How to write a book title in apa 7th edition

Simply put: no.

APA's Publication Manual (2020) indicates that, in the body of your paper, you should use italics for the titles of:

  • "books, reports, webpages, and other stand-alone works" (p. 170)
  • periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers)

Beyond APA's specific examples, know that certain types of titles are almost always written in italics. 

A general rule of thumb is that within the text of a paper, italicize the title of complete works but put quotation marks around titles of parts within a complete work. 

The table below isn't comprehensive, but it's a good starting point

Titles in Italics Titles Placed in "Quotation Marks"
Title of a periodical (magazine, journal, newspaper)               Title of article in a periodical
Title of a book    Title of a chapter in a book
Title of a movie or play Name of an act or scene in a movie or a play
Title of a television or radio series    Title of an episode within a tv or radio series
Title of a musical album or CD Title of a song
Title of a long poem Title of a short poem
Names of operas or long musical composition
Names of paintings and sculptures

Title of a short story

On an APA-style reference page, the rules for titles are a little different.  In short, a title you would italicize within the body of a paper will also be italicized on a reference page.  However, a title you'd place in quotation marks within the body of the paper (such as the title of an article within a journal) will be written without italics and quotation marks on the references page.

Here are some examples:

Smith's (2001) research is fully described in the Journal of Higher Education.

Smith's (2001) article "College Admissions See Increase" was published in the Journal of Higher Education after his pivotal study on the admissions process.

Visit the APA Style's "Use of Italics" page to learn more!

Note: This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style can be found here.

The following contains a list of the most commonly cited print book sources. E-books are described on our "Electronic Sources" page. For a complete list of how to cite print sources, please refer to the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. 

Note: If available, APA 7 requires a DOI for all works that have one — whether print or digital. If a print work does not have a DOI do not include it in the reference citation.

Basic Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)

Stoneman, R. (2008). Alexander the Great: A life in legend. Yale University Press.

Edited Book, No Author

Editor, E. E. (Ed.). (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. DOI (if available)

Leitch, M. G., & Rushton, C. J. (Eds.). (2019). A new companion to Malory. D. S. Brewer.

Edited Book with an Author or Authors

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (E. Editor, Ed.). Publisher. DOI (if available)

Malory, T. (2017). Le morte darthur (P. J. C. Field, Ed.). D. S. Brewer. (Original work published 1469-70)

A Translation

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (T. Translator, Trans.). Publisher. (Original work published YEAR) DOI (if available)

Plato (1989). Symposium (A. Nehamas & P. Woodruff, Trans.). Hackett Publishing Company. (Original work published ca. 385-378 BCE)

Note: When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should appear with both dates: Plato (385-378/1989)

Edition Other Than the First

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (# edition). Publisher. DOI (if available)

Belcher, W. (2019). Writing your journal article in twelve weeks: A guide to academic publishing success (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher. DOI (if available)

Note: When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses after the book title, use "pp." before the numbers: (pp. 1-21). This abbreviation, however, does not appear before the page numbers in periodical references. List any edition number in the same set of parentheses as the page numbers, separated by a comma: (2nd ed., pp. 66-72).

Armstrong, D. (2019). Malory and character. In M. G. Leitch & C. J. Rushton (Eds.), A new companion to Malory (pp. 144-163). D. S. Brewer.

Multivolume Work

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (Vol. #). Publisher. DOI (if available)

David, A., & Simpson, J. (Eds.). (2006). The Norton anthology of English literature: The Middle Ages (8th ed.,Vol. A). W. W. Norton and Company.

How do you write the title of a book in an APA paper?

Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined; titles of articles and chapters are in quotation marks. A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using APA," 2001).

Are book names italicized in APA 7?

Italics. Italics: Titles are italicized for the following items: Books and e-books. Periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers)

What is the correct format in writing the title of the book in the APA 7th edition reference list?

In general, the title of a work is recorded just as the words appear in the publication..
Capitalize only the first word of a book or article title..
Capitalize proper nouns, initials, and acronyms in a title..
Separate a subtitle with a colon and a space. ... .
End the title with a period..

Are book titles underlined or italicized in APA format?

APA's Publication Manual (2020) indicates that, in the body of your paper, you should use italics for the titles of: "books, reports, webpages, and other stand-alone works" (p. 170)

Are book titles capitalized in APA 7?

In general, only the first word of a book or article's title is capitalized. Proper nouns are always capitalized. Also, if the title contains a colon or dash, the word immediately following it is capitalized. You should always italicize book and journal titles.