LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Know when to use italics versus quotation marks in titles of works.
- Review other circumstances when italics are appropriate.
- Understand how to use italics in moderation for emphasis.
Traditionally, underlining was used as a means of emphasis in handwritten text. Since the advent of the personal computer, italics have replaced underlining. If you are creating text by hand or by some other means where italics are not available, use underlining instead of italics.
Italicize Titles of Published Texts, Lengthy Works, and Legal Cases
As a rule, you should italicize the titles of published works, but you should not italicize parts of published works, such as a poem within a book, or unpublished works. Some exceptions that should be italicized include lengthy works, such as a very long poem within a book and legal cases. Some exceptions that should not be italicized include titles of published short stories and titles of individual television shows. Works that are not italicized are typically placed in quotation marks. Some other exceptions that should not be italicized include long religious works, such as the Bible and the Koran, and easily recognizable texts, such as the US Constitution.
Italicize Titles of Books, Magazines, and Newspapers
- The Runaway Jury
- People
- The New York Times
Italicize Titles of Long Poems, Plays, and Television Series (but Not Individual Television Shows)
- The Odyssey
- Billy Elliot the Musical
- The Mentalist
Italicize Names of Spacecraft, Aircraft, and Ships
- Apollo 13
- Boeing 777
- the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María
Italicize Foreign Words Used in English Sentences
- We would like to develop a positive esprit de corps within the company.
- His actions over the past month have made him persona non grata within my group of friends.
- But you need not italicize foreign words which have come into common usage, like burrito.
Italicize Words, Letters, and Numbers That Are Called Out or Emphasized
- She is, by the very definition, irascible.
- Make a list of words that begin with hu.
- The word cinnamon is hard for me to pronounce.
- The numbers 36, 84, and 300 are all divisible by 6.
Italicize Scientific Names
- Homo sapiens are members of the Animalia kingdom.
Do Not Over-italicize
You might be tempted to use italics to emphasize a key phrase, word, or idea even though it doesn’t fall into any these categories. Fight off the temptation since an overuse of italics is distracting for readers.
CC Attribution
The Mechanics section is adapted from Chapter 19 “Mechanics” in Writer’s Handbook v 1.0 used according to Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 3.0