What are the rules for capitalizing titles in citations for a French assignment?
Answer
French uses MLA citation and while MLA usually requires that every major word in a title be capitalized, French writing and citing has different rules for title capitalization.
It varies depending upon the format of the title.
- Usually the first two words of the title are capitalized.
- La Nausée
- La Peau de chagrin
- “Les Traducteurs du roman La Peau de chagrin de Balzac”
- If the title is a sentence, only the first word is capitalized.
- "À celle qui est trop gaie" (poem)
- If the title is an enumeration or list, capitalize only the nouns.
- “La Cigale et la Fourmis”
- Le Rouge et le Noir
If you need further help, contact a librarian.