Titles of books, plays, films, periodicals, databases, and websites are italicized. Place titles in quotation marks if the source is part of a larger work. Articles, essays, chapters, poems, webpages, songs, and speeches are placed in quotation marks. Sometimes titles will contain other titles.

The title of the periodical (journal, magazine, or newspaper) is italicized. The title of the article or work is enclosed in quotations.

The general rule is that self-contained works or collective works are italicized, whereas works that are part of a collective work are set in quotation marks. So, for example, the title of a newspaper, television show, or musical album would be set in italics.

Italics are used for large works, names of vehicles, and movie and television show titles. Quotation marks are reserved for sections of works, like the titles of chapters, magazine articles, poems, and short stories. Let’s look at these rules in detail, so you’ll know how to do this in the future when writing.

Titles of full works like books or newspapers should be italicized. Titles of short works like poems, articles, short stories, or chapters should be put in quotation marks. Titles of books that form a larger body of work may be put in quotation marks if the name of the book series is italicized.

The basic structure of a book reference should list the author’s last name, first initials, publication year, book title, and publisher. For example: Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person.

Commas should sometimes be placed before – and after – names and titles. It all depends on the context. Let’s start with the fact that unless a name or title is the last word(s) in a sentence, it can either be used with no commas at all, OR with a comma both before and after.

Separate phrases, words, or clauses in lists When making a list, commas are the most common way to separate one list item from the next. The final two items in the list are usually separated by “and” or “or”, which should be preceeded by a comma.

The important things to remember about using commas in series are these:

1. A series includes 3 or more items of the same type (words or groups of words).
2. The series is connected by and, or, or nor before the last item.
3. A comma separates items in the series, including the final item preceded by and, or, or nor.

Do not place a comma after the last item in the list (see fourth example below) unless the structure of the sentence otherwise requires it (see third example below, in which the comma after audience is required to separate an introductory dependent clause from the main clause).

The Right Way to Punctuate Lists

1. a comma or no punctuation for lists that do not contain the main verb.
2. a full stop after each sentence for lists that contain at least one item with multiple sentences.
3. a semicolon otherwise.

Colon

• Introducing a list. The colon is used to introduce a list of items.
• Between independent clauses when the second explains or illustrates the first. The colon is used to separate two independent clauses when the second explains or illustrates the first.
• Emphasis.

How to use semicolons in a list

1. Semicolons can be used to separate parts of a sentence.
2. They can also separate two main clauses or grouped items in a list.
3. Semicolons can also help to simplify lists by showing which items are grouped together.