For APA Papers, Are Short Stories Italicized Or Quoted?

Whenever I pull together an essay, I treat short stories like little jewels inside a larger showcase. In most academic and publishing styles, short story titles get quotation marks while longer works — novels, entire short-story collections, magazines — are italicized. So if I'm mentioning a piece like 'The Lottery', I put it in quotes; if I'm referring to the collection 'Dubliners' or the magazine 'The New Yorker', I italicize those. This helps readers instantly know whether I'm talking about a single short work or a broader container. I also pay attention to context and medium. If I'm handwriting an essay and can't italicize, I underline titles of books and collections, and put short stories in quotes. And if a short story was published as a standalone book (rarer, but it happens), many style guides will let you italicize it because it functions like a book. That little practical choice has saved me from awkward formatting more than once, and it makes essays look cleaner and smarter to my eye.

If you're scribbling a works-cited page at midnight and wondering whether to italicize a short story title, here's the quick, comforting truth: short stories are not italicized in MLA. I usually put the short story title in quotation marks and italicize the larger container — the book, anthology, magazine, or website that holds the story. For example, you'd cite a short story like this in the works-cited list: Author's Last Name, First Name. 'Title of Short Story.' Title of Collection, edited by Editor Name, Publisher, Year, pp. xx–xx. The collection title would be set in italics on the page. If the short story appears in a magazine or journal, the magazine title is italicized and the story title is still in quotes: 'Story Title.' Title of Magazine, vol., no., Year, pages. For online material, you keep the short story in quotes and italicize the site title, then include the URL or DOI. Also remember in-text citations: usually (Author page) — e.g., (Jackson 23) — so you don't italicize the short story there either. I find that once you get the pattern in your head (short = quotes, big container = italics), formatting becomes a tiny, satisfying ritual — sort of like lining up your bookshelf just so.

When writing, it’s important to know how to properly format the titles of different works, especially short stories. So, are short stories italicized? The simple answer is: No, short story titles are not italicized; they are placed within quotation marks. Why Short Stories Use Quotation Marks Instead of Italics Short stories are considered shorter works or parts of a larger collection. According to widely accepted style guides like MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and Chicago Manual of Style, titles of shorter works—such as short stories, poems, articles, essays, or chapters—should be enclosed in quotation marks. This formatting distinguishes them from longer, standalone works, which are italicized. When to Use Italics Titles of complete or longer works are italicized. This includes: Novels and books Journals and magazines Newspapers Films and TV shows Albums and symphonies For example, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is italicized because it is a complete work, while a short story within a collection, like “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, is placed in quotation marks. Examples to Clarify Correct: I just finished reading the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Correct: My favorite novel is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Correct: The article titled “Climate Change and Its Effects” was very informative. Correct: She watched The Godfather last night. Consistency and Style Guide Recommendations Choosing a style guide helps maintain consistency throughout your writing. Here’s a quick overview: MLA Style: Uses quotation marks for short works and italics for longer works. APA Style: Similar to MLA; short works in quotation marks, long works italicized. Chicago Style: Also follows this convention, with some variations in punctuation. Always apply the chosen style consistently for professional and polished writing. In Summary: Short stories = quotation marks Books and complete works = italics Follow a recognized style guide (MLA, APA, Chicago) for consistency. Correct formatting not only clarifies your meaning but also demonstrates your attention to detail in writing.

Most of the time, short stories are not italicized on a works cited list. In the big three style guides you’ll usually see them treated as shorter works: in MLA and Chicago they get quotation marks and the book or journal they appear in is italicized. So you’d cite a story like 'The Lottery' in quotes, then italicize the anthology or collection title that contains it. If a short story was published as a standalone book (less common but it happens with famous pieces or special editions), then the standalone book title is italicized because you’re citing a whole book. Also, online publications follow the same principle: the site or journal title is italicized while the short story title itself is not. I always double-check the specific style (and my professor’s preferences) because small details like punctuation and page ranges can vary, but as a general rule keep short story titles in quotes and reserve italics for the container — which feels tidy and logical to me.

On my blog I tend to follow the big style guides because readers notice consistency more than they notice the exact choice of punctuation. Generally, short stories are not italicized for emphasis — they get quotation marks. Style guides like MLA and Chicago put short works (short stories, poems, articles, chapters) in quotes and reserve italics for longer works such as novels, journals, or movies. If you italicize a short story title in the middle of a post, it can look like you’re trying to treat it as a book or doing a weird bit of emphasis, which muddles the visual hierarchy. Practical tip: if the story is the main focus, use a heading (H2/H3) for the title and save italics for specific words you actually want to emphasize. That approach keeps things clean and accessible, and it’s what I usually do because I like posts that read smoothly and look tidy on mobile.

When quoting book chapters in APA style, it’s essential to follow specific guidelines to ensure clarity and consistency. Start with the author’s last name and initials, followed by the publication year in parentheses. Include the chapter title in sentence case, then the word 'In' before the editor’s name and 'Ed.' in parentheses. Add the book title in italics, the page range of the chapter in parentheses, and the publisher. For example: Smith, J. (2020). The art of storytelling. In R. Brown (Ed.), 'Modern literature' (pp. 45-67). Penguin Press. If you’re citing a direct quote, include the page number after the year in the in-text citation, like (Smith, 2020, p. 50). For online books, add the DOI or URL at the end. Always double-check the edition of the APA manual you’re using, as minor updates can occur. Proper formatting not only gives credit to the original author but also helps readers locate the source easily.

Learning APA formatting was a headache until I actually had to cite my favorite novel 'The Silent Patient' for a psychology class. For books, the basic format is: Author Last, First Initial. (Year). Title in italics. Publisher. So for Alex Michaelides' book, it'd look like: Michaelides, A. (2019). The silent patient. Celadon Books. Remember to indent the second line of the citation if it wraps around (hanging indent). What really helped me was using citation generators like Purdue OWL as a starting point, then double-checking the details against the copyright page. I still keep a sticky note with this formula on my laptop - saved me during finals week when I was referencing like 15 different thrillers for a paper on unreliable narrators.

I get a lot of questions about this in casual chats and style debates, so here's the straightforward scoop I use whenever I'm putting together a bibliography. In Chicago style, short stories are not italicized; they are set in quotation marks. That means the short story title itself appears in quotes, while the title of the book or collection that contains it is the element that gets italicized. For example, you would treat 'The Lottery' as the story title and the collection it appears in as the larger, italicized work. If the short story was published as part of an anthology or a magazine, the bibliography entry follows the same logic: story title in quotes, magazine or anthology title italicized, and then the usual publication details. One important caveat I always mention when teaching friends: if a short story has been published as a standalone book-length edition, Chicago will treat that standalone as a full work and it would be italicized. Mostly, though, short stories you cite from collections stay quoted. I find that sticking to this rule keeps my references tidy and readers unconfused.