are consistent themes that can help you pick the right format for each title, no matter what style guide you’re following. 

Below, we explain exactly when to use quotation marks in titles (and when to use italics instead). We’ll cover the title rules for the three main style guides—APA, MLA, and Chicago—and give you some guidelines for figuring out which kinds of titles use which format. 

How to properly quote a title with quotation marks

Quotation marks (“ ”) are mostly for showing speech or copying passages verbatim from other works, but sometimes they’re used for more than just punctuation . For certain types of works, they’re used to set apart titles. 

The general rule is to use quotation marks for titles of short works such as articles, poems, songs, essays, or short stories. By contrast, use italics for larger works such as books, movies, and the names of periodicals. We provide a complete list below. 

When to use italics or quotation marks for titles

Some types of work italicize titles , and some use quotation marks, but how do you know which is which? Here’s a quick list of what kinds of works use each. 

Works that use quotation marks in titles

• journal articles
• newspaper and magazine articles
• blog and online news articles
• essay titles
• poems (except epic poems)
• short stories
• episode titles of TV shows, podcasts, and other serial works
• page titles for websites
• section or part titles within a larger work
• short-form videos, such as those on YouTube

Examples of titles with quotation marks

“A Policy Framework for the Growing Influence of Private Equity on Health Care Deliver”

( Journal of the American Medical Association )

“Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to consider sewer rate increase”

( The Press Democrat )

“E.U. Approves Microsoft’s $69 Billion Deal for Activision”

( The New York Times )

“A Dream Deferred” 

(Langston Hughes)

Short story:

“Everything that Rises Must Converge”

(Flannery O’Connor)

“A Lonely Coast”

(Annie Proulx)

“ (Sittin ’ On) The Dock of the Bay ”

(Otis Redding)

“Think About Things”

(Daoi Freyr)

“The Wolves”

( The Wild Robot Escapes )

“The First Tee”

( The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever )

“The Danger of a Single Story”

(Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

“ Creativity in Management ”

(John Cleese)

Podcast episodes:

“The Lives of Others”

( This American Life )

“Alone@Work: Miles To Go Before I’m Me”

( Rough Translation )

“Responsible AI”

(Grammarly.com)

“Volleyball”

(Wikipedia.com)

Works that use italics in titles

• anthologies
• epic poems (not regular poems)
• periodical names (magazines, newspapers, and news websites)
• radio shows
• TV shows (not individual episodes)
• podcasts (not individual episodes)
• music albums
• video games
• operas and long musical compositions
• classic art like paintings and sculptures
• dissertations
• legal cases
• large vehicles such as ships, aircrafts, and spacecrafts

When to use quotation marks for titles for each style guide

While the basics are the same—italics for the titles of long works and quotation marks for the titles of short works—some minor details may vary. Here’s a quick rundown of when to use quotation marks in titles for the APA, MLA, and Chicago styles. 

Quotations marks in titles for APA

The APA format follows the list above: It uses quotation marks for all types of work mentioned. The only particular rule they have about quotation marks in titles is that they are not used in the reference list for articles and chapters.  

In APA, the reference list is the name of the bibliography, like a works cited page . When writing a full citation that mentions an article or book chapter, simply write the title with neither quotation marks nor italics. However, if the same title is written within the text (or in a copyright attribution), use quotation marks. 

Quotations marks in titles for Chicago

In general, Chicago style follows the list above. It does, nevertheless, list a few extra types of works that the other style guides do not. 

Quotation marks for titles:

• fairy tales and nursery rhymes

Italics for titles: 

• serialized cartoons and comic strips

Quotations marks in titles for MLA

The use of quotation marks in titles for MLA format is very straightforward. Simply use the appropriate format for the type of work, as indicated in the large list above. 

When to use single or double quotation marks for titles

There are two types of quotation marks: single quotation marks (‘ ’) and double quotation marks (“ ”). 

In general, American English uses double quotation marks. The only time we use single quotation marks for titles is to replace quotation marks within another pair of quotation marks. 

