Italics and Composition Titles
Rules for when to italicize text and how to treat the titles of books, newspapers, journals and other published works in university publications and news releases.
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Note: Italics are not used in news releases. For publications, follow these rules.
Italics
Latin names of plants and animals
Italicize Latin names of plants and animals (genus and species).
- Homarus americanus
Do not italicize
Scientific names for phylum, class, order and family, but use initial caps.
- Chordata, Carnivora
English derivatives of scientific names, and use lowercase:
- amoeba, carnivore
Do not italicize cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude.
For emphasis
Use quotation marks, rather than italics or underlines, to emphasize words in text, also to highlight foreign words or phrases not yet Anglicized (Note: If a foreign word or phrase is in Webster's, do not italicize or use quotation marks).
- The time to strike is "now."
- It was the coup de grâce.
Composition titles
Books, newspapers and journals
Italicize book, newspaper and journal titles in publications; however, in press releases, put book titles in quotation marks, and place newspaper and journal titles in roman type (not italicized or in quote marks), per AP style.
Reference materials
Titles for reference materials should be in roman type, including catalogs, pamphlets, periodicals, dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks.
Quotation marks for composition titles
For examples of using quotation marks for composition titles, see the Quotation marks section.