Learn English – the correct way to format a title within a title/headline/header

italicsquotation marksstyle-manuals

The Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook generally disagree about how to format book/movie/album titles in a paragraph of text:

  • Chicago: The person is reading The Grapes of Wrath today.
  • AP: The person is reading "The Grapes of Wrath" today.

That much is clear, but I'm having difficulty finding information about how to format titles within titles. (Or, alternatively, titles within headlines or titles within webpage headers.) It seems pretty clear that AP would recommend keeping the quotes around the title, but what does Chicago say about "titles within titles"? Here are the three variations I can think of:

New Edition of The Grapes of Wrath Out Today

New Edition of "The Grapes of Wrath" Out Today

New Edition of The Grapes of Wrath Out Today

Does Chicago stick with italicized text within a title, or do they relax their italicization rules within titles/headlines/headers?

Best Answer

This link to the 14th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style should put you on the right track:

ftp://c-bc9de555.018-278-73746f44.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se/disk2/N2/LIBRARY/REF%20LIBRARY/English%20writing/The%20Chicago%20Manual%20of%20Style,%2016e/16/ch14/ch14_sec177.html

Based on that, I'd go with your first variation. The 15th and 16th editions also have sections specifically on "titles within titles" (15.17.58 and 16.8.171 respectively), so look there for more up-to-date information.

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