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Italics
and Quotation Marks
GENERAL
RULES
- Use italics or quotation marks, according to the rules below,
to call the reader’s attention to a word or phrase that is
unfamiliar or to one that is used in a nonstandard way. Use them
with care, however; overuse of italics and quotation marks is often
seen as affected and patronizing.
- Use italics for emphasis, for unfamiliar foreign words and phrases,
and for technical terms followed by definitions. Italicize punctuation
marks immediately following italicized words. When italic type
is not available (for example, in a typewriter or handwritten manuscript),
underline to indicate italics; if the manuscript is later set in
type, the typesetter will use italics for underlined words.
- In a manuscript that will not be set in type, it may be more
convenient and is equally appropriate to use quotation marks for
all of the uses listed in rule 2 except emphasis.
- Use quotation marks to indicate a word or phrase that is used
in other than its literal sense (e.g., slang or a word used ironically),
to introduce concepts unfamiliar to the reader, and in other cases
in which the reader’s attention is to be drawn to a word or
phrase. Use them only for the first reference to such a word or
phrase. (See “Punctuation” chapter
for use of quotation marks with direct quotations.)
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SLANG,
IRONY, TECHNICAL TERMS, WORDS USED AS WORDS, OTHER SPECIAL USES
- Use quotation marks to introduce a concept unfamiliar to the
reader. Use them only for the first reference.
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A series of compounds called the “nitrosamine group” was
the basis for his graduate thesis. The nitrosamine group
had never been studied so closely before. |
- Use quotation marks to single out a
familiar word or phrase taken from another context. When a well-known
word or phrase is used more as a common expression than as an allusion
to its original context, quotation marks may be unnecessary.
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The game against Ohio State turned out to be the Gophers’ “Waterloo.”
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My neighbors apparently believe that their right to
the pursuit of happiness includes playing loud music after
midnight. |
- Use quotation
marks around words used in an ironic sense only when the irony
might otherwise be missed.
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The “right” to bear arms, Professor Rodriguez
stressed, often results in accidental shootings. |
- Use quotation marks around words used
as slang or in a satiric sense if they might be unknown to the
reader.
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The instructor feared he was becoming too “tight” with
his students, allowing their friendship to obscure his
authority. |
- Use quotation
marks around a nontechnical term used in a technical sense. Italicize
on first use a technical term followed by a definition.
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She created a “dummy” to show the printer how
the brochure should appear in its final form.
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Ecologists have begun to be concerned about polychlorinated
biphenyls, poisonous compounds used by many industries. |
- Italicize
words used as words.
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Many people misuse the words bring and take by
interchanging them. |
- Do not
use italics or quotation marks after the expression
so-called, which is itself sufficient to emphasize the
special usage. Quotation marks may be used after the expressions called and known
as if technical or unfamiliar terms are being introduced.
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The so-called campus marauders were thought to be responsible.
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Hardening of the arteries, known as “arteriosclerosis” among
medical practitioners, is a common symptom of the aging
process.
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but |
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To gild their image a bit, the Minnesota Gophers are
now called the Golden Gophers |
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EMPHASIS
- Do not use italics or quotation marks to achieve special effects
when you can obtain the same effects structurally. If necessary,
rewrite the sentence to make the emphasis more apparent.
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The request was denied not by the journalism department,
not by the College of Liberal Arts, but by the regents
themselves. |
- Use italics for emphasis that might otherwise be missed. Avoid
italicizing a whole sentence for emphasis, and never italicize
a whole passage.
- Italicize any portion of a quotation that is to be emphasized
and include a footnote or parenthetical explanation in brackets:
[italics added], [emphasis added by editor], or [italics
mine].
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LETTERS
- Italicize letters and combinations of letters of the English
alphabet except in commonly used expressions.
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a lowercase n |
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sign with an X |
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learned her ABCs |
- Do not italicize the name of an English
or foreign letter (as distinct from the letter itself).
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from aleph to tav |
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an ell |
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a vee |
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a theta |
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an upsilon |
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FOREIGN
WORDS AND PHRASES
- Italicize isolated words and phrases in a foreign language if
they are likely to be unfamiliar to the reader. Avoid italicizing
a full sentence in a foreign language, and never italicize a passage
of two or more sentences, which should be treated as a quotation
if appropriate. If a definition follows a foreign word or phrase,
enclose the definition in parentheses.
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In Nazi Germany, women were expected to confine their
lives to Kinder, Kuche, Kirche.
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At the French Society meeting,
he mistakenly talked of washing his chevaux (horses)
instead of his cheveux (hair). |
- Do not italicize familiar foreign words and phrases.
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weltschmerz |
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a priori |
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mea culpa |
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ciao |
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merci |
- Do
not italicize scholarly Latin words and abbreviations except sic,
which, because of its peculiar use in quoted matter, should be
italicized and enclosed in brackets.
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ibid. |
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et al. |
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i.e. |
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e.g. |
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They edited carefully
to avoid “plagarism [sic] and its ugly consequences.” |
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TITLES
OF WORKS
- Italicize (underline in
typewriting or handwriting) titles and subtitles of:
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Published books, monographs, pamphlets, brochures, periodicals
(magazines, newsletters, journals, etc.)
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Newspapers (entire titles), newspaper sections published
separately
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Proceedings of conferences
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Collections of poems, plays, essays, short stories
Long poems published separately |
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Plays, motion pictures
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Operas, long musical compositions and their descriptive
or traditional titles
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Albums or CDs
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Works of art
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Legal cases (except the v.) and shortened second
references to cases |
- Use
quotation marks around titles of:
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Articles in periodicals and newspapers
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Parts and chapters of books
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Short stories and essays included in books
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Short poems
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Dissertations,
theses, manuscripts, reports, unpublished lectures, speeches,
and papers
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Radio and television programs (a useful way to handle
titles of individual programs with a television series
is “Yard ’n’ Garden: The Larch”)
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Songs, short musical compositions
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Substantive titles of conferences
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Official titles of art exhibits
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- Do not italicize or use quotation
marks around:
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University course titles; capitalize initial letters
of major words
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Titles of sections of books (preface, index);
capitalize a cross-reference, but do not capitalize a passing
reference
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Titles of book series and editions; do
not capitalize generic terms (series, edition) when they
are not parts
of titles
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Parts of poems, plays; do not capitalize them
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Names of depositories, archives, manuscript collections
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Names of musical compositions composed of music form, number, key
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Traditional or descriptive names of art works
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Descriptive titles of art exhibits and conferences
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Titles of regular newspaper columns
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Specific wording of short signs, notices, mottoes, inscriptions |
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