how to write title of play in essay

How to Write Play Titles in a Paper

1. determine the length of the play, 2. use quotation marks, 3. italicize the title.

It is common in literature classes to write papers about plays, such as the works of famous playwrights like Shakespeare, Ibsen and Sophocles, to name just a few. When writing about plays, as well as all works of literature, it is important to know the guidelines of how to properly write the titles when referring to them in your paper and listing them in the works cited page. Knowing how to write a play is one thing, but knowing how to mention plays in a paper is another. Since papers about literature are typically written in MLA format, ​ you should know the MLA rules ​ for writing play titles.

​ Determine the length of the play. ​ The rules for titles of literature depend on the length of the work, and a plays can vary greatly in length. A play that consists of only one act is considered a short play, while a play that has more than one act is considered a long play.

​ Place the titles of one-act plays in quotation marks. ​ MLA calls for titles of short works, such as articles and short poems, to be put in quotation marks. One-act plays fall in this category.

​ Italicize the title of longer plays. ​ MLA calls for the title of longer works, such as books and films, to be italicized. Plays longer than one act are considered long works and should be italicized.

Don't underline the title of longer plays. Underlining used to be an acceptable form of writing titles for longer works, but MLA recently changed this and now allows on italicizing.

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David Boyles is a graduate student, teacher and professional writer. He has been teaching writing since 2005, while his own work has been featured in various publications and websites, including "Vegas Seven," "ArtsVegas," "AZ on the Scene Magazine" and the "Las Vegas Review of Books." Boyles holds a master's degree in English literature.

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How to Quote and Cite a Play in an Essay Using MLA Format

Last Updated: October 12, 2023

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. This article has been viewed 393,135 times.

MLA (Modern Language Association) format is a popular citation style for papers and essays. You may be unsure how to quote and cite play using MLA format in your essay for a class. Start by following the correct formatting for a quote from one speaker or from multiple speakers in the play. Then, use the correct citation style for a prose play or a verse play.

Template and Examples

Quoting Dialogue from One Speaker

• For example, if you were quoting a character from the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, you would write, In Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , the character Honey says...

• For example, if you are quoting the character George from the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, you would write, “George says,…” or “George states,…”.

• For example, if you are quoting from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , you would write: Martha notes, "Truth or illusion, George; you don’t know the difference."

• For example, if you were quoting from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure , you would write: Claudio states “the miserable have no other medicine / But only hope.”

Quoting Dialogue from Multiple Speakers

• You do not need to use quotation marks when you are quoting dialogue by multiple speakers from a play. The blank space will act as a marker, rather than quotation marks.

• MARTHA. Truth or illusion, George; you don’t know the difference.
• GEORGE. No, but we must carry on as though we did.
• MARTHA. Amen.

• Verse dialogue is indented 1 ¼ inch (3.17cm) from the left margin.

• RUTH. Eat your eggs, Walter.
• WALTER. (Slams the table and jumps up) --DAMN MY EGGS--DAMN ALL THE EGGS THAT EVER WAS!
• RUTH. Then go to work.
• WALTER. (Looking up at her) See--I’m trying to talk to you ‘bout myself--(Shaking his head with the repetition)--and all you can say is eat them eggs and go to work.

Citing a Quote from a Prose Play

• If you are quoting dialogue from one speaker, place the citation at the end of the quoted dialogue, in the text.
• If you are quoting dialogue from multiple speakers, place the citation at the end of the block quote.

• For example, you may write: “(Albee…)” or “(Hansberry…)”

• For example, you may write, “(Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ...).”
• If you have mentioned the title of the play once already in an earlier citation in your essay, you do not need to mention it again in the citations for the play moving forward.

• For example, you may write, “(Albee 10; act 1).
• If you are including the title of the play, you may write: “(Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 10; act 1).”

Citing a Quote from a Verse Play

• For example, if the quote appears in act 4, scene 4 of the play, you will write, “(4.4…)”.

• For example, if the quote appears on lines 33 to 35, you will write, “(33-35).”
• The completed citation would look like: “(4.4.33-35)”.

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About This Article

To quote and cite a play in your essay using MLA format, start by referencing the author and title of the play in the main body of your essay. Then, name the speaker of the quote so it’s clear who’s talking. For example, write, “In Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the character Honey says…” After introducing the quote, frame the dialogue with quotation marks to make it clear that it’s a direct quote from a text. If your dialogue is written in verse, use forward slashes to indicate each line break. For more tips from our English co-author, including how to quote dialogue between multiple speakers in your essay, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Quote and Cite a Play in an Essay Using MLA Format

MLA style provides guidelines for citing both small and large passages of plays in the body of your text. In addition, MLA requires you to note any plays you reference on a separate works cited list. How you include quotes from a play in your text will depend on how whether you're quoting a single character or dialogue between multiple characters.

Quoting a Play in Your Essay

Whenever you quote a play in your essay, MLA style requires you to include an in-text citation showing where the quote came from. For a play, this will include the abbreviated title of the play, and the section of the play in which the quote is found.

If you are quoting a single character's dialogue, or stage directions, in your paper, you can simply include the quote within quotation marks as part of your sentence.

If quoting a verse play, lines are separated by a slash /. Take the following from Shakepeare's "Measure for Measure":

In asking for his pardon, Claudio states "the miserable have no other medicine/But only hope" ( Measure , 3.1.2-3).

In the in-text citation, " Measure " show's the play's title, "3" is the act number, "1" the scene number, and "2-3" the lines on which the quote appears. Note that each item in the play's division is separated by periods. '},{'content':'If you're quoting a play that does not have scenes or lines, include the act, and note it as such, so it is not confused with a page number.

For example, Caryl Churchill's "Cloud 9" has no scenes, so you might cite it as follows:

Betty's anxiety is shown by her worry toward Tommy. "He's going to fall in. Make Martin make him move back" ( Cloud , act 2).

Quoting Dialogue From Multiple Characters

One of the features of plays is that multiple characters speak to each other in dramatic form. If you quote two characters speaking to each other this way in your paper, it is formatted as a block quote. Include a blank line between the body of your paper and the first line of your quote.

When dialogue switches characters, include a blank line between each character's lines. Each line in the block quote must be indented 1 inch from your the rest of your paper's text, and if a character's speech runs more than one line, each additional line is indented an additional 1/4-inch. The names of characters are written in full caps -- don't forget to include an in-text citation after the quote.

This quote is from Aristophanes's "The Birds":

PISTHETAIROS: I never saw so many birds! They make me nervous.

EUELPIDES: You said it. When they lift their wings you can't see where you're going. ("Birds", párodos)

Greek plays are divided into named subsections, such as episodes and strophes -- the name of each subsection should be included when citing a Greek play. In this case "párodos" is the choral section including the quote.

Including a Play on Your Works Cited List

In MLA style, an additional page is added after the last page of your paper to include all items that were cited in your essay.

When you quote or reference a play in your writing, you place a reference on this page to give the information of the book or anthology in which you found the play. Your reference will include the name of the author, the play title, the publication information, and the format in which it was found. MLA arranges this information in the following order:

Author Lastname, Firstname. Title of Play . Publication Location: Publisher, Year of Publication. Format.

For example:

Churchill, Caryl. Cloud 9 . New York: Theater Communications Group, 1985. Print.

If you are referencing a play that has been translated and/or edited, include the translator's and/or editor's name after the title of the play:

Pirandello, Luigi. Six Characters in Search of an Author . Trans. Edward Storer. Ed. Adam Frost. Mineola: Dover Publications, 1998. Print.

Plays in Anthologies

Plays will often be included in a multivolume work or anthology. If you are citing a specific play that is included in an anthology, the anthology name should be included in italics after the play title.

In addition, the pages the play appears on within the anthology should be included after the year of publication. Here's an example of an anthology citation:

Aristophanes. The Frogs . Four Comedies . Trans. and Ed. Dudley Fitts. New York: Harcourt, 1962. 69-156. Print.

