Language Arts, Writing, Punctuation

Grade 5- 8

Objective

Students learn about appropriate punctuation.

Directions

Discuss with students the importance of correctly referencing titles or names in their writing. Introduce to them some of the rules of italics and quotation marks.
Sometimes it is difficult to choose between italics (or underlining) or quotation marks when you are referring to a title or name in your writing. Use the chart below to help distinguish which type of punctuation is appropriate.
Italics or Underlining
Note: When reading printed material or using a computer to compose your writing, the title should appear in italics. Since it is not practical to handwrite in italics, underlining can be substituted when italics are not an available option.

Type of Title	Examples
Books	The Golden Goblet	The Outsiders	The Master Puppeteer
Plays	Phantom of the Opera	Romeo and Juliet	Death of a Salesman
Periodicals	The New York Times	National Geographic	Newsweek
Works of Art	The Thinker	Mona Lisa	The Last Supper
Films	Star Wars	Schindler’s List	Lion King
Television Programs	7th Heaven	Full House	Wall Street Week
Full-length LPs/CDs	Unforgettable	No Fences	Man of Steel
Long Musical Compositions	Don Giovanni	A Sea Symphony	Peter and the Wolf
Ships	Titanic	USS Nimitz	Queen Mary
Aircraft	Spirit of St. Louis	Air Force One	Spruce Goose
Spacecraft	Apollo 12	Voyager 1	USS Enterprise

Quotation Marks
Quotation marks are used to refer to a smaller section of work found within a larger body of work.

Type of Title	Examples
Short Stories	"The Tell-Tale Heart"	"The Rule of Names"
Poems	"Mother to Son"	"The Road Not Taken"
Articles	"Free Speech and Free Air"	"Marriage in the ’90s"
Songs	"America the Beautiful"	"Stairway to Heaven"
Television Episodes	"Heart of a Champion"	"The Trouble with Tribbles"
Chapters and Other Book Parts	"Expanding West"	"English: Origins and Uses"

Note: Ask yourself if the title of a work appears inside a larger body of work. If so, the title belongs inside quotation marks. If the title is for a longer body of work that stands alone, it should be underlined or typed in italics.

Resources

• Which is Which activity page
• pens or pencils