Do You Italicize Article Titles? Know the Right Format

You’re probably here because you were about to mention an article in a paper or maybe a presentation slide when that formatting question hit: do you italicize article titles or not? 

And of course, the more you searched, the more answers you found, some saying yes, some saying no, and others asking you to buy a style manual just to find out. 

That’s why I wrote this guide to walk you through exactly how to format article titles in different writing styles, without drowning you in academic jargon.

Let’s begin.

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Key Takeaways

• Article titles usually go in quotation marks, not italics, unless you’re following a special rule.

• APA, MLA, and Chicago styles all format article titles differently, so always check which one you’re using.

• Italics are reserved for larger works like journals, books, and newspapers, not the articles inside them.

• Online-only platforms like BBC News flip the usual rule. APA italicizes the article title instead of the site name.

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The General Rule: Use Quotation Marks, Not Italics

If you’re writing something and need to cite an article title, the standard approach is to use double quotation marks around the title. 

That’s the go-to method across a lot of writing styles. 

In fact, some style guides even say it’s fine to just use regular font without quotation marks.

Now, before you say, “Wait, I’ve seen italics used somewhere,” you’re not wrong. 

The twist is that the formatting rules shift depending on the style guide you’re using.

And different fields (academia, journalism, casual blogging, whatever) often follow different style manuals. APA, MLA, Chicago, AP, etc., all have their rules. 

So what you think is correct in one context might be completely off in another.

Anyway, if you ever feel like the rules are changing every time you blink, we have good news. 

You don’t have to memorize all this. You can just use Undetectable AI’s Ask AI to instantly check which formatting rules apply to your specific situation.

When to Italicize Titles (and When Not To)

Alright, now that we’ve made it clear that you don’t italicize article titles, let’s talk about when italicizing actually is the right thing.

If you’re naming the bigger source the article belongs to, like a journal, magazine, or newspaper, you usually italicize that.

So, you’d write something like “Why Students Hate Writing” published in The Atlantic. 

See the pattern? Article title in quotation marks. Publication title in italics. Not the other way around.

Take books, for instance. If you’re referring to a book title, you italicize it. But if you’re talking about a chapter within that book, you use quotation marks. Same with movies and songs. 

The Godfather gets the italics. “Speak Softly, Love” (the song from The Godfather) gets quotation marks.

Let’s take a relevant example. If you’re referencing a specific article from a newspaper like The New York Times, you’d put the article title in quotation marks. So: “Can You Spot a Liar” published in The New York Times. 

So next time you’re stuck wondering, do you italicize or quote article titles?

Just remember, it boils down to whether you’re naming the full work or a piece of it.

APA Style: How Article Titles Are Formatted

Do you italicize article titles in APA? In APA style, you don’t italicize article titles. 

That’s because article titles, whether they come from journals, magazines, or newspapers, are considered part of a larger, standalone publication. 

APA keeps them in plain font without italics or quotation marks.

Meanwhile, the name of the journal or publication is italicized because that’s the standalone work.

Here’s what that actually looks like in action:

APA 7 Reference Entry Example

• Paul, Miranda (2023). FROM ONE PLASTIC BAG TO 1,100 TREES. RSA Journal, 169(3), 36-39. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48743450 

So, in this case:

• Article title → FROM ONE PLASTIC BAG TO 1,100 TREES → Regular font
• Journal title → RSA Journal → Italicized

Other examples of works that don’t get italicized in APA style include:

• Journal articles
• Magazine articles
• Newspaper articles

That said, getting every little formatting detail right, like punctuation, capitalization, italics, and proper order, can turn into a whole mission. 

That’s where AI Essay Writer by Undetectable AI can actually save you from spiraling.

Just plug in your source, and it formats article citations perfectly within an academic paragraph, without you having to cross-check every rule in the APA manual. 

MLA Style: How Article Titles Are Handled

Now, if you came here with the question, do you italicize article titles in MLA? The answer to that is also a solid no. 

