42a. Titles of works

42aItalicize the titles of works according to convention.

Titles of the following types of works should be italicized.

titles of books The Color Purple, The Round House

magazines Time, Scientific American, Slate

newspapers the Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel

pamphlets Common Sense, Facts about Marijuana

long poems The Waste Land, Paradise Lost

plays ’Night Mother, Wicked

films Casablanca, Argo

television programsThe Voice, Frontline

radio programs All Things Considered

musical compositions Porgy and Bess

choreographic works Brief Fling

works of visual art American Gothic

video games Everquest, Call of Duty

databases [mla] ProQuest

web sites [mla] Salon, Google

computer software or apps [mla] Photoshop, Instagram

The titles of other works—including short stories, essays, episodes of radio and television programs, songs, and short poems—are enclosed in quotation marks. (See 37c.)

note: Do not use italics when referring to the Bible, titles of books in the Bible (Genesis, not Genesis), or titles of legal documents (the Constitution, not the Constitution).