Note that if the translator and editor are the same person, you list "Trans." first.

Plays Found Online

To include a play found online your reference list, you will replace the publisher information with the name and date of the Web page on which you found the play. Also note the source format as "Web." You do not need a URL to cite a Web source in MLA, but you need to indicate the date you last accessed the Web page. Format your citation as follows:

Author Lastname, Firstname. Title of Play . Name of Web page . Name of website, last date Web page was updated. Web. Date you accessed Web page.

Here is an example:

Shakespeare, William. Measure for Measure . The Complete Works of William Shakespeare . Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. 16 March 2015.

Note that "n.d." means "no date." You can use this in place of the update date for a webpage, or publication date for a book, if no date is available.

Need help with a citation? Try our citation generator .

• Pellissippi State Community College Library: MLA Style Guide - Drama
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab: MLA Works Cited -- Electronic Sources

Jon Zamboni began writing professionally in 2010. He has previously written for The Spiritual Herald, an urban health care and religious issues newspaper based in New York City, and online music magazine eBurban. Zamboni has a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Wesleyan University.

AP Style Composition Titles

Home » AP Style » AP Style Composition Titles

The following guidelines are rules set out in the AP Stylebook for AP style book titles, computer game titles, AP Style movie titles, opera titles, play titles, poem titles, album titles, AP Style song titles, radio and television titles, and the titles of lectures, speeches, and work of art.

In AP Style, magazines names and titles are governed by their own rules. See AP Style Magazine Names .

How to Capitalize Composition Titles

Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.

Capitalize an article (a, an, the) or words of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in the title.

Put quotation marks around the names of all of the aforementioned types of works except the Bible and books that are primarily catalogs or reference materials. Items of reference include almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers, handbooks, and other such similar publications. You should not include quotations around such software titles such as Adobe Photoshop or Windows.

You should translate a foreign title into an English one unless the specific word is commonly known by its foreign name. There is one exception to this and that is for reviews of musical performances. In such instances, you should generally refer to the work in the language that it was sung in, so as to differentiate it for your reader. However, musical compositions in Slavic languages are always referred to in their English translations.

For other classical music titles, use quotation marks around the composition’s nicknames but not compositions that are identified by their sequence. For example,

• Beethoven’s “New World Symphony,” but Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Below are a number of examples for composition titles in AP Style,

AP Style Book Titles

• “To Kill a Mockingbird”
• “The Magician’s Nephew”
• “Of Mice and Men”

AP Style Movie Titles

• “Saving Private Ryan”
• “Trouble With the Curve”
• “The Dark Knight Rises”

AP Style Song Titles

• “Stairway to Heaven”
• “Good Vibrations

AP Style Videogame Titles

• “Call of Duty”
• “God of War”
• “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell”

AP Style Opera Titles

• “A Night in the Chinese Opera”
• “Nixon in China”
• “The Lighthouse”

AP Style Play Titles

• “The Sound of Music”
• “The Book of Mormon”
• “Fiddler on the Roof”

AP Style Poem Titles

• “The Road Not Taken”
• “A Pretty a Day”
• “Seeker of Truth”

AP Style Album Titles

• “Appetite for Destruction”
• “And Justice for All”
• “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”

AP Style Television Titles

• “How I Met Your Mother”
• “The Tonight Show”
• “Good Morning America”

AP Style Website Titles

Most websites and apps are capitalized without quotations. For example,

“Farmville” and similar computer games apps are an exception and should be in quotes.

For classical compositions, use quotation marks around the composition’s nicknames but not compositions identified by its sequence. For example,

• Dvorak’s “New World Symphony.”
• Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9.

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• Spartanburg Community College Library
• SCC Research Guides
• Citing a Play

When you refer to lines from a play in-text, you need to cite these lines according to MLA. There are several ways to do in-text citations for plays. Depending on what information you have about your play will determine how you do your citations.

• Citing a Play (MLA Works Cited)
• In-Text Citations for Plays
• Help Resources

Citing a Play from Textbook

Format:  Author.  Title of Play in Italics .  Title of Textbook,  edited by Editor Name, edition, vol. #, Publisher, Year, Page Numbers.

Example:  Hansberry, Lorraine.  A Raisin in the Sun. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature , edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Valerie Smith, 3rd ed. vol. 2, W.W. Norton and Company, 2014, pp. 470-532.

Citing a Play in a Book 

*Note:  this citation should be used if you find your play in a book where the play is the entire book

Format:  Author.  Title of Play in Italics.  Edition, Publisher, Year. Database Name in Italics (if electronic), URL.

Example:  Sophocles.  Antigone.  Translated by David Mulroy,   University of Wisconsin Press, 2013.  ProQuest Ebook Central,  ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sccsc/detail.action?docID=3445283.

How you cite in-text depends on whether you are using line numbers or page numbers. 

Using Line Numbers

Example:  (Hansberry, 4.5. lines 171-9)

*Note:  If the text of your play includes line numbers on the side of the page, then replace the page number with the act, scene, and line numbers.

*Notes:  Once you establish you are using line numbers for your in-text citations, you no longer need to use the word "line" in your parenthetical citation.

*Note:  If you have used the author's name or the play's title in the signal phrase before introducing a quote, you do not need to include it in your in-text citation.

Using Page Numbers

Example : (Wilson 200)

*Note:  If lines in your play are not numbered, you can use the page number in your citation.

• Sample Drama Paper
• Sample Drama Paper with Line Number Citations This sample drama paper will show examples of in-text citations using line numbers.
• << Previous: Citing Artistic Works/Performances
• Next: Citing a Poem >>
• Online MLA Handbook This link opens in a new window
• Formatting the Author and Title
• Container Punctuation
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• Last Updated: Sep 5, 2024 12:38 PM
• URL: https://libguides.sccsc.edu/MLA

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• Cite: Why? When?
• Book or E-book
• Article or Class Handout
• Web Sources
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
• In-Text Citation
• Format Your Paper

Key Elements

• "Play Title" (in quotes)
• Book Title (italicized)
• Publication year
• Page number (p.) or page numbers (pp.)
• From database: D atabase (italicized) , permanent link
• Web site URL (no http) and date a ccessed

Play in a Collection or Anthology (p. 27)

Cite the playwright first, then the play title in quotes.  If you cite more than one play from the same collection, create a citation for each play.

Use the anthology format, but omit the editor.

Play as a Book (5.5.2)

Some long plays are published as a single book . Cite these like  a regular book. 

eBook (p. 48)

After the publication year, include the database in italics and then the permanent link to the book.

Live Performance

After the play title in italics, list the playwright, director, performance date, theater, location, and description.

Play on DVD (p. 24)

Begin with the film's title unless you cite the contribution of a particular individual. If so, start with the individual's name.

If citing individual contributors of the performance, start with that person's last name.

Streaming Play (p. 33)

After the publication year, list the database in italics and permanent link or the Web site title, Web site URL, and date accessed.

Shakespearean Play In-Text Citations (p. 121)

Abbreviate the title of a work if you cite it frequently in your paper.  Use the full title when first mentioned in your text with the abbreviation in parentheses, then use the a bbreviation in l ater  references to the title . Cite the line numbers.

ex. In All's Well That Ends Well (AWW), Helena believes she is the master of her own fate, saying "Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, / Which we ascribe to heaven" ( AWW , 1.1.199-200).

See the document below for commonly-used Shakespearean play abbreviations.

• Abbreviations for Shakespeare Plays
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• Last Updated: Sep 6, 2024 9:58 AM
• URL: https://libguides.uww.edu/mla

Encyclopedia for Writers

Writing with artificial intelligence, quoting plays and poetry in mla.

