How to Reference Books and Articles in Text
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
How to Reference Books and Articles in Text
Before computers, we used typewriters to underline book titles, and we placed quotation marks around article titles. However, many current style manuals recommend italicizing book titles and magazine names (impossible to do on a typewriter) and using quotation marks around articles.
Example: I read Lord of the Flies in high school.
Example: I enjoyed reading “Become Your Own Best Friend” in Newsweek.
Pop Quiz
Choose the correct sentence.
1A. My brother thought the “New York Times” article Homeless Team Roots for a New Life Through Soccer was fascinating.
1B. My brother thought the New York Times article “Homeless Team Roots for a New Life Through Soccer” was fascinating.
2A. “Light Meals for Nibblers” is a chapter in The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks.
2B. Light Meals for Nibblers is a chapter in “The Enchanted Broccoli Forest,” one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks.
3A. I remember reading “The Catcher in the Rye” when I was a teenager.
3B. I remember reading The Catcher in the Rye when I was a teenager.
Pop Quiz Answers
1B. My brother thought the New York Times article “Homeless Team Roots for a New Life Through Soccer” was fascinating.
2A. “Light Meals for Nibblers” is a chapter in The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks.
3B. I remember reading The Catcher in the Rye when I was a teenager.
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I appreciate having this resource available for quick reference.
We are glad you find it helpful.
Thank you, GrammarBook. This was quite helpful. I used a typewriter until my sophomore year in college; and using a computer has prompted several changes in formatting. I appreciate this reference!
Helpful resource. What’s the appropriate method to referencing a letter?
The Chicago Manual of Style recommends the following for unpublished materials:
“Give the information that you have and indicate where information is not available. Model your citation on the usual form: author, title, kind of document (manuscript, letter, etc.), place, date, and where you found it. “N.p.” can stand in for “no place,” “no publisher,” and “no page number”; “n.d.” for “no date.” For example, Deborah Dorman, “Psychoanalyzing the Penguin,” manuscript, Misc. Papers File, Chicago College Library, n.d.”
Using this as a guide, a letter might be referenced as, “Mary Jones, letter to Arthur Wingate, September 23, 2009, personal files of Arthur Wingate.”
This is so helpful!!!! Thank you so much.
You’re welcome.
I’m so grateful to have found this site! I wonder if you can help me out; I have searched all over the internet and can’t find the answer to my question. It’s probably out there (it is the internet, after all), but in any case, if I want to reference, in a single sentence, both the title of a book series as well as one of the books in the series, what are the rules? Do I italicize the series title and put the book title (which I know is normally italicized) in quotes?
The Chicago Manual of Style advises that titles of book series are capitalized but not italicized or quoted, and that book titles be in italics. The Associated Press Stylebook places book titles in quotation marks.
Can I still underline a book title? Even though it is not currently used?
I still prefer the underlining – as that is how I learned many years ago.
Is it “wrong”?
Thanks.
Underlining generally substitutes for italics in a handwritten work. If the work is not handwritten, we do not recommend underlining.
When referencing a Bible verse after a quote, should the reference be inside the period or after it?
Example: Paul said “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man . . .” (1 Cor. 10:13a)
Another question: In the above reference should there be a period after the ellipsis?
You have a few options. The Chicago Manual of Style’s rule 15.25 says, “When the source of a block quotation is given in parentheses at the end of the quotation, the opening parenthesis appears after the final punctuation mark of the quoted material. No period either precedes or follows the closing parenthesis.” AP Stylebook says, “Citation listing the number of chapter and verse(s) use this form: Matthew 3:16, Luke 21:1-13, 1 Peter 2:1.”
Regarding the ellipsis, The Chicago Manual of Style’s rule 13.51 says, “A period is added before an ellipsis to indicate the omission of the end of a sentence, unless the sentence is deliberately incomplete.” In our Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, we recommend sticking with the simpler three-dot method. We also note that writers and editors follow various different practices when using ellipses.
The site is very useful, thanks! I was wondering how one is expected to reference a book that is currently being written (that is, it is not even “in press” yet).
Many thanks in advance!
