Are the resource titles in your reference list capitalized correctly?
There are many types of titles which may appear in the reference list including titles of articles, journals, books, book chapters, webpages, and reports.
1. Titles of journals are written in title case which means that most words are capitalized. The only words not capitalized are small words like a, of, an, the, on, in, etc. These words are not capitalized unless they are the first word in the title or the first word after a colon.
Examples (all are journal titles):
Communication Quarterly
Media and Communication
Discourse: Berkeley Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture
2. All other resource titles including titles of articles, books, book chapters, films, reports, and webpages are in sentence case which means that most words are not capitalized. Only the first word in the title, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized.
Examples:
Book -- Routledge handbook of family communication
Book chapter -- Mothers and fathers coparenting together
Film -- Gone with the wind
Report -- Social media conversations about race: How social media users see, share and discuss race and the rise of hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter
Webpage -- Health communication and health information technology
More information about capitalization and italicization (including a chart with instructions for in-text use as well as reference list use) is available here, http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/03/how-to-capitalize-and-format-reference-titles-in-apa-style.html
Are the resource titles in your reference list italicized correctly?
Titles are italicized according the independence of the source, in other words does it stand alone or is it part of a larger work? Works which stand alone are italicized; works which are part of larger works are not italicized.
1. Generally journals, books, films and television shows, and reports are not part of larger works so their titles are italicized.
Examples:
Journal – Communication Quarterly
Book – Engaging theories in family communication: Multiple perspectives
Television show – The big bang theory
Report – Social media conversations about race: How social media users see, share and discuss race and the rise of hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter
2. Articles do not stand alone, each is part of a journal just as book chapters are parts of books, television episodes are parts of television shows, and webpages are parts of larger websites, so titles of articles, book chapters, television episodes, and webpages are not italicized.
Examples:
Journal article – Constructing 'nerdiness': Characterisation in The Big Bang Theory
Book chapter – Mothers and fathers coparenting together
Television episode – The meemaw materialization
Webpage – Tim Kaine says millennials agree with Clinton, not Trump, on big issues
More information about capitalization and italicization (including a chart with instructions for in-text use as well as reference list use) is available here, http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/03/how-to-capitalize-and-format-reference-titles-in-apa-style.html
