book titles

Capitalize all major words in a book title and surround the title with the <cite> tag. Use this rule for most literary works, including fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, biographies, and anthologies. Examples:

  • Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ first work, <cite>On Grief and Grieving<cite> will render as Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ first work, On Grief and Grieving
  • <cite>Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life</cite>, by Alice Wong will render as Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life, by Alice Wong
  • The New York Time’s essay collection, <cite>How Race is Lived in America</cite> will render as The New York Time’s essay collection, How Race is Lived in America
  • Walter Cronkite’s memoir, <cite>A Reporter’s Life</cite> will render as Walter Cronkite’s memoir, A Reporter’s Life

Periodicals, reference catalogues, encyclopedias, dictionaries, religious works, almanacs, handbooks, etc., also have major words capitalized, but are not surrounded by the cite tag. Examples:

  • the OAJ Style Guide
  • the Mahayana Sutras, a broad Buddhist text
  • The Old Farmer’s Almanac
  • Encyclopedia Britannica
  • The Associated Press Stylebook
  • The Merriam-Webster Thesaurus

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