Referencing Work Titles II

Works of Art

1. Italics

• Paintings
• Sculptures
• Drawings
• Posters
• Prints

Examples: Guernica (painting), David (sculpture), etc.

2. Roman

• Series of unique works of art
• Titles bestowed by someone other than the artist

Examples: La Gioconda (title bestowed by someone other than the artist)

Musical Works

This is where it gets a bit tricky!

1. Italics

• Albums
• Operas
• Musicals
• True titles of symphonies, concertos, etc. 

Examples: Making Mirrors by Gotye (album), La bohème by Puccini (opera), Wicked (musical)

2. Roman in quotation marks

• Songs
• Arias
• Anthems
• Movements
• Nicknames

Examples: 'Hysteria' by Muse (song), 'Summertime' from Porgy and Bess (aria), 'God Save the Queen' (anthem), 'Winter' from The Four Seasons (movement), the 'Jupiter' symphony (nickname)

3. Roman

• Generic names
• Tempo markings used as titles of movements
• Sections of mass and other services

Examples: Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 (generic name), the Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony No. 5 (tempo marking used as title of movement)

The above is just a summary! If you want more detailed information, I recommend New Hart's Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors (OUP). 

Referencing Work Titles I

Here are a few simple rules to remember when referencing work titles in your writing!

The general question to ask is: Is the work a whole, or part of a whole?

• Whole à use italics
• Part of a whole à use roman in quotation marks

An example is a music album, e.g. Born to Die by Lana Del Ray. This is the whole. A song on the album is part of the whole, e.g. 'Video Games' on the album Born to Die by Lana Del Ray.

We can divide work titles into three areas:

1. Written work
2. Works of art
3. Works of music

This post will concentrate on written work.

Written Work

1. Italics

Use italics for the following types of written work:

• Films
• Books
• Journals
• Newspapers

Examples: Pulp Fiction (film), Pride and Prejudice (book), BMJ (journal), The Guardian (newspaper), Moments of Vision (poetry collection), etc.

2. Roman in quotation marks

Use roman in quotation marks for:

• Poems
• Articles
• Chapter titles
• Short stories

Examples: 'A Birthday' by Christina Rossetti (poem), 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro' by Ernest Hemingway (short story), etc.

3. Roman

A couple of exceptions to the above rule are:

• Series titles
• Sacred texts

Examples: The Harry Potter books, the Rough Guides, the Bible, the Old Testament, the Book of Genesis, etc.

A Note on Capitalisation

Titles of works are generally capitalised according to the following rules:

1. Always capitalise the initial word of the title
2. Capitalise nouns, adjectives and verbs
3. You may or may not capitalise pronouns and adverbs (up to you but be consistent)
4. Do not capitalise articles, conjunctions and prepositions

Example: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

In my next post I will go on to discuss works of art and music!

Quoting

Here are a few simple rules to remember when quoting!

1. Single or double quotation marks?

This is your personal choice, just ensure that you use either single or double quotation marks consistently throughout! This saves a lot of trouble when debating what to enclose in single and what to enclose in double quotation marks.

2. Quote within a quote?

Modern British practice is to use single quotation marks for quotations and double quotation marks for quotations within quotations, for example:

She said ‘The term “haemoglobin” is difficult to spell.’

Newspaper and US practice is the opposite:

She said “The term ‘haemoglobin’ is difficult to spell.”

3. When do I use quotation marks?

Quotations are either embedded or separated from the text. Embedded quotations need quotation marks – see the two examples above. Quotations that are separated from the text tend to be long quotations and are usually indented – in this case quotation marks are not needed. For example:

The definition of haemoglobin is:

a red protein responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood of vertebrates; its molecule comprises four subunits, each containing an iron atom bound to a haem group (OED)

4. Punctuation?

If the quotation is a full, complete sentence then place the punctuation marks inside the quotation marks (and use a capital letter for the first letter of the first word):

He asked her, ‘Will you marry me?’

If the quotation is only part of the original quotation then punctuation marks go outside the quotation marks:

What does the poet mean when he says ‘purples prinked the main’?

Punctuation III: Hyphens in Compound Words

I’ve already talked about the hyphen versus the en dash and now I will look at the hyphen in more detail, concentrating on the use of the hyphen in compound words.

Hyphens in compound words

Compound words may consist of two separate words, two words that are hyphenated, or they may have become one word through common usage. Compound words which risk being mispronounced if joined together take a hyphen (e.g. drip-proof, hat-trick). Hyphens are also used to signify an abstract rather than a literal interpretation (e.g. crow’s-feet).

