Italicization Rules
talicize the following (or underline if writing by hand or using a typewriter):
The titles of books, plays, book-length poems, magazines, and newspapers:
War and Peace
TIME magazine
The Call of the Wild
National Geographic
The Times of India
The titles of movies and radio and television programs:
Finding Nemo
War of the Worlds
Law & Order
Car Talk
Tom and Jerry
Big Brother
The titles of works of art, including paintings, sculptures, and major musical compositions:
Mona Lisa (painting)
The Thinker (sculpture)
Swan Lake (ballet)
Porgy and Bess (opera)
Do not italicize musical compositions named by number or key: Symphony No. 4; Quartet in E minor.
Words, letters, and numbers used as such:
How do you spell please?
Does your name end with a c or a k?
The 6 looked like a 0.
Foreign words and phrases that have not been assimilated into English:
Alex’s Weltanschauung was gloomy.
Alice made a tarte au citron for dessert.
Words and phrases that are being emphasized:
Paris was the place to be in the ’20s.
The names of ships, aircraft, and space vehicles:
The Titanic
USS Maine
The Spirit of St. Louis
Space shuttle Challenger