• © 2023 by Angela Eward-Mangione - Hillsborough Community College

Table of Contents

The rules for quoting drama and/or poetry in Modern Language Association (MLA) Style differ from those for quoting the genre of prose. This article discusses rules for using MLA style to format quotes from drama and poetry. Consult the MLA Handbook to learn more.

Quoting Poetry

The MLA Handbook offers specific guidelines for quoting poetry.

In addition to the amount quoted and line breaks, other factors that matter include stanza breaks, and unusual layouts.

Special Issues: Stanza Breaks, Unusual Layouts

Stanza Breaks: Mark stanza breaks that occur in a quotation with two forward slashes, with a space before and after them ( / / ) (78).

William Carlos Williams depicts a vivid image in “The Red Wheelbarrow”: “so much depends / / upon / / a red wheel / / barrow / / glazed with rain / / water / / beside the white / / chickens” (“Williams”).

Unusual Layouts: If the layout of the lines in the original text is unusual, reproduce it as accurately as you can (79).

The English metaphysical John Donne uses indentation in some of his poems to create unusual layouts, as the first stanza of including “A Valediction: of Weeping” demonstrates:

Let me pour forth My tears before they face, whilst I stay here, For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear, And by this mintage they are something worth, For thus they be Pregnant of thee; Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more, When a tear falls, that thou falls which it bore, So thou and I are nothing then, when on a divers shore. (lines 1-9)

Quoting Plays

When you must quote dialogue from a play, adhere to these rules:

• Set the quotation off from your text.
• Indent each name half an inch from the left margin and write it in all capital letters.
• Follow the name with a period and then start the quotation.
• Indent all other lines in the character’s speech an additional amount.
• When the dialogue shifts to another character, start a new line indented half an inch.
• Maintain this pattern throughout the quotation (80).

Example: One of the flashbacks in Margaret Edson’s Wit suggests Vivian Bearing’s illness causes her to question some of her previous interactions with students:

STUDENT 1. Professor Bearing? Can I talk to you for a minute?

VIVIAN: You may.

STUDENT 1: I need to ask for an extension on my paper. I’m really sorry, and I know your policy, but see—

VIVIAN: Don’t tell me. Your grandmother died.

STUDENT 1: You knew.

VIVIAN: It was a guess.

STUDENT 1: I have to go home.

VIVIAN: Do what you will, but the paper is due when it is due. (63)

Special Issues

Omissions: Follow the rules for omissions in quotations of prose (83).

Although some of the rules for quoting plays and poetry in MLA differ than those for quoting prose, understanding the guidelines will help you apply them in any scenario.

Donne, John. “The Bait.” The Complete English Poems . Penguin Books, 1971, pp. 43-4.

—. “The Break of Day.” The Complete English Poems . Penguin Books, 1971, pp. 45-6. Edson, Margaret. Wit. Faber and Faber, 1993.

Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 39. The Pelican Shakespeare: The Sonnets . Penguin Books, 1970, p. 59.

Williams, William Carlos: “The Red Wheelbarrow.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/45502 .

Yeats, William. “A Prayer for My Daughter.” The Collected Poems . Ed. Richard Finneran. Scribner, 1983, pp. 188-190.

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MLA Style Guide, 8th & 9th Editions: Title of source

• Works Cited entries: What to Include
• Title of source
• Title of container
• Contributors
• Publication date
• Supplemental Elements
• Book with Personal Author(s)
• Book with Organization as Author
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• Government Publication
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• Multivolume Works
• Newspaper Article
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Title of source (Works Cited)

The title of source is the second core element in the Works Cited entry. In general, the title of a work is taken from the title page of the publication.

• Capitalize all principal words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.). Do not capitalize articles, prepositions, or conjunctions when they fall in the middle of a title.
• Separate a subtitle with a colon and a space.
• Italicize titles if the source is self-contained and independent. Titles of books, plays, films, periodicals, databases, and websites are italicized.
• Place titles in quotation marks if the source is part of a larger work. Articles, essays, chapters, poems, webpages, songs, and speeches are placed in quotation marks.
• Example of a journal article title which includes the title of a book: "Unbearable Weight of Authenticity: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and Theory of 'Touristic Reading'."
• Example of a journal article title which includes the title of a short story: "Individualism in O'Connor's 'A Good Man is Hard to Find'."

Danticat, Edwidge.  Brother, I'm Dying.   Knopf , 2007.  

Chapter title in a book or anthology : 

Howard, Rebecca Moore. “Avoiding Sentence Fragments.” Writing Matters: A Handbook for Writing and Research, 2nd ed., McGraw Hill, 2014, pp. 600-10.

Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers:

Houtman, Eveline. “Mind-Blowing: Fostering Self-Regulated Learning in Information Literacy Instruction.” Communications in Information Literacy, vol. 9, no. 1, 2015, pp. 6-18. www.comminfolit.org/index.php?journal=cil&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=v9i1p6&path%5B%5D=203​.

Meade, Rita.  "It's Not Too Late to Advocate."  S crewy Decimal,  1 June 2016, www.screwydecimal.com/2016/06/its-not-too-late-to-advocate.html.

Entire Website:

Meade, Rita. Screwy Decimal .   2010-16, www.screwydecimal.com/.

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How To Cite A Play In MLA – Formatting & Examples

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In academic writing , proper citation practices are essential to acknowledge the intellectual contributions of authors and to uphold the integrity of scholarly discourse. For scholars, students, and writers engaged in the study of drama and theater, understanding how to cite a play in MLA format is important. This guide delves into the intricacies of citing plays in MLA, providing a step-by-step elucidation of the citation process for various play types, including classic and contemporary works.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 How to cite a play in MLA – In a Nutshell
• 2 Definition: How to cite a play in MLA
• 3 How to cite a play in MLA: In-text citations
• 4 How to cite a play in MLA: Works Cited list

How to cite a play in MLA – In a Nutshell

• When quoting from a play in an essay, MLA style requires you to add an in-text citation indicating the source.
• Including quotes from a play in your work will vary based on whether you are quoting a single character or dialogue between numerous characters.
• In MLA format, an additional page is inserted after the last page of the academic essay to list all sources acknowledged within.

Definition: How to cite a play in MLA

An MLA parenthetical citation for a play with numbered lines should include the play’s title, author, act number, scene number, and line numbers. Without line numbers, refer to the page the text appears on. Capitalize, punctuate, and indent dialogue as necessary.

• Banquo: I’ll have it done.
• Macduff: What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. (Shakespeare 1.2.94–95)

How to cite a play in MLA: In-text citations

An MLA in-text citation includes the author’s last name and page number:

• (Beckett 8)

Replace the page number with the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods if they’re included in the play:

• (Shakespeare 1.3.188–90)

If the text only employs lines, clarify what the numbers represent by including “lines” before the author’s name or title in the first citation of that piece. Subsequent references to the same play may omit “lines.”

• (Malcolm, lines 15–26)
• (Malcolm 35–40)

Multiple plays by the same author

In articles focusing on many works by a single playwright, italicize the play title instead of the writer’s name in each reference.

• ( Macbeth 1.3.188–90)

The MLA style manual suggests using abbreviations after the initial reference to avoid repeating play titles throughout your dissertation . If your study is on Shakespeare, you can utilize commonly accepted acronyms for play titles.

• ( Mac . 2.1.25)

Quoting dialogue

When quoting several dialogue lines from a play or film:

• Place the quotation on a new line with a half-inch left margin indent.
• The discourse should begin with the character’s name in capital letters and a period.
• If a character’s discourse extends beyond one line, indent the subsequent lines by a half inch.
• Add the citation following the punctuation mark.

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How to cite a play in MLA: Works Cited list

The Works Cited section contains the citation information used in the text. The citation format depends on whether it was published as a book, an anthology, or a live performance.

If the play is published as a book, the citation format is identical to the standard MLA format.

