How to Use Italics

Used correctly, italics can make your writing clearer and more precise.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Italicize the titles of books, which may be novels, book-length nonfiction or book-length poems. Generally, the titles of shorter works, such as essays or shorter poems, are not italicized but are set off with quotation marks.

2. Italicize the names of newspapers and periodicals.

3. Italicize the names of television series, but not the names of individual episodes (which are set off with quotation marks).

4. Use italics for the names of movies and plays.

5. Use italics for names of operas and other full-length musical compositions, except for works that are named by their number or key (for example, Symphony No. 2).

6. Italicize the names of ships, planes, automobiles and trains.

7. Scientific names of plants and animals, such as canis dingo or ailurus fulgens, take italics.

8. Emphasize a word or short phrase using italics. For example, "You should come to the party." Don't overuse them, however, or they won't have the intended effect.

9. Italicize foreign-language words that are likely to be unfamiliar to readers. For example, "At the Ristorante di Dante, I ordered cervello, not knowing I would be served brains." Don't, however, italicize proper names, such as Ristorante di Dante.

Tips & Warnings

• Use italics for emphasis sparingly. It's almost always better if the emphasis is clear from the structure of the sentence itself.