When compound words modify a noun, the rules are as follows:

• Preceding the noun: hyphenate (e.g. I once owned a long-haired cat)
• Following the noun: do not hyphenate (e.g. The cat I once owned was long haired)
  

Ensure you fully understand the description you are proofreading, because a single hyphen can completely change the meaning:

• A stainless steel table is a spotlessly clean table which is made of steel
• A stainless-steel table is a table made of stainless steel
  

Do not hyphenate compounds which use an adverb ending in ‘-ly’ (e.g. They are a happily married couple).

When there is a gerund involved, use a hyphen, as the construction is describing rather than modifying something (e.g. The goat I once owned was a sun-loving goat).

There are some exceptions to the compound words rule: for example, you should not hyphenate capitalised words (e.g. I just can’t read those Old Testament stories); similarly, it is not necessary to hyphenate technical terms (e.g. liquid crystal display).

If in doubt, check in the dictionary!

Capitalisation

As I mainly proofread educational resources which contain a lot of terminology and vocabulary that is important for students to learn, I find myself using the ‘change capital letters to lower case letters’ symbol a lot! This has prompted me to look at the rules regarding capitalisation.

When to Capitalise

• The pronoun ‘I’

• The beginning of a new sentence

• The first letters of the names of people, places, days, months, special days (e.g. New Year’s Day), historical eras (e.g. the Renaissance) and their derivatives (e.g. Scandinavian), but not seasons (e.g. spring)

• The first letters of the main words of titles of books, newspapers, etc. (e.g. The Times, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

• The first letters of the main words of the titles of institutions (e.g. the Houses of Parliament) and people when they precede the name (e.g. President Obama), or when they are directly addressed (e.g. ‘Can you help me, Doctor?’)

• In abbreviations (e.g. UK)

• Points of the compass when they refer to a specific region (e.g. ‘My cousin is visiting from the South’, but not, e.g. ‘When you get to the end of the road, head south’)

With words like act, president and government it can be confusing when trying to remember when to capitalise and when not to. The important thing to recognise is whether you are talking in general or specific terms. See below.

General

1. My ambition is to become the president of a big company.
2. One of the functions of government is to keep order.
3. Which, in your opinion, is the pivotal act of the play?

Specific

1. President Bush won over 50% of the popular vote.
2. The Government has ploughed billions into the banks.
3. Prospero’s speech comes at the close of Act IV.

Punctuation II : Hyphen v En Dash

Now let’s take a look at the distinction between a hyphen and an en dash. Hyphens (-) and en dashes (–) cannot be used interchangeably.

The Hyphen (-)

1. The hyphen is used for linking compound words (e.g. avoid the build-up of waste products; ensure the garment is not dry-clean only), and for words with a prefix (e.g. the pre-war collection), but not in phrasal verbs (e.g. don’t build up your hopes too much).

2. The hyphen is used in compounds which modify nouns (e.g. he was a well-known academic; compare, e.g. the academic was well known), and for showing that a certain group of words in a sentence should be read together (e.g. try our new bake-it-yourself bread).

3. It can also be seen when splitting a word at the end of a line in printed text: the formatting can be automatic or manual, and there are rules about how words should be split.

The En Dash (–)

The en dash is so named because it is the width of the letter n. It is longer than a hyphen. To type an en dash press the Control key and the minus key. There are four main uses of the en dash.

1. Range of values

2000–2010

September–December

16–18 marks

pp. 20–40

2. Relationships and connections

father–son relationship

Mann–Whitney U Test

3. Breaks (which could be marked by a comma, semicolon or colon)

I’m sure I’ve been here before – the buildings look so familiar

4. Parenthesis (which could be marked by brackets)

Her mother – who was a scary woman – insisted on being present

Punctuation I : The Semicolon

Let’s take a break from homophones and consider the semicolon (;).

Semicolons are frequently misused – I generally find that they are either overused (replacing colons and commas) or not used at all.

There are three rules to remember when using a semicolon:

1. A semicolon is used to separate items in a list where there are already commas within items.

You’ll get paid for walking the dogs at numbers 27, 35, and 41; mowing the lawn at numbers 33 and 37; and washing the cars at numbers 23, 25, 27, and 29.

2. A semicolon is used to distinguish between closely related independent clauses that are not joined with a conjunction (and, or, but, so, etc.).

I wanted to sell my house; I put it on the market.

3. A semicolon is placed between an independent clause and a semi clause that is linked with a transitional phrase or a conjunctive adverb (e.g. however, thus, of course, etc.).

It could happen at any time; however, I seriously doubt it.

Of the three rules, Rule 1 is the most common use of the semicolon and Rule 3 is the least common use (it is mostly used in academic texts).