Do you underline song lyrics in an essay


Quoting a song title can be more tricky than it seems at first glance. Several nuances can confuse inexperienced students, and slight differences exist between leading academic formats. Writing song titles in essays aren’t complex math or advanced physics, so we will cover the subject entirely in our short guide. However, you risk making severe mistakes without a proper and complete understanding of the topic.


Are you making any playlists for the new year? I love music, and when I write about a song or album, I know when to use quotation marks and when to use italics. Do you? Are song titles italicized? Let's discuss.

Not everyone writes out the titles of their favorite songs or music albums regularly, so it's no surprise I sometimes hear people ask, “Are song titles italicized?”

How To Write A Song Title In An Essay: A Step-By-Step Guide

Anytime you write out the title of a song, you'll put that song title in quotation marks according to standard grammar rules. Think of a song as a shorter work like a short story. Short story titles are always in quotation marks.

Mastering the art of formatting song titles in your essays not only enhances readability but also ensures that you respect intellectual property rights. By adhering to style-specific guidelines whether it's APA MLA or Chicago you safeguard the credibility of your academic work. Remember always to use quotation marks for song titles capitalize correctly and differentiate between live performances and recorded tracks. With these skills firmly in place you'll find that integrating song titles into your essays becomes a seamless task bolstered by clarity and precision. Keep refining these practices as they are fundamental elements that contribute significantly to the strength and integrity of your scholarly writing.

Maintain a consistent style throughout your essay to ensure clarity and professionalism. If you choose a specific citation style like APA, MLA, or Chicago, apply it uniformly across all song titles and other citations:

Unlike book or album titles which are usually italicized, song titles require quotation marks. This distinction helps clarify that a smaller component of a larger work is being referenced.


How To Write A Song Title | Vondy

Encountering incorrect formatting of song titles can detract from the professionalism of your academic essay. Ensure that song titles are always enclosed in quotation marks and not italicized—this is a standard rule across APA, MLA, and Chicago styles unless specified otherwise by your guideline. For example, correctly formatted: "Yesterday" by The Beatles; incorrectly formatted: Yesterday by The Beatles.

How do I Write a Song Analysis Essay

Of course, lots more media have titles than just songs and albums. There are , short stories, podcasts, TV shows, episodes . . . the list goes on and on. Want more italics advice? for answers to all your italics conundrums.

Harmonizing Words: How to Write Song Lyrics in an Essay

Take and write about the hypothetical conversation the ladies of the group had in determining they would play for the show. Post your conversation in the , and leave notes for other writers brave enough to publish as well. Not a part of a writing community yet? !

How to Incorporate Lyrics into Your Essay Writing

In order to make citations of the song lyrics in Modern Language Association format, simply write the name of the artist in parentheses and finish the citation with the needed punctuation.

How to Quote Song Lyrics in an Essay Correctly

Well, you can’t go to
the storm cellar with your tail between your legs, so we stay, me and Vander
and Larry, even though Larry, who plays the washtub, lost his house in the
tornado of ’96 and he shakes when the sky rumbles. And then Effie’ll start in on some song like “When
The Roll Is Called Up Yonder,” just to put his spin on how things might turn
out if a twister does find us.

How to Quote Song Lyrics in APA

When the song/album is the same: In the second example, although “How Do You Like Me Now?” is the song title, it is also the album title and in that context is treated as the album title, using italics. It would be just as correct to write: My favorite song on the How Do You Like Me Now? album is “How Do You Like Me Now?”