Italics

The primary use of italics in FEWS NET writing is for non-English words or phrases that are not commonly used in English. Explain the terms on first use if necessary. If a word from another language becomes familiar through repeated use throughout a work, italicize it only the first time it appears. If the word appears rarely, however, italicize it every time.

Do

• Italicize non-English words or phrases, and explain the term on its first appearance. Examples:

  • “Manjekwits (food vendors) are popular in Haiti.”

  • “The team in Nigeria used an okada (motorcycle taxi) to access hard-to-reach areas.”

Don’t

• Italicize words for emphasis. Example: “This is a critical food security update.”

  • See Text Emphasis.

• Italicize words in lieu of using a correct brand style for headings.

• Italicize non-English words or phrases that are commonly used in English (e.g. ad hoc, de facto).

• Italicize the formal names of organizations, institutions, or places, even if they are in a non-English language (e.g. Action Jeunesse pour le Développement).

Uses in technical writing

There are additional uses of italics in writing for FEWS NET documentation and FEWS NET product user interfaces:

• Data that appears within the UI, such as names of Data Source Documents or Data Series, may be italicized (e.g., Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), Nigeria, Livestock Price (weekly)).

• Italicize words that are used as words (e.g. Don't use & (ampersand) as a conjunction. Use the word and instead.)

• Documentation may italicize Parameter names (e.g., Select Price Bulletin Report from the Narrative Metadata Type list.)

• Documentation may italicize words sparingly for emphasis - primarily for notes or when introducing and defining a term.

Contact us if you have an application question or recommended addition to these standards.