For example, if you were writing an article about Langston Hughes’s poems—highlighting “Harlem” in particular—the title of your article might be something like this:

“Reflections on ‘Harlem’ and Other Poems” 

Notice how, when we talk about the poem “Harlem” on its own, we use the standard double quotation marks. However, when we mention it within another pair of quotation marks, we use single quotation marks instead. 

This is done simply for the sake of clarity. It would be confusing to use double quotation marks within double quotation marks, so this makes reading a bit easier. Let’s look at another example: 

EPISODE TITLE: “The Winds of Winter” (episode of Game of Thrones )

ESSAY TITLE: “Why ‘The Winds of Winter’ Is the Best Episode of Game of Thrones ”

Keep in mind that if a title in quotation marks is used within an italicized title, double quotation marks are used. For example, look at how we write the title of a full book that collects Roald Dahl’s short stories: 

“The Landlady” and Other Short Stories

It’s also worth noting that this is only the convention in American English. In British English, single quotes and double quotes are switched! That means titles and speech quotes use single quotation marks most of the time and double quotation marks are used only within single quotes. Keep that in mind if you’re ever reading a British piece of writing . 

Quotation marks for titles FAQs

Why use quotation marks for titles.

Quotation marks set apart the titles of short works like articles, poems, songs, essays, or short stories. Longer works like books or movies use italics instead. 

When do you use quotation marks for titles?

Use quotation marks for the titles of articles, essays, poems, short stories, songs, chapters, lectures, pages for websites, episodes of serial works (such as TV shows or podcasts), names of sections or parts in larger works, and short-form videos such as those on YouTube. 

When do you use italics?

Use italics for the titles of books, movies, plays, TV shows, podcasts, video games, apps, classic art (like paintings and sculptures), music albums, legal cases, dissertations, anthologies, reports, periodicals (like magazines or newspapers), operas and long musical compositions, and large vehicles (like ships or aircraft).

The Editor’s Manual

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• Punctuation |
• Quotation marks

Single vs. Double Quotation Marks

Single and double quotes

Single and double quotation marks both appear in pairs and work the same way: most often, they enclose a quotation or direct speech, but they can also indicate irony, set off the title of a work (like the name of a song or a poem), or show that a word is used as itself in a sentence.

Whether to use single or double quotes depends upon whether you follow US or UK style. Double quotes (“ ”) are used to enclose text in American (and often Canadian) style, with single quotes used around words in text already within quotes. In contrast, single quotes (‘ ’) are preferred in British (and often Australian) style, with double quotes reserved for quotes within quotes.

American vs. British

In US style, text is generally enclosed in double instead of single quotation marks.

• Lulu said, “I can’t believe you did this.”
• She said it was all “a scandalous lie.”
• He has just published an “apology” on his blog.
• They clearly enjoy playing “Tuesday’s Gone” to an audience.
• She’s two now, and her new favorite word is “no.”

In British academic and formal writing and book publishing, single quotation marks are used instead.

• She said, ‘I’m glad you wrote.’
• Poco said it was all ‘a scandalous lie’.
• He has issued an ‘apology’.
• Perhaps the best apology poem is ‘This Is Just to Say’ by William Carlos Williams.
• My new favorite phrase is ‘goblin mode’.

However, in British news copy, double quotes are used, as in US style. The BBC and Guardian , for example, follow this style, although they use single quotes in headlines, likely to save space.

• “We don’t know exactly when their olfactory impairments started to decline.” But she is “confident” that long-term exposure to pollution was the cause, even at low levels. — “Is air pollution causing us to lose our sense of smell?” BBC Future (Feb. 21, 2023)

Quotes within quotes

In US style, use single quotes around words that appear in text already inside double quotes. Double quotes are the primary marks in American writing, with single quotes kept in reserve to be brought out only when you need a secondary pair of quotation marks.

