When writing an essay, it is important to properly format the references and sources that you use. This includes correctly citing book titles and knowing whether or not they should be underlined. While style guides like the Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA) differ slightly on when and how to underline book titles in essays, the general rule is as follows:
Book titles should only be underlined when they appear in the body of the essay or research paper itself, not when included in a parenthetical citation or reference list at the end. The key factor is whether you are actively discussing or analyzing a specific book within the text versus just citing it in passing. Understanding when and how to properly format book titles in essays will ensure your writing is clear and conforms to academic writing standards.
In MLA style, which is commonly used for papers in the humanities disciplines like English, history, art history, etc., only book titles incorporated into the prose should be italicized, not underlined. For example, if talking about a work you would write:
In her novel Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen explores themes of social class and the marriage marketplace of Georgian England.
Here the novel title “Pride and Prejudice” is italicized since it is directly referenced in the sentence. If just citing the work in a parenthetical citation you would write:
Social class plays an important role in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813).
In the parenthetical citation, the title is not italicized. It is only formatted with italicization when embedded in the actual body text. MLA does not use underlining for titles at all.
The APA style, on the other hand, does utilize underlining for titles in the body of a paper, but not in citations. So following APA, you would write a sentence like:
In her novel Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen explores themes of social class and the marriage marketplace of Georgian England.
Again, the novel title is specially formatted—in this case with underlining rather than italics—because it is directly incorporated into the prose. For an APA parenthetical citation you would cite:
Social class plays an important role in Austen’s (1813) Pride and Prejudice.
Here, no special formatting is applied to the title in the citation. It is only underlined when actively discussed within the text narrative.
The key thing to remember is the purpose of specially formatting titles like underlining or italicizing them is to make it clear to the reader when a specific book is being talked about versus simply cited. Formatting helps distinguish if you are analyzing versus citing in passing. Properly formatting titles ensures your paper is clear and follows accepted academic conventions. Knowing whether to underline, italicize, or leave plain in citations is an important element of writing college level essays.
It is also worth noting that some style guides have additional rules around capitalization of book titles. For example, in MLA style, only the first word of a title and any proper nouns are capitalized, with all other words in lowercase. So a MLA formatted title would be “Pride and prejudice” not “PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.” Meanwhile in APA style, all major words in titles are capitalized, so it would be “Pride and Prejudice.” While capitalization rules can vary, the general principle of when to underline versus not underline book titles remains the same across all styles- only when directly referenced in prose not when cited in passing.
Always be sure to check your specific course or discipline’s required style guide, as tastes and preferences may evolve over time. For example, the most recent (7th edition) MLA guidelines now allow and sometimes prefer the use of italics instead of underlining for titles in text. But regardless of small variations, properly formatting book titles is important for organization, clarity and following academic writing protocols. Understanding when and how to apply formatting like underlining helps create well structured, cohesive essays that make sources and references clear for readers. Mastering title formatting rules helps students advance their skills at the higher level analysis and writing expected in college.
The basic principle is that book titles should only be underlined, italicized or otherwise formatted when they are actively being discussed within the body text of an essay or research paper. Citations, whether parenthetical or in a reference list, do not require formatting of titles. Applying special formatting to titles mentioned in prose draws proper attention to and identifies the specific work being analyzed. Following accepted style guide rules creates clear, coherent papers and demonstrates an author’s understanding of scholarly writing standards. With practice, distinguishing proper title formatting will become second nature for students tasked with collegiate level essay assignments.