Are Proceedings Titles Italicized?
Yes in MLA-style citations when you mean the title of the published proceedings as a whole; treat it like a book title. Keep the proceedings title separate from an individual paper or presentation title, which is a smaller work and can receive quotation marks.
Yes in MLA-style citations when you mean the title of the published proceedings as a whole; treat it like a book title.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
Keep the proceedings title separate from an individual paper or presentation title, which is a smaller work and can receive quotation marks.
Further guidance
Example
MLA-style invented example: “Low-Cost Flood Sensors” appears in *Proceedings of the Coastal Data Conference*. The paper is the smaller work; the proceedings title is italicized.
Practical Application
In MLA-style citations, italicize the title of the published proceedings as the larger book-level work. Treat an individual paper or presentation inside the proceedings as a smaller work.
Reader Check
Ask whether the title names the entire proceedings volume or one contribution inside it. Do not give both levels identical styling automatically.
Recommendation
In MLA-style citations, italicize the published proceedings title as the book-level work.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources (opens in a new tab)Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue University · Purdue OWL MLA guidance explicitly stating that album names are italicized while individual song titles are placed in quotation marks.
- MLA Works Cited Page: Books (opens in a new tab)Purdue OWL · MLA-oriented guidance and examples treating an anthology or collection as a whole book/container title, supporting italics for the anthology title.