When used properly, italics can add emphasis to your writing. The key is knowing when it is proper to set words in italics. So what are the rules of italicization?

Italicize the following:

The titles of books, plays, collection of poems, magazines, and newspapers:

War and Peace
Pride and Prejudice
Animal Planet
Times of India

The titles of movies and radio and television programs:

Finding Nemo
Gone with the Wind
Who will Become the Millionaire?

The titles of paintings, sculptures, and major musical compositions:

Mona Lisa (painting)
David (sculpture)
Swan Lake (ballet)
Porgy and Bess (opera)

Words, letters, and numbers used as such:

How do you spell fix?
The e looked like c.
The letter i in business is not pronounced.

Foreign words and phrases should be set in italics if their meanings are likely to be unknown to the reader.

Peter’s Weltanschauung was gloomy.

Words and phrases that are being emphasized:

Paris was the place to be in the ’20s.

The names of ships, aircraft, and space vehicles:

Skylab
The Spirit of St. Louis
space shuttle Discovery

Italicized letters are also used to show the word or words that would be stressed if spoken.

Stop the car – I feel sick.