Collection or anthology

Put a period after the play’s title if published in a collection or anthology, and then give the complete details of the sourcebook.

If there is no editor listed, simply remove this section and proceed as illustrated above.

Live performance

To reference a live performance of a play, provide the date and location of the performance. Include the theater company as well.

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How to cite a play in MLA with a one-act play?

MLA style ensures that your reader knows the play being cited. Italicize the work’s title with the page number or scene, act , and lines and only use the full title in the initial citation.

How to cite a play in MLA with no author?

Use a shortened version of the work’s title when a source’s author is unknown. If the work is short, enclose the title in quotation marks ; if longer, italicize the title and include the page number.

How to cite a play in MLA with multiple lines

Quotes longer than four prose lines or three verse lines should be placed in a separate block of text without quotation marks. Begin the quotation on a new line, double-spacing throughout and indenting it by 1/2 inch from the left margin.

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / How to Cite Sources / How to Cite a Play in APA, MLA, or Chicago

How to Cite a Play in APA, MLA, or Chicago

You can cite a play as either a live performance or script.

Citing a Live Performance

EasyBib has a form to cite a performance that has been viewed live. For instructions on how to cite a live performance, visit this guide on citing Hamilton  the musical in MLA, APA, and Chicago .

Citing a Play Script

If you are citing a play found as an entire source, cite it as a book (and use our book citation form ).

MLA Format (9 th edition)

STRUCTURES:

(Playwright last name page#)

Works Cited:

Playwright last name, First name. Play Title. Publisher, edition (if applicable), publication year.

Hwang, David Henry. M Butterfly . Plume, 1989.

APA 7 Format

If you’re merely paraphrasing or discussing a play in general terms, you’re not required to use a page number or other locator. But if you directly quote a play script, you must include a location for the relevant passage. For plays, this often means including a page number(s).

However, some plays use books, chapters, verses, lines, or cantos to distinguish specific parts of a play. The examples below include citations for both a modern play script with a page number and a play by Shakespeare with an act, scene, and line number.

(Since Shakespeare’s works appear in republications, there are two years in the source citations: the original publication year/the republication year).

(Playwright last name, year, p. page#)

           (Playwright last name, year, Act#.Scene#.Line#)

References:

Playwright last name, First initials. (Year published). Play Title . Publisher.

           Playwright last name, First initial. (Year of republished play). Classic Play Title. (First initials. Last Name, Ed.). Publisher. (Original work published Year)

(Hwang, 1989, p. 22)

Hwang, D. H. (1989).  M butterfly . Plume.

          (Shakespeare, 1603/2008, 1.4.5)

Shakespeare, W. (2008). Hamlet (S. Greenblatt, Ed.). W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Original work published 1603)

Chicago Format

Author-Date Format In-text:

(Playwright Last Name Publication Year, page#)

         (Playwright Last Name Publication Year, Act#.Scene#.Line#)

Author-Date Format Reference:

Playwright Last Name, First Name. Publication Year. Play Title. City: Publisher.

Playwright last name, First Name. Publication Year. Classic Play Title , edited by First Name Last Name. City: Publisher.

Note Format:

• Playwright First Name Last Name, Play Title (City: Publisher, Year), page #.
• Classic Play Title , ed. Editor First Name Last Name. (City: Publisher, Year), Act#.Scene#.Line#. References are to act, scene, and line.

Bibliography Format:

Playwright Last Name, First name. Play Title . City: Publisher, Year.

          Classic Play Title . Edited by First Name Last Name. Edition Details. City: Publisher, Year.

Author-Date:

(Hwang 1989, 22)

           (Shakespeare 1603, 1.4.5)

Hwang, David Henry. 1989.  M Butterfly . New York: Plume.

           Shakespeare, William. 2004. Hamlet,  edited by Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House.

• David Henry Hwang, M Butterfly  (New York: Plume, 1989), 22.
• Hamlet , ed. Harold Bloom. (Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004), 1.4.5. References are to act, scene, and line.

Bibliography:

Hwang, David Henry. M Butterfly . New York: Plume, 1989.

         Hamlet . Edited by Harold Bloom. Major Literary Characters, 1st ser. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004.

Updated July 10, 2022.

Citation Guides

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MLA Formatting and Style Guide

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The following overview should help you better understand how to cite sources using MLA  9 th edition, including how to format the Works Cited page and in-text citations.

Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in MLA. See also our MLA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel .

Creating a Works Cited list using the ninth edition

MLA is a style of documentation that may be applied to many different types of writing. Since texts have become increasingly digital, and the same document may often be found in several different sources, following a set of rigid rules no longer suffices.

Thus, the current system is based on a few guiding principles, rather than an extensive list of specific rules. While the handbook still describes how to cite sources, it is organized according to the process of documentation, rather than by the sources themselves. This gives writers a flexible method that is near-universally applicable.

Once you are familiar with the method, you can use it to document any type of source, for any type of paper, in any field.

Here is an overview of the process:

When deciding how to cite your source, start by consulting the list of core elements. These are the general pieces of information that MLA suggests including in each Works Cited entry. In your citation, the elements should be listed in the following order:

• Title of source.
• Title of container,
• Other contributors,
• Publication date,

Each element should be followed by the corresponding punctuation mark shown above. Earlier editions of the handbook included the place of publication and required different punctuation (such as journal editions in parentheses and colons after issue numbers) depending on the type of source. In the current version, punctuation is simpler (only commas and periods separate the elements), and information about the source is kept to the basics.

Begin the entry with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name, as presented in the work. End this element with a period.

Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.

Title of source

The title of the source should follow the author’s name. Depending upon the type of source, it should be listed in italics or quotation marks.

A book should be in italics:

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House . MacMurray, 1999.

An individual webpage should be in quotation marks. The name of the parent website, which MLA treats as a "container," should follow in italics:

Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.*

A periodical (journal, magazine, newspaper) article should be in quotation marks:

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature , vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.

A song or piece of music on an album should be in quotation marks. The name of the album should then follow in italics:

Beyoncé. "Pray You Catch Me." Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.

*The MLA handbook recommends including URLs when citing online sources. For more information, see the “Optional Elements” section below.

Title of container

The eighth edition of the MLA handbook introduced what are referred to as "containers," which are the larger wholes in which the source is located. For example, if you want to cite a poem that is listed in a collection of poems, the individual poem is the source, while the larger collection is the container. The title of the container is usually italicized and followed by a comma, since the information that follows next describes the container.

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.

The container may also be a television series, which is made up of episodes.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.

The container may also be a website, which contains articles, postings, and other works.

Wise, DeWanda. “Why TV Shows Make Me Feel Less Alone.”  NAMI,  31 May 2019,  www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/May-2019/How-TV-Shows-Make-Me-Feel-Less-Alone . Accessed 3 June 2019.

In some cases, a container might be within a larger container. You might have read a book of short stories on Google Books , or watched a television series on Netflix . You might have found the electronic version of a journal on JSTOR. It is important to cite these containers within containers so that your readers can find the exact source that you used.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation , season 2, episode 21, NBC , 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal , vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96. ProQuest, doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

Other contributors

In addition to the author, there may be other contributors to the source who should be credited, such as editors, illustrators, translators, etc. If their contributions are relevant to your research, or necessary to identify the source, include their names in your documentation.

Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard , Vintage-Random House, 1988.

Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room . Annotated and with an introduction by Vara Neverow, Harcourt, Inc., 2008.

If a source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in your citation.

The Bible . Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.

If a source is part of a numbered sequence, such as a multi-volume book or journal with both volume and issue numbers, those numbers must be listed in your citation.

Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.

The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. If there is more than one publisher, and they are all are relevant to your research, list them in your citation, separated by a forward slash (/).

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive, www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System . American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation . Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

Note : The publisher’s name need not be included in the following sources: periodicals, works published by their author or editor, websites whose titles are the same name as their publisher, websites that make works available but do not actually publish them (such as  YouTube ,  WordPress , or  JSTOR ).

