How to Write the Title of a TV Show Using APA
American Psychological Association, or APA, style establishes rules for writing and formatting social science papers, including how to format the titles of works such as books, websites and TV shows. The format of the title of a work depends on the section of your paper and whether the work stands alone or is part of a greater whole, according to the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
TV Episode Title
The title of an episode of a TV show should be placed inside quotations marks and written in title case within the body of the paper, according to the American Psychological Association. In title case, capitalize the first word of the title and subtitle; nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives; and all words at least four letters long. For example, within the body of your paper, you would write "Chasing the Bus." When you write the title of a TV episode in your reference list, do not put the title in quotation marks or italics and use sentence case. In sentence case, capitalize the first word and proper nouns, as if you were writing a sentence. For example, in your reference list, you would write "Chasing the bus."
TV Series Title
The title of a TV series stands alone, so it should be italicized in both the body of your paper and the reference list, according to the American Psychological Association. The title should be in title case within the body of your paper and in sentence case in the reference list. For example, within the body of your paper you would write "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," while the reference list would say "CSI: Crime scene investigation."
References
- American Psychological Association: How to Capitalize and Format Reference Titles in APA Style
- American Psychological Association: Title Case and Sentence Case Capitalization in APA Style
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition
Writer Bio
Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. Richards earned a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University.
