Writing Blog Number 2

20240511 Formatting Titles

Formatting Titles

Okay, this is technical, and this only applies to formal writing. In fact, in some places, it is being seen as unnecessary, so I am going to assume that, in 10 years' time, this will be completely out of date.

So, titles. Now, I am talking here about the names of things. This is not concerned with titles, occupations, etc. involving people. This is things only.

If we have the title of a book, movie, play, TV show, magazine, newspaper, sculpture, painting the title should be written in italics.
Book: Tales Of Mystery And Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe
Film: Predator
Play: Romeo And Juliet
TV Show: The Big Bang Theory
Magazine: Women's Weekly
Newspaper: The New York Post
Sculpture: David by Michelangelo
Painting: The Pioneer by Frederick McCubbin

Going back 70 years, all words should be capitalised. Now, this is where there are cultural differences. In the USA and Canada, "the", "of" and "and" are generally not capitalised unless they are the first word of the title. In the UK, all words are capitalised. In Australia, depends on the publisher. All other words should be capitalised.

Songs, short stories, poems and journal articles do not use italics, but instead should be inside single quotation marks. When it comes to capitalisation, the same cultural differences apply.
Song: 'Stairway To Heaven' by Led Zeppelin
Short Story: 'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe
Poem: 'The Man From Snowy River' by Banjo Patterson
Journal Article: Post, S. (1991). 'Euthanasia, Senicide, And The Aging Society'. Journal Of Religious Gerontology, Vol 8, No. 1, 57-65.

Now... this last is changing. The journal reference comes from a 2019 essay. Under the rules of referencing that are now being adopted, journal articles would be written thus:
Journal Article: Post, S. (1991). 'Euthanasia, senicide, and the aging society'. Journal of Religious Gerontology, Vol 8, No. 1, 57-65.

When writing the headings of web-pages, the rules of short stories apply:
Web-page: 'Is James Corden the Awful Kisser Emily Blunt Has Been Talking About?'
However, more and more we would see this:
Web-page: 'Is James Corden the awful kisser Emily Blunt has been talking about?'
Note that proper nouns still have their capital letters.

As to names of web sites, there is no definitive way of formatting them.

Finally, traditionally, the formal names of boats (not nick-names) and space-craft should also be italicised.
Boat: SS Titanic
Space-craft: Apollo 13
But... Columbus' boats were the Santa Maria, the Nina and the Pinta. Why? Because Nina and Pinta were not formal names, but nick-names for the vessels.
As to the names of other transport, italics are not necessary. And the names of Oil Rigs can be either simply capitalised or italicised.

The names of businesses are not italicised, but do use capital letters.

So, that's technical. Things are changing. You will see variations on these all over the place. And the simple fact of the matter is, when submitting, you need to check the house style. But I am nothing if not a traditionalist...