Publication date

The same source may have been published on more than one date, such as an online version of an original source. For example, a television series might have aired on a broadcast network on one date, but released on  Netflix  on a different date. When the source has more than one date, it is sufficient to use the date that is most relevant to your writing. If you’re unsure about which date to use, go with the date of the source’s original publication.

In the following example, Mutant Enemy is the primary production company, and “Hush” was released in 1999. Below is a general citation for this television episode:

“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer , created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, Mutant Enemy, 1999 .

However, if you are discussing, for example, the historical context in which the episode originally aired, you should cite the full date. Because you are specifying the date of airing, you would then use WB Television Network (rather than Mutant Enemy), because it was the network (rather than the production company) that aired the episode on the date you’re citing.

“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network, 14 Dec. 1999 .

You should be as specific as possible in identifying a work’s location.

An essay in a book or an article in a journal should include page numbers.

Adiche, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.” The Thing around Your Neck, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp. 74-94 .

The location of an online work should include a URL.  Remove any "http://" or "https://" tag from the beginning of the URL.

Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases , vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.

When citing a physical object that you experienced firsthand, identify the place of location.

Matisse, Henri. The Swimming Pool. 1952, Museum of Modern Art, New York .

Optional elements

The ninth edition is designed to be as streamlined as possible. The author should include any information that helps readers easily identify the source, without including unnecessary information that may be distracting. The following is a list of optional elements that can be included in a documented source at the writer’s discretion.

Date of original publication:

If a source has been published on more than one date, the writer may want to include both dates if it will provide the reader with necessary or helpful information.

Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.

City of publication:

The seventh edition handbook required the city in which a publisher is located, but the eighth edition states that this is only necessary in particular instances, such as in a work published before 1900. Since pre-1900 works were usually associated with the city in which they were published, your documentation may substitute the city name for the publisher’s name.

Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions . Boston, 1863.

Date of access:

When you cite an online source, the MLA Handbook recommends including a date of access on which you accessed the material, since an online work may change or move at any time.

Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.

As mentioned above, while the MLA handbook recommends including URLs when you cite online sources, you should always check with your instructor or editor and include URLs at their discretion.

A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a series of digits and letters that leads to the location of an online source. Articles in journals are often assigned DOIs to ensure that the source is locatable, even if the URL changes. If your source is listed with a DOI, use that instead of a URL.

Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates." Environmental Toxicology , vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1002/tox.20155.

Creating in-text citations using the previous (eighth) edition

Although the MLA handbook is currently in its ninth edition, some information about citing in the text using the older (eighth) edition is being retained. The in-text citation is a brief reference within your text that indicates the source you consulted. It should properly attribute any ideas, paraphrases, or direct quotations to your source, and should direct readers to the entry in the Works Cited list. For the most part, an in-text citation is the  author’s name and the page number (or just the page number, if the author is named in the sentence) in parentheses :

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

Again, your goal is to attribute your source and provide a reference without interrupting your text. Your readers should be able to follow the flow of your argument without becoming distracted by extra information.

How to Cite the Purdue OWL in MLA

Entire Website

The Purdue OWL . Purdue U Writing Lab, 2019.

Individual Resources

Contributors' names. "Title of Resource." The Purdue OWL , Purdue U Writing Lab, Last edited date.

The new OWL no longer lists most pages' authors or publication dates. Thus, in most cases, citations will begin with the title of the resource, rather than the developer's name.

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab. Accessed 18 Jun. 2018.

Formatting Titles

by Purdue Global Academic Success Center and Writing Center · Published October 2, 2020 · Updated November 5, 2020

Let’s face it: For whatever reason, formatting titles can be confusing, especially if you think about all the titles that need proper formatting–the title placed on the title page of a paper, the title of a journal article mentioned in the body of a paper, the title of a newspaper or a website on the list of references. There are titles of books and titles of chapters in those books; titles of blogs and titles of blog entries. Some titles are italicized and some are put in quotation marks. Titles on the list of references require formatting–some titles use title case, some sentence case; some titles are italicized and some are not. And then there are those situations where titles are used in in-text citations–some titles are truncated and italicized; some are put in quotation marks–you get the idea. 

First off, I am not going to address how to format titles when citing in the paper or listing on the list of references—those are formatting guidelines for another time. I am going to focus on titles on the title page, the first page of the paper, and within a paper. Here is what you need to keep straight:

Titles require special capitalization called title case. Title case requires one to

• capitalize the first letter of the first and last words of a title;
• capitalize the first letter of all verbs;
• capitalize all words of four or more letters;
• capitalize the first letter of all other words except a, an, the, short conjunctions such as “for, and, but,” and prepositions of fewer than four letters (words like “up, in, off”);
• capitalize the first letter of a word following a colon or dash;
• capitalize the first letter of a subtitle. 

When a title appears on the title page of an APA Style 7th edition student paper, that title should be centered, bolded, and in title case—no need to use all caps, no need to italicize or underline, and no need to use quotation marks or place a period at the end. 

Simply type out the title using title case and bold it–that’s it.

On the first page of the essay, center and repeat the title, bold it, and use title case. Again, do not use any special formatting. Do not use a bigger font size or style. Do not underline or italicize and so forth. Just use title case, bold, and center the title on the first page of the essay.

Easy enough, right?

Titles that appear within an essay require special formatting in addition to title case. If the title is for an article—content that is part of a greater whole—then the title should have quotation marks around it. If the title is for a book, journal, newspaper, or some other whole work, then the title is italicized.

Let’s say you have an article titled “The New Coffee Culture” that appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture . Let’s also say that for whatever reason, you name both titles in the body of your paper. The article “The New Coffee Culture” appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture , so the article is content that appears in a greater whole, right? 

Both titles would be in title case. The article “The New Coffee Culture” would have quotation marks around it, and the title of the journal, Studies in Popular Culture , would be italicized. 

I hope this blogcast clarifies exactly what you need to do when formatting titles in typical usage situations in APA style. 

Until next week–

Kurtis Clements

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Do You Underline Play Titles When Writing? Essential Tips

My name is Debbie, and I am passionate about developing a love for the written word and planting a seed that will grow into a powerful voice that can inspire many.

Introduction: Understanding Play Titles and Formatting

Understanding the basic rules of writing and formatting play titles, the importance of consistency in play title formatting, tips for correctly formatting play titles in writing, the influence of style guides on play title formatting, essential tips for underlining play titles in writing, exploring alternative methods for formatting play titles, in summary: navigating play title formatting with confidence, frequently asked questions, insights and conclusions.

Play titles and formatting may seem like a complex aspect of the theatrical world, but understanding the basics can greatly enhance your appreciation and knowledge of plays. In this section, we will delve into the intricacies of play titles and explore the importance of formatting.

Firstly, let’s discuss play titles. A play’s title is like its identity, capturing the essence of the work and captivating the audience’s attention. Titles can vary greatly, ranging from descriptive and straightforward to enigmatic and thought-provoking. When referencing a play title in your writing, it is essential to follow certain formatting rules. In general, play titles should be italicized or underlined, signaling that they are a separate entity from the surrounding text. For instance, William Shakespeare’s world-renowned tragedy, “Hamlet,” showcases the proper formatting.

Now, let’s turn our attention to play formatting. While it may not be as immediately captivating as the title, formatting plays a crucial role in ensuring a seamless and coherent theatrical experience. Act and scene divisions are typically utilized to structure a play, enabling the audience to follow the story’s progression. These divisions are usually labeled in capital letters and centered on the page, emphasizing their significance. Additionally, character names are often indented and written in uppercase, allowing actors and readers to easily identify their dialogue. Be sure to familiarize yourself with these formatting conventions, as they are essential for effectively understanding plays and communicating about them with others.