• Her latest article, “Why We Are All in ‘Goblin Mode,’” was just published this morning.
• “Is that the image that won ‘Picture of the Year’?”
• “When she says ‘soon,’ she means sometime this year.”
• “I wish we had brought some ‘cookies,’ if you know what I mean.”

In British writing, this style is reversed: single quotation marks are the default, with double quotation marks used around a quote within text already in single quotes.

• ‘Is that the image that won “Picture of the Year”?’
• ‘When she says “soon”, she means sometime this year.’

In British news writing, double quotation marks are used instead, with single quotation marks used for quotes within quotes (which is the same as US style).

• “A good example is ‘Can your child walk?’,” Sheldrick says. “What do you mean by ‘walk’?” — “What parents get wrong about childhood ‘milestones’,” BBC Family Tree (Jan. 10, 2023)

American style manuals such as the Chicago Manual of Style , AP Stylebook , APA Publication Manual , and MLA Handbook all recommend using single quotation marks only if needed to show quotes in text already enclosed in double quotes. The British New Oxford Style Manual , in contrast, recommends using double quotes only in text already within single quotes.

Punctuation around single and double quotes

In US style, commas and periods always go inside quotation marks, whether single or double. This rule stands for all quoted text, including quotes within quotes. Thus, if a phrase is enclosed in single quotes inside text in double quotes, the period goes inside the single and double quotes.

• “She said she would call ‘soon.’”
• “The phrase of the year is ‘goblin mode,’” she announced.

Question marks and exclamation points go inside single or double quotation marks depending on the text they are meant to punctuate. They go outside if they belong to the surrounding sentence.

• “She yelled, ‘Now!’”
• “Did I just hear someone say ‘dragon’?”
• “Did you ask her if she wants to join our little expedition?” “Yes. She simply asked, ‘When?’”
• “Did you ask about our share?” “I did, and he said, ‘I have no idea what you are talking about’!”

In British style, a punctuation mark generally goes inside single or double quotes only if it is meant to punctuate the text enclosed in those quotes, but outside if it should be punctuating the surrounding sentence.

• ‘I think it’s all over,’ she said.
• ‘The phrase of the year is “goblin mode”,’ she announced.
• ‘He says it’s “urgent”, which means it’s due next week,’ she replied and rolled her eyes.
• Maya asked, ‘When?’
• ‘Did I just hear someone say “dragon”?’

In modern British fiction and news copy, the comma goes inside the closing quotation mark that appears before a speech tag.

• ‘I think,’ she said, ‘it’s all over.’

However, in British formal and academic writing, the comma goes inside to indicate punctuation in the original passage but outside otherwise.

• ‘No one I know trusts the police,’ said an interviewee. The comma replaces the period that would have occurred naturally in the original sentence.
• ‘The “truth” is not what they want,’ she said.
• ‘No one I know’, said an interviewee, ‘trusts the police.’ The comma goes outside (in formal writing) since there would have been no punctuation after the word know in the original sentence.
• ‘The “truth”’, she said, ‘is not what they want.’

The New Oxford Style Manual recommends this as traditional British style but notes that the comma in the last two examples above would appear before the closing quotation mark in modern British fiction and journalism.

Space between single and double quotes

When a single quote appears beside a double quote (either opening or closing), a space may be inserted between the two to improve readability. Doing this is optional: it can be useful in some fonts, less useful in others. If you do insert a space, make sure to use a non-breaking space to ensure that a quotation mark doesn’t get stranded at line break. In print publications, typesetters generally place a hair space (or thin space) between two adjacent quotation marks.

• “It’s true,” she said. “I haven’t heard ‘Billie Jean.’ ”
• “ ‘Cookies’ aren’t what they are selling,” he replied.

To insert a non-breaking space in Microsoft Word, press Ctrl + Shift + Space (on Windows) or Option + Space (on Mac OS). The HTML character code is   .

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Use single quotes for quotation marks around text already in double quotes.

In US style, double quotes generally enclose direct speech.

In UK style, single quotes usually enclose direct speech.

Use single within double quotes to show quoted text within quoted text.