When do you underline and use quotations when refrencing book titles and chapters within a book?

Question

I am writing a report on Allen Ginsberg, and I am talking about his book, "Allen Ginsberg, Collected Poems 1947-1980" and I also reference a chapter within the book entitled: "The Fall of America." Do I use quotations for both titles? Do I underline one, use italics?

Additional Details

I also analyze specific poems such as Kaddish (which I underlined in the essay), should I underline it, put it in italics, or use quotations?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

WORKS CITED:

Using MLA guidelines, you elect whether to use the chapter or the poem title. Either will be in quotations. Thus your works cited reference will include in order:

*Last name, first name (author), followed by a period and a space
*Name of chapter, poem, OR essay followed by a period, in quotation marks
*Title of book in italics (underline if italics not available), followed by a period and a space
*City of publication, followed by a colon and a space
*Name of publisher, followed by a comma and a space
*Year of publication, followed by a period.

Yahoo! Answers does not permit me to show the correct format; thus, please see:
http://library.menloschool.org/mla.html [See Citing a chapter, poem, or essay from a book or anthology]

NOTE 1. IN-TEXT CITATION: Remember, you have already provided an in-text parenthetical citation that will provide the reader with the author's name and the relevant page number(s).

NOTE 2. Were I you and if it is not too late, I would place the title of the poem in quotation marks in the text, and I would not include the chapter title. Thus, in my WORKS CITED cited entry, I would use the title of the poem, not the chapter.

For further information, please see:
http://www.lesley.edu/library/guides/cit…

Answer 2

The general rule is that a separate book publication is italicized (underlined) but a chapter within or a short story is quoted. You case is more complicated because Ginsberg's _Collected Poems 1947-1980_ contains work previously published as separate books.

_Collected Poems 1947-1980_ is underlined.

_The Fall of America_ if referred to as a book should be underlined too, but you have to explain in the essay, in a footnote or a parenthesis, why you are underlining it. You can combine this explanation with your underlining _The Fall of America._

"Kaddish" is both a book and a poem within the book _Kaddish_ (1959, City Lights). You italicize or underline the book title but if you are talking only about the poem, you put it in quotes. The same thing is true of "Howl" or "Plutonian Ode."

Answer 3

Do not use quotation marks for book titles. They are either underlined or written in italics.

Use quotation marks for chapter titles and poem titles.

If you are including an entire poem (or a portion of) in your report, offset it from the paragraphs of your other text. I would probably indent it at least 5 additional spaces. Do not italicize it and don't encase it in quotes. The offset is enough.

Since I can't format here, I'll use >>>>> to show my indents. Here's an example of what I mean:

>>>>>The well-known poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is a good example of the references I have made here.

>>>>>>>>>>Mary had a little lamb
>>>>>>>>>>Whose fleece was white as snow.
>>>>>>>>>>And everywhere that Mary went,
>>>>>>>>>>The lamb was sure to go!

>>>>>>>>>>It followed her to school one day,
>>>>>>>>>>which was against the rules.
>>>>>>>>>>It made the children laugh and play,
>>>>>>>>>>To see a lamb at school.

Notice the first line of my paragraph has the standard indent of 5 spaces. When I began the poem, I indented 10 spaces.