In conclusion, understanding play titles and formatting is integral to unraveling the rich tapestry of the theatrical world. By properly formatting titles and employing the appropriate structure within a script, playwrights and readers ensure a cohesive and engaging experience. So, whether you’re a theater enthusiast, an avid reader, or a budding playwright, mastering the art of play titles and formatting is sure to deepen your appreciation for the dramatic arts.

Play titles are a crucial element of any theatrical work, and understanding the basic rules of writing and formatting them is essential for any writer or aspiring playwright. Here are some key guidelines to help you navigate this creative process successfully:

1. Capitalization: When writing a play title, always capitalize the important words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. However, articles (a, an, the), prepositions (in, on, between), and conjunctions (and, but, or) should remain lowercase, unless they are the first or last word in the title.

2. Quotation Marks: Play titles should always be enclosed in quotation marks. This helps distinguish the title from the rest of the text and adds a visual emphasis. For example, use quotation marks when referring to renowned plays like “Romeo and Juliet” or “Death of a Salesman.”

3. Italics: When formatting play titles in written documents or manuscripts, instead of using quotation marks, it is customary to use italics. This helps make the title stand out and adds a professional touch. For instance, when writing an essay about a specific play, use italics to highlight the title like Macbeth or A Streetcar Named Desire.

4. Punctuation: In play titles, punctuation marks like colons or commas are not mandatory, unless they are part of the original title. If a play uses punctuation in its official title, it should be included when writing or formatting it.

can greatly enhance your work as a playwright or writer. By adhering to proper capitalization, quotation marks or italics, and punctuation, you can effectively convey the significance and aesthetic appeal of the play titles to your readers and audiences. So, whether you’re writing an essay, script, or promotional material, mastering these guidelines will undoubtedly amplify your creative expression.

Consistency is key when it comes to formatting the titles of plays. Maintaining a consistent format not only enhances the overall aesthetic appeal, but it also helps establish a professional and organized impression. By adhering to a standardized layout for play titles, it becomes easier for readers and audience members to navigate through different works and identify them effectively.

One of the main benefits of consistency in play title formatting is that it enables easy categorization and sorting in databases or libraries. When titles are formatted consistently, it becomes simpler to alphabetize or search for specific plays based on their titles. This is especially crucial for researchers, scholars, or theater enthusiasts who rely on streamlined access to numerous plays for their work or personal needs. Additionally, using consistent formatting can help prevent any confusion or ambiguity that may arise due to variant title styles used by different authors or publishers.

To ensure consistency in play title formatting, consider the following guidelines: – Always capitalize the first and last words of the title, as well as all major words in between. This excludes articles, prepositions, and conjunctions unless they are the first or last word of the title. – Use italics or underline to distinguish the title from surrounding text. – Consistently include any subtitle or alternate titles in brackets or parentheses, following the main title. – Pay attention to punctuation rules, such as using quotation marks for titles of shorter works within a play title. – If abbreviations or acronyms are used in a play title, be consistent in their usage throughout.

One of the fundamentals of writing is correctly formatting play titles, as they serve as important elements to convey the essence of a theatrical work. When referring to the title of a play within your writing, it is essential to follow specific guidelines to ensure accuracy and professionalism. By adhering to these formatting tips, you can effectively showcase your knowledge and appreciation for the world of theater.

Firstly, one common rule is to italicize play titles. This helps to distinguish them from the surrounding text and highlights their significance. For example, if you are discussing a well-known play such as William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” remember to use the italic HTML tags when mentioning the title. By doing so, you convey to your readers that you are referencing the title of a specific theatrical production.

Additionally, when mentioning a play title within the text, it is customary to capitalize all major words. This includes nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. For instance, if you are writing about Tennessee Williams’ acclaimed play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” correctly capitalize each major word when mentioning it in your text. By applying proper capitalization, you present a polished and respectful reflection of the play’s title.

Moreover, if you are including a play title in your bibliography or reference list, it is important to preserve the formatting style. List the title of the play in italics, maintain title case capitalization, and include any additional pertinent information such as the author, publication date, and edition, if applicable. Following these guidelines ensures that your writing maintains a professional and coherent appearance.

Formatting play titles can be a tricky task, but fortunately, style guides play a vital role in providing clear instructions that help maintain consistency and professionalism. Whether you’re an aspiring playwright or a theater enthusiast, adhering to these guidelines ensures that your play titles are presented correctly and enhance the overall aesthetic appeal. Here are some key aspects influenced by style guides when it comes to play title formatting:

1. Capitalization: Style guides commonly recommend capitalizing all significant words in a play title. This includes nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. However, it’s important to exclude articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions that have fewer than five letters, unless they are the first or last word of the title.

Underlining play titles is an essential aspect of writing that adds clarity and professionalism to your work. Whether you are writing an essay, manuscript, or even a simple blog post, knowing the correct way to underline play titles can greatly enhance your content. Here are some essential tips to keep in mind:

1. Use italics instead of underlining: In modern writing, italics have become the preferred way to indicate play titles. Italicizing play titles helps to differentiate them from regular text and makes them visually stand out. Thus, instead of underlining play titles, apply italics to convey the significance of the title.

2. Consistency is key: When underlining play titles, ensure you maintain consistency throughout your piece. It is crucial to apply the same formatting style to all play titles, whether they appear in the main body, headings, or citations. Consistency helps readers easily identify and recognize play titles in your writing.

3. Don’t forget quotation marks for smaller works within plays: Plays often contain smaller works, such as scenes, acts, or even songs. These smaller works should be enclosed in quotation marks to distinguish them from the play title itself. For example, if you are referencing a specific scene from the play “Romeo and Juliet,” you would write it as Act 1, Scene 5, or “Sonnet 18” within the text itself.

One of the key challenges in formatting play titles is capturing the essence and importance of the title within the body of the text. While traditional methods often involve underlining or using italics, there are alternative, creative methods that can make play titles stand out even more.

One alternative approach is to use a larger font size for the play title, highlighting its significance and allowing it to command attention. Another option is to incorporate different typography, such as using a playful or dramatic font that reflects the mood or genre of the play. Adding color to the play title is another way to make it visually striking and memorable. For example, bold and vibrant colors like red or gold can make the title pop on the page. Additionally, utilizing a different text alignment, such as centering or right-aligning the play title, can create visual interest and break the monotony of standard formatting.

By exploring these alternative methods, we can elevate the presentation of play titles, adding an extra layer of excitement and intrigue to the overall reading experience. Remember, the formatting choices should aim to enhance the understanding and emotional impact of the play, allowing readers to effortlessly connect with its essence. So, don’t shy away from experimenting with different approaches and making the play titles shine!

Navigating play title formatting may seem like a daunting task, but with a little guidance, you can master it with confidence. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

1. Capitalization: When formatting play titles, it’s important to follow the rules of capitalization. Generally, the first and last words of the title, as well as all major words (such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs), should be capitalized. However, minor words (such as articles, conjunctions, and prepositions) should be lowercase unless they are the first or last words.

2. Italics vs. Quotation Marks: Play titles should be either italicized or enclosed in quotation marks, depending on the formatting style you are using. In most cases, italics are preferred. However, some style guides recommend using quotation marks instead. Make sure to consult the style guide specified by your instructor or publication for the correct formatting.

3. Punctuation: When it comes to punctuation in play titles, consistency is key. If the play title includes a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon. For example, “Romeo and Juliet: A Tragic Love Story.” Avoid using unnecessary punctuation marks, such as exclamation marks or question marks, unless they are part of the original play title.

By following these guidelines, you can confidently navigate play title formatting like a pro. Remember to consult the specific style guide for any additional rules or exceptions to ensure your play titles are formatted correctly and consistently. Play on with confidence!

Q: Do you underline play titles when writing? A: No, underlining play titles is no longer common practice. There are specific formatting guidelines that should be followed when it comes to play titles.

