Using italics

Titles of the following types of works should be italicized.

titles of booksThe Color Purple, The Round House

magazinesTime, Scientific American, Slate

newspapers   the Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel

pamphletsCommon Sense, Facts about Marijuana

long poemsThe Waste Land, Paradise Lost

plays’Night Mother, Wicked

filmsCasablanca, Argo

television programsThe Voice, Homeland

radio programsAll Things Considered

musical compositionsPorgy and Bess

choreographic worksBrief Fling

works of visual artAmerican Gothic

video gamesEverquest, Call of Duty

The titles of other works—including short stories, essays, episodes of radio and television programs, songs, and short poems—are enclosed in quotation marks.

note: Do not use italics when referring to the Bible, titles of books in the Bible (Genesis, not Genesis), or titles of legal documents (the Constitution, not the Constitution).

Ships, spacecraft, and aircraft

Queen Mary 2, Endeavour, Wright Flyer

The success of the Soviets’ Sputnik energized the US space program.

Foreign words

Shakespeare’s Falstaff is a comic character known for both his excessive drinking and his general joie de vivre.

exception: Do not italicize foreign words that have become a standard part of the English language—“laissez-faire,” “fait accompli,” “modus operandi,” and “per diem,” for example.

Words mentioned as words, letters mentioned as letters, and numbers mentioned as numbers

Tomás assured us that the chemicals could probably be safely mixed, but his probably stuck in our minds.

Some toddlers have trouble pronouncing the letters f and s.

A big 3 was painted on the stage door.