The Chicago Manual of Style’s Rule 14.225 says, “Titles of unpublished manuscripts, like the titles of other unpublished works, appear in quotation marks. (For manuscripts under contract but not yet published, see 14.153.) Include the words unpublished manuscript and the date of the version consulted, if possible (for electronic files, a last-saved or last-modified date may be appropriate). End the citation with an indication of format(s).”
I am using CMOS to format my thesis. I mention a lot of book/article titles in the text and many of the books/articles have very long titles, often composed of two parts, like for example:
Aboriginal History, Minority Histories and Historical Wounds: The Postcolonial Condition, Historical Knowledge and the Public Life of History in Australia
Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Is there any rule in CMOS which determines when to use the full title and when a shortend title – when mentioning the book/article title in the text?
By a shortened title I mean the title up to the very first colon, for instance:
Aboriginal History, Minority Histories and Historical Wounds
Provincializing Europe
Thank you!
The Chicago Manual of Style says that a book title cited in full in the notes or bibliography may be shortened in the text (e.g., a subtitle may be omitted).
How do I site an article within a letter of support?
Thank you!
As the post states, quotation marks are used for the titles of articles.
I am writing a document and refer to a specific paragraph in a sentence. for example: …as set out in paragraph 10 of this contract.
Is it necessary to include the period at the number.
No.
I am writing a book and have referred to another book as an example; I am wondering if I need to do anything else to reference this book; at the moment I have written:
An example of this is written by Richard Beard in his book ‘The Day That Went Missing’ (2017), where he writes about the death of his brother in the seventies.
Is this enough referencing?
The answer depends on which style guide you choose to follow. We suggest you visit the Purdue Owl page on Research and Citation Resources, and select a style guide to follow. Titles of books are italicized. See our post Titles of Books, Plays, Articles, etc.: Underline? Italics? Quotation Marks? for more information.
I am writing a short book and self-publishing. How would I list Notes or References at the end and citing on pages within the book? For example:
American psychological Association’s journal of Personality and Social Psychology, “Exploring Stereotypes About perceptions of Male Bodies,” March 13,
2017, Washington, D.C. 2002-4242.
For example:
“Even if white and black men are the same heights and weights, please tend to perceive black men as taller, more muscular and heavier.”
Should the notation on the page use a number, quotation marks, etc. for identification? Thanks.
The answer depends on which style guide you choose to follow. Each style guide follows different rules. We suggest you visit the Purdue Owl page on Research and Citation Resources, and select a style guide to follow.
I am editing a compilation of articles to be published in a book . Such articles have already been published in local publications and I have requested the author to cite the date published and in what local paper.
Is it OK to make this citation even if the version to be published in the book is not the edited version?
While we are not experts on publishing policies and procedures, perhaps you could include a note along with the citation to the effect “Edited from the original article published in the Chicago Sun-Times, June 20, 2014.”
Thanks for a solid and simplified answer. And yes, I remember using the typewriter.
I have a question re: the use of parens and capitalization. Is this correct?
Nutrients from turf runoff to surface waters (See TREB Chapter 1 for more information).
We took the liberty of completing your sentence fragment in order to provide our recommendation:
The algae bloom is a result of nutrients from turf runoff to surface waters (see TREB Chapter 1 for more information).
OR
The algae bloom is a result of nutrients from turf runoff to surface waters. (See TREB Chapter 1 for more information.)
How do you punctuate a book title when a character in a story is speaking and says the name of a book?
Since the entire sentence is in italics do I enclose the book’s title inside apostrophes?
For example:
“It must’ve been the Dimensional Time Book!”
Thanks
Exact titles appearing within an italicized passage are generally roman. A few editors choose to enclose them in quotation marks.
I’m writing a blog and in it, I quote a section of an obituary that is about 5 sentences long. Do I italicise the paragraph this is the obituary or put it in quotation marks?
Thanks so much for your reply.
With longer quotations we recommend you follow either Rule 7 or Rule 8 of Colons. Introduce the quotation with a colon, and either enclose the quotation in quotation marks or indent it.
After creating a reference list at end of article, how do I notate the proper reference item within the article… basically, how to link info in article to reference list?
If you do an online search for MLA documentation and formatting, you will quickly locate useful information and resources concerning how to cite references.