Q: What are the essential tips for writing play titles? A: When writing play titles, it is important to follow a few key tips. First, use italics instead of underlining. Secondly, capitalize the principal words of the title. Lastly, refrain from using quotation marks.

Q: Why is underlining play titles no longer standard practice? A: Underlining play titles used to be the norm when typewriters were commonly used. However, with the advent of word processors and modern formatting standards, italics have replaced underlining as the preferred method of emphasis.

Q: What is the purpose of using italics instead of underlining? A: Using italics for play titles allows for better readability and aesthetics in written works. It also helps to differentiate the title from the surrounding text and provides a clear indicator that it is a play title.

Q: Which words should be capitalized in a play title? A: As a general rule, capitalize the principal words in a play title, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Articles (such as “the” or “an”), conjunctions (such as “and” or “but”), and prepositions (such as “in” or “on”) are typically not capitalized unless they are the first or last words of the title.

Q: Can quotation marks be used to emphasize play titles instead of italics? A: No, it is not recommended to use quotation marks to emphasize play titles. Quotation marks are generally reserved for shorter works such as poems, short stories, or individual episodes of TV shows. Play titles should be formatted in correct italics, as mentioned earlier.

Q: Are there any exceptions to these formatting guidelines? A: Yes, there might be exceptions depending on the style guide or specific publication you are writing for. It is always a good practice to consult the preferred style guide or any specific guidelines provided by the publication to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Q: What other formatting considerations should be kept in mind when writing plays? A: In addition to the correct formatting of the title, it is important to properly format the entire play script. This includes keeping dialogue indented, character names centered, and stage directions in italics. Following a recognized playwriting format can greatly enhance the readability and professionalism of your work.

Q: Where can I find more detailed information on play title formatting? A: To gain a deeper understanding of play title formatting, it is recommended to refer to trusted style guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style or the MLA Handbook. These resources provide comprehensive guidelines for various types of writing, including formatting play titles accurately.

In conclusion, when writing, it is important to remember that play titles should be italicized or underlined. This simple rule can prevent confusion and ensure your writing adheres to standard formatting guidelines.

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Headlines and Titles of Works

Q. A book title is written in italics, as is the title of a musical album. Chapter names and songs are set between quotation marks. If I’m correct, the thinking behind this is that a song is usually part of an album or a play or some sort of larger work. However, it wasn’t that long ago that a song was a stand-alone work, released as sheet music or as a single on a 78 or 45 rpm record. LPs and the concept of an album came to prominence in the 1960s. So what do we do with “The Pineapple Rag,” which was never part of an album? It was released originally as sheet music and possibly as a player piano roll. Throughout most of music history, the song was the major work. Some songs, like “Money” on Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon , are integral parts of the album, while Bach’s Minuet in G has nothing to do with any larger work. Doesn’t it make more sense to italicize song titles? This also eliminates all the awkward quotes and commas when listing the songs in an album or play. Thoughts?

A. Your viewpoint is valid. Songs can fall into more than one category and may reasonably be styled in different ways. There are similar issues with maps, which are sometimes a single page in an atlas and sometimes published as an independent pamphlet or work of art. Adapt the style to suit the document. If italics work better for your songs in a given context, by all means use italics.

[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]

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How to Write the Title of a Play in an Essay

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“Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet”, “Betrayal” and “The Cherry Orchard”. Do these titles sound familiar to you? Ever read any of these books? Do you know that there are films and plays about them? These are works of great authors that are still interesting to read to this day. They act as good examples of how you should write a play title. This article will help to give you tips on how you can come up with interesting titles for any play essay you write. Take time and read through to know how to attract and captivate the audience.

Consider addressing a specialist as an alternative to spending hours creating a title and the essay itself. A simple ‘ help me write my essay ‘ request can save you time that you can use to your own benefit!

Focus on keywords

Any good title must include the keywords of an essay. This is because the keywords help to capture the attention of your teacher or the target audience. Including keywords in the essay title is important because they provide more information to the reader about what the play is about. They enable the reader to get to know the ‘Where’ and ‘When’ of what you are writing about. If you combine these keywords well with topic keywords, you will come up with a captivating title. This will ensure that your essay has a professional image.

Focusing on keywords helps in defining the field, subfield, topic and other vital issues that your play covers. This will be beneficial when someone tries to search for your work on the internet. Most databases and search engines like Google and journal websites use keywords to search for your paper. This makes it easy for the reader to find your essay.

Use your Thesis

When reading, the title of the article, book or essay you are reading informs you about what and why you are reading. This means that you will have to write your thesis statement before you come up with the heading or title of your play. By now, you know that a thesis statement is a sentence that you use to state the main idea of an essay. And, it helps you to have control over the main points of your paper.

A thesis is vital when you are coming up with the title of an essay. A good and interesting topic will play a significant role in making the audience have a reason to read your essay. And the ideal place which can motivate and persuade them to read your paper is from the thesis statement. Hence, you need to use your thesis well to develop an impressive topic for your essay.

If you are having problems with coming up with an interesting title for your essay or you cannot write the essay at all, help is a mouse click away. Get on your browser and log on to https://perfectessay.com/write-my-essay-in-1-day . They have professionals who will help you with writing any type of essay you have.

Analyze examples

This is another important tip that should guide you on how to write a good title for your essay. Many students fail to use this tip and end up with poor titles for their writing. Thus, you need to try and come up with examples and analyze them. You can consider this example, ‘A Street Car Named Desire’ which is a play by Tennessee Williams. The title of these book hooks the attention of the reader from the onset. He or she will have the interest to know more about what the play is all about. The title makes the reader have questions as to what the author is writing about in the book.

After reading the novel’s title, the reader is in a state of suspense. This pushes them to figure out what the rest of the story is all about hence forcing them to continue reading. The title of the book also makes it easy for anyone searching for it on the internet or a database to identify it as a play novel by Tennessee Williams. The reader will now that it is a novel that talks about personal losses that have become one of the most successful plays of the 20th century.

Use popular phrases and clichés

Popular phrases and clichés can help you to come up with an interesting title for your play essay. It is one of the easiest ways to write titles for your essays. Catchphrases that apply to the topic of the paper you are writing end up making interesting titles. This happens when the phrase you choose to use is hilarious and creates a captivating pun.

Apart from phrases, you can use clichés to come up with a good title for your essay. You can choose to twist them a little to re-work and customize them to your paper. Clichés are easy to come across. However, you need to be careful not to use any that you come across for the mere fact that it is popular. The phrase you use must be relevant to the topic you are writing about. Choose a cliché and adapt it well to your essay, and you will end up with a good title for your paper.

Practice writing titles

One of the most popular phrases in the world today is practice makes perfect. Teachers, coaches, and parents use this phrase to encourage students and kids to improve in different areas. Athletes take time to practice to become better in their sport. Actors practice their roles and go through their lines over and over again to become better in the roles there are acting in. This is something that you should put into consideration and practice if you want to become good on how to title an essay. The more you do it, the better you become.

After writing your thesis statement, you can pick a title for your essay. Take time and think of ways you can improve it. Write all the improvements you make on paper and you will realize that with each attempt, you are improving. Each new title you come up with will be better than the last one. If you are unable to develop impressive and fascinating titles, you can get help from Essay Zoo . Contact them and let them help you with your essay.

In conclusion, the title of any essay plays an important role. It determines whether a reader will have an interest in reading your writing. Coming up with an interesting title is not easy but if you follow the tips in this article and put them into good use, then you will be on your way to coming up with good titles. Challenge yourself and practice writing titles and you will see yourself improving over time. Author: Christopher Mansfield About the author: Christopher Mansfield is a content writer at PerfectEssay. He creates, edits and manages the production of digital and print content that is consistent with the organization’s brand, style and tone. Christopher works closely with internal marketing team to ensure timely delivery of content via various marketing channels and mediums. He also develops and maintains an editorial calendar. He contributes to the webinar program to further thought leadership campaigns for different market segments.

