I'm not talking about coming up with a title to your own essay (though that's pretty difficult for most students too). I'm just talking about basic punctuation. Hardly anybody (like maybe 10% of my students) can do it right, even after I show them how and give them quizzes to check their progress.
It's annoying because this is material that should have been learned in the third grade. It's not a matter of opinion, just a rule. And it has been the same for at least 50 years.
But nobody does it right, and after you read this, you won't either. I can't imagine why.
One More Try
Capitalization and Spelling
If you are referring to something someone else has written, do it their way. Don't fix or change the spelling. The ordinary rule for capitalizing titles is initial caps on everything except small words buried in the middle of the title. Got it?
Titles of big stuff
By "big" I mean books, newspapers, magazines, movies, and TV series. Italicize the whole title. Don't underline it. No quotation marks around it. And certianly don't give it everything: italics and quotes and maybe boldface. Incredibly hard, I know, but that's the rule. Just italics.
- Will & Grace
- Batman Begins
- The Scarlet Letter
- NOT Batman Begins or "Batman Begins" or "Batman Begins" or Batman Begins
Titles of small stuff
By "small stuff" I mean individual short stories, individual poems (less than book length), episodes of TV series, or articles in newspapers. This rule is even more difficult than the previous one. Put the title in double quotation marks. Not single quotes. Don't italicize or underline or boldface or anything like that—ordinary type.
- "A Rose for Emily" not A Rose for Emily or anything else.
Ignore Microsoft
They are trying to bring a corporate Microsoft look to your papers (and probably a bit of Broadway too). Just do it the English department way. And ask someone if you don't know how. These rules are actually pretty well known (and show up in all the grammar textbooks).
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