In MLA style, article titles are always placed in double quotation marks, not italicized. 

That applies whether you’re referencing an article from a website, a journal, a newspaper, or just about any kind of publication.

Where MLA does use italics is for the title of the container, meaning the publication in which the article appears. 

This structure is consistent whether you’re formatting in-text citations or the works cited list.

MLA 9 Reference Example

MLA 9 Reference Example for a Magazine Article:

• Parker, James. “Why Can’t Americans Sleep?.” The Atlantic, June 30, 2025, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/08/insomnia-health-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/683257/. 

In this citation:

• Article title → “Why Can’t Americans Sleep?” → Quotation marks, regular font
• Magazine title → The Atlantic → Italicized

This rule applies across the board. MLA style treats all titles that are part of a larger work the same way. So, in addition to magazine articles, this includes:

• Journal articles
• Newspaper articles
• Webpages and online articles

One consistent rule in MLA is that the formatting used in your works cited list should match what you use in the body of your text.

So, even when casually referring to an article in a paragraph, the title still goes in quotation marks.

Chicago Style: Article Titles in Bibliographies and Notes

In Chicago style, article titles are not italicized either. 

They are placed in quotation marks, while the name of the publication is italicized.

What sets Chicago style apart is how it differentiates between notes and bibliography entries, especially for academic writing. Here’s how a typical newspaper article is formatted in both cases:

Note:

• Ralph Blumenthal, “A Brass Bracelet With Both History and Meaning,” The New York Times, June 3, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/insider/a-brass-bracelet-with-both-history-and-meaning.html. 

Bibliography:

• Blumenthal, Ralph. “A Brass Bracelet With Both History and Meaning.” The New York Times, June 3, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/insider/a-brass-bracelet-with-both-history-and-meaning.html. 

Just like before:

• Article title → “A Brass Bracelet With Both History and Meaning” → Quotation marks, regular font
• Newspaper title → The New York Times → Italicized

This formatting logic stays consistent for:

• Journal articles
• Magazine articles
• Newspaper articles

If you’re ever second-guessing how a particular source should be cited, especially when it comes to newer types of web content or multi-container sources, Ask AI by Undetectable AI can help simplify things. 

Just ask your formatting question (in plain language), and it’ll give you an accurate answer.

Exceptions and Edge Cases

Up to this point, we’ve mostly looked at how article titles are handled when they come from traditional sources, journals, magazines, and newspapers with print equivalents. 

But not everything lives in print anymore, right? 

So what happens when you’re dealing with content from purely digital platforms or from LLMs like ChatGPT?

In APA style specifically, one notable exception comes into play with online-only news sites, like BBC News or Reuters. 

These platforms don’t have a print version, so the standard formatting gets flipped. 

Instead of italicizing the name of the site, APA actually calls for italicizing the title of the article. The site name stays in plain font.

Here’s an APA 7 example of an online-only news article:

• Rowlatt, J. (2020, October 19). The cryptic symbolism of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – and what they really mean. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250625-the-real-meaning-of-van-goghs-sunflowers 

To clarify:

• Article title → Italicized
• Site name (BBC News) → Regular font

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FAQs About Formatting Article Titles

Wrapping Up

So, do you italicize article titles? Now you know when and when not to do that. 

In most major styles, article titles are not italicized, but how you present them still varies based on the context, platform, and formatting guide. 

But here’s the thing: keeping all those formatting rules in your head is not easy. 

That’s where Undetectable AI steps in. 

• Use our AI Essay Writer to properly format article titles within your paragraphs. 
• Ask formatting-related questions from our Ask AI tool for instant and accurate answers.
• Need to rewrite something to better match your tone? The AI Paraphraser has you covered. 
• And if you want your work to feel natural and well-balanced, the AI Humanizer can help shape that tone without sounding robotic.

In short, whatever your writing goal is—style compliance, clarity, or flow—Undetectable AI can help you hit the mark.

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