When you are preparing a manuscript or a digital document, the treatment of titles often causes confusion. A common question that arises is whether articles are italicized or quoted, and the answer depends entirely on the specific style guide you are following and the type of source you are referencing.
Understanding the Core Principle
The fundamental rule in professional writing is that standalone works receive italics, while works contained within a larger whole are placed in quotation marks. This distinction applies to articles, books, songs, films, and other creative works. The goal of this system is to provide visual hierarchy so that readers can immediately understand whether you are referencing a complete entity or a piece of a larger entity.
Articles and Italics vs. Quotation Marks
Specifically regarding articles, you will rarely find them italicized. An article—whether it is a news piece in a magazine, a feature in a newspaper, or an academic paper in a journal—is considered a part of a larger publication. Because of this, articles are virtually always enclosed in quotation marks rather than italicized. The title of the article itself should be in quotes, while the title of the journal or magazine containing it should be italicized.
Examples in Practice
"Understanding Quantum Mechanics" featured in Nature .
"The Future of Renewable Energy" published in Scientific American .
"A Study on Cognitive Bias" appearing in Journal of Psychology .
Following this logic clarifies the hierarchy: the smaller component (the article) is quoted, while the larger container (the magazine or journal) is italicized.
Style Guide Variations
While the quotation mark rule for articles is standard across most of the English-speaking world, the specific formatting can vary slightly depending on the style guide. The most common guides are APA, MLA, and the Chicago Manual of Style, and it is important to know the nuances of each, especially regarding punctuation around the titles.
MLA Style
Modern Language Association formatting is commonly used in the humanities. MLA strictly adheres to the rule that article titles go in quotation marks and journal titles are italicized. Furthermore, MLA requires that every major word in the title be capitalized, and the title of the container (the journal) is followed by the volume and issue number.
APA Style
American Psychological Association formatting is standard in the social sciences. APA also uses quotation marks for articles and italics for journals. However, APA style typically only capitalizes the first word of the article title and any proper nouns. The reference entry concludes with the DOI or URL of the source, emphasizing accessibility.
The Role of Underlining
Before the advent of word processors, typewriters and manual printing made it difficult to create italics. During that era, underlining was used as a substitute for italics to denote a title. If you are writing by hand or using a typewriter, or if you are explicitly instructed to underline instead of italicize, the rule remains consistent: underline the title of the larger work (the journal) and place the article title in quotation marks.
When to Break the Rule
There are rare instances where the standard logic shifts. If the publication you are citing is a journal that does not produce distinct standalone works—essentially acting as a portfolio—and you are referring to the journal itself as a concept, it might be italicized. However, in 99% of cases involving news articles or magazine features, the article is a distinct piece and therefore requires quotation marks to set it apart from the publication it belongs to.
