On A Works Cited List, Are Short Stories Italicized By Default?

2025-11-24 23:23:10 36

5 Answers

Zoe
Zoe
2025-11-25 15:05:13
Quick clarity: short stories usually get quotation marks rather than italics. In MLA and Chicago you put the story title in quotes — think 'the tell-Tale Heart' — and then italicize the book or journal that holds it. APA also avoids italics for the story title, but it generally doesn’t use quotation marks in the reference list; you format it in sentence case instead.

There are exceptions worth remembering: if the short story is its own published book, treat that as a book and italicize the title. For everyday term papers and bibliographies I stick with quotes for short pieces and save italics for books, journals, and other containers. It keeps my citations tidy and consistent, which I like.
Felix
Felix
2025-11-25 19:20:16
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.
Thomas
Thomas
2025-11-27 07:47:38
Honestly, I usually treat short story titles like song titles in a playlist: they get quotation marks, not italics. For example, in an MLA works cited you’d list 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find' in quotes, then italicize the collection or journal it appears in. APA won’t italicize the short story either and typically won’t use quotes in the reference list — instead it uses sentence case for the title.

If the story was printed as its own book, that’s when the italic treatment comes in. Online magazines follow the same container/content idea: the site or journal is italicized, the story remains un-italicized. I find this rule simple and practical, and it helps me format bibliographies quickly without overthinking each entry.
Valeria
Valeria
2025-11-29 02:31:28
To put it plainly: no, short stories aren’t italicized by default in most citation systems. MLA wants the short story title in quotation marks and the collection or journal title italicized — for example, "Author. 'Title of Short Story.' Title of Anthology, edited by X, Publisher, Year, pp. xx-xx." Chicago follows a similar idea: shorter works in quotes, books and journals in italics.

APA is a little different: the title of the short story doesn’t get italics either, but in the reference list you don’t wrap it in quotes; it’s written in sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized), and the book or journal title is italicized. For online-only short stories, cite the story title the same way for the chosen style and include the website or journal title in italics along with the URL or DOI. Personally, I keep a quick cheat sheet handy so I don’t mess up punctuation when I’m compiling a works cited list.
Leo
Leo
2025-11-30 20:42:01
Start with the exception: if the story was published as a standalone book-length edition, italicize the title because you’re citing the book. Beyond that, most style guides don’t italicize short stories. MLA specifically places story titles in quotation marks and italicizes the title of the anthology or magazine. Chicago mirrors that approach for chapters and articles.

Another useful way to think about it is "container vs. content": the container (book, journal, website) gets the italics, the content (chapter, short story, article) gets the quotes or plain type depending on the style. If you're preparing a bibliography for publication, check the publisher’s house style; for classwork, follow MLA unless told otherwise. I find that framing it as container vs. content prevents a lot of small errors — it's a tidy mental model that saves time.
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