Punctuation – Comma Before Quote Marks Around Article Title

appositivescommaspunctuationquotation markswriting-style

I'm thinking about making a headline. I know you would use a comma here:

Professor Bill Bick then told me, "There will be more jobs when the
economy recovers."

What about here?

Read Professor Bill Bick's article, "Why There Will be More Jobs When
the Economy Recovers."

Are commas used before article titles that are quoted?

Best Answer

At this website, I found the following guidance:

When you are explaining a particular word or phrase by using quotations around it, or identifying the name of a book, song or movie, you will not necessarily need to use a comma before the item. In these cases, the quotations are used to support the primary meaning of the sentence. For example:

  The movie “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” is still one of my all-time favorites!

Interestingly enough, the rule is not definitive - "will not necessarily need" implies it wouldn't necessarily be improper to use the comma, if you felt it would be beneficial.

Incidentally, most of the comma guidance I perused - including guidance on ELU - indicated that the comma in your first example would indeed be proper, as you stated.

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