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The names of boats, ships, books, movies, newspapers, musical works, plays, films, journals or other publications should be italicised. Avoid using quotation marks (“ ”) to denote these items.

  • RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the early morning of 15 April 1912.
  • The findings are newly published in the prestigious international journal PLoS ONE.

Latin phrases

Certain Latin phrases should always be italicised.

  • in utero
  • in vitro
  • in vivo

When writing for the web

CMS limitations will not permit the use of italics in some fields. In these instances the use of quotation marks is acceptable. However, it is never acceptable to use quotation marks in CMS event listing titles.

About the Writing Style Guide

This guide is designed to help ensure writing style – whether for internal or external audiences, written for print or online – is consistent and maintains a professional standard across the University. It is not designed for academic writing.

Feedback

Please send any feedback – including reports of errors or requests for changes – to writing.style@otago.ac.nz

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