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• How to write a literary analysis essay | A step-by-step guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay | A Step-by-Step Guide

Published on January 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.

Literary analysis means closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.

A literary analysis essay is not a rhetorical analysis , nor is it just a summary of the plot or a book review. Instead, it is a type of argumentative essay where you need to analyze elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create effects and convey ideas.

Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and c ome up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. As you write, follow the standard structure of an academic essay :

• An introduction that tells the reader what your essay will focus on.
• A main body, divided into paragraphs , that builds an argument using evidence from the text.
• A conclusion that clearly states the main point that you have shown with your analysis.

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Table of contents

Step 1: reading the text and identifying literary devices, step 2: coming up with a thesis, step 3: writing a title and introduction, step 4: writing the body of the essay, step 5: writing a conclusion, other interesting articles.

The first step is to carefully read the text(s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writing—these are things you can dig into in your analysis.

Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyze the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices —textual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects. If you’re comparing and contrasting multiple texts, you can also look for connections between different texts.

To get started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you can focus on. As you analyze each aspect of the text, try to think about how they all relate to each other. You can use highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and quotes.

Language choices

Consider what style of language the author uses. Are the sentences short and simple or more complex and poetic?

What word choices stand out as interesting or unusual? Are words used figuratively to mean something other than their literal definition? Figurative language includes things like metaphor (e.g. “her eyes were oceans”) and simile (e.g. “her eyes were like oceans”).

Also keep an eye out for imagery in the text—recurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface.

Narrative voice

Ask yourself:

• Who is telling the story?
• How are they telling it?

Is it a first-person narrator (“I”) who is personally involved in the story, or a third-person narrator who tells us about the characters from a distance?

Consider the narrator’s perspective . Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.

The tone of the text is also worth considering. Is the story intended to be comic, tragic, or something else? Are usually serious topics treated as funny, or vice versa ? Is the story realistic or fantastical (or somewhere in between)?

Consider how the text is structured, and how the structure relates to the story being told.

• Novels are often divided into chapters and parts.
• Poems are divided into lines, stanzas, and sometime cantos.
• Plays are divided into scenes and acts.

Think about why the author chose to divide the different parts of the text in the way they did.

There are also less formal structural elements to take into account. Does the story unfold in chronological order, or does it jump back and forth in time? Does it begin in medias res —in the middle of the action? Does the plot advance towards a clearly defined climax?

With poetry, consider how the rhyme and meter shape your understanding of the text and your impression of the tone. Try reading the poem aloud to get a sense of this.

In a play, you might consider how relationships between characters are built up through different scenes, and how the setting relates to the action. Watch out for  dramatic irony , where the audience knows some detail that the characters don’t, creating a double meaning in their words, thoughts, or actions.

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Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. It’s the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text.

If you’re given a prompt for your essay, your thesis must answer or relate to the prompt. For example:

Essay question example

Is Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” a religious parable?

Your thesis statement should be an answer to this question—not a simple yes or no, but a statement of why this is or isn’t the case:

Thesis statement example

Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is not a religious parable, but a story about bureaucratic alienation.

Sometimes you’ll be given freedom to choose your own topic; in this case, you’ll have to come up with an original thesis. Consider what stood out to you in the text; ask yourself questions about the elements that interested you, and consider how you might answer them.

Your thesis should be something arguable—that is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It must be complex enough to develop through evidence and arguments across the course of your essay.

Say you’re analyzing the novel Frankenstein . You could start by asking yourself:

Your initial answer might be a surface-level description:

The character Frankenstein is portrayed negatively in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

However, this statement is too simple to be an interesting thesis. After reading the text and analyzing its narrative voice and structure, you can develop the answer into a more nuanced and arguable thesis statement:

Mary Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.

Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process , so it doesn’t need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyze the text.

Finding textual evidence

To support your thesis statement, your essay will build an argument using textual evidence —specific parts of the text that demonstrate your point. This evidence is quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to explain your argument to the reader.

It can be useful to comb through the text in search of relevant quotations before you start writing. You might not end up using everything you find, and you may have to return to the text for more evidence as you write, but collecting textual evidence from the beginning will help you to structure your arguments and assess whether they’re convincing.

To start your literary analysis paper, you’ll need two things: a good title, and an introduction.

Your title should clearly indicate what your analysis will focus on. It usually contains the name of the author and text(s) you’re analyzing. Keep it as concise and engaging as possible.

A common approach to the title is to use a relevant quote from the text, followed by a colon and then the rest of your title.

If you struggle to come up with a good title at first, don’t worry—this will be easier once you’ve begun writing the essay and have a better sense of your arguments.

“Fearful symmetry” : The violence of creation in William Blake’s “The Tyger”

The introduction

The essay introduction provides a quick overview of where your argument is going. It should include your thesis statement and a summary of the essay’s structure.

A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.

Then you can end with a brief indication of what’s coming up in the main body of the essay. This is called signposting. It will be more elaborate in longer essays, but in a short five-paragraph essay structure, it shouldn’t be more than one sentence.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.

Some students prefer to write the introduction later in the process, and it’s not a bad idea. After all, you’ll have a clearer idea of the overall shape of your arguments once you’ve begun writing them!

If you do write the introduction first, you should still return to it later to make sure it lines up with what you ended up writing, and edit as necessary.

The body of your essay is everything between the introduction and conclusion. It contains your arguments and the textual evidence that supports them.

Paragraph structure

A typical structure for a high school literary analysis essay consists of five paragraphs : the three paragraphs of the body, plus the introduction and conclusion.

Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic. In the five-paragraph model, try to divide your argument into three main areas of analysis, all linked to your thesis. Don’t try to include everything you can think of to say about the text—only analysis that drives your argument.

In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical moments—a turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.

Robert’s first encounter with Gil-Martin suggests something of his sinister power. Robert feels “a sort of invisible power that drew me towards him.” He identifies the moment of their meeting as “the beginning of a series of adventures which has puzzled myself, and will puzzle the world when I am no more in it” (p. 89). Gil-Martin’s “invisible power” seems to be at work even at this distance from the moment described; before continuing the story, Robert feels compelled to anticipate at length what readers will make of his narrative after his approaching death. With this interjection, Hogg emphasizes the fatal influence Gil-Martin exercises from his first appearance.

Topic sentences

To keep your points focused, it’s important to use a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph.

A good topic sentence allows a reader to see at a glance what the paragraph is about. It can introduce a new line of argument and connect or contrast it with the previous paragraph. Transition words like “however” or “moreover” are useful for creating smooth transitions:

… The story’s focus, therefore, is not upon the divine revelation that may be waiting beyond the door, but upon the mundane process of aging undergone by the man as he waits.

Nevertheless, the “radiance” that appears to stream from the door is typically treated as religious symbolism.

This topic sentence signals that the paragraph will address the question of religious symbolism, while the linking word “nevertheless” points out a contrast with the previous paragraph’s conclusion.

Using textual evidence

A key part of literary analysis is backing up your arguments with relevant evidence from the text. This involves introducing quotes from the text and explaining their significance to your point.

It’s important to contextualize quotes and explain why you’re using them; they should be properly introduced and analyzed, not treated as self-explanatory:

It isn’t always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when you’re discussing the author’s language, but sometimes you’ll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that can’t be captured in a short quote.

In these cases, it’s more appropriate to paraphrase or summarize parts of the text—that is, to describe the relevant part in your own words:

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The conclusion of your analysis shouldn’t introduce any new quotations or arguments. Instead, it’s about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader.

A good way to approach this is to briefly summarize your key arguments, and then stress the conclusion they’ve led you to, highlighting the new perspective your thesis provides on the text as a whole:

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

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