Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Help desk/Archive 8 (section)

== Italicizing quotes ==

When italicizing quoted text, should we italicize the quotes as well? I mean, should it be like ''"this"'' or like "''this''"? [[User:Kieff|<nowiki></nowiki>]] &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] | [[User talk:Kieff|Talk]] 05:42, Sep 21, 2004 (UTC)

:For what it's worth, both of those look the same on my computer.  Anyway, I'd say that you should not italicize the quotes unless they're part of the quoted text.  Think of it this way: if only the first word(s) of the quote were italicized, you wouldn't italicize the opening quote marks but not the closing ones, right?  Similarly if only the last word(s) of the quote were italicized?  So why make a special case for when the whole quote is italicized?

:: Hmm..I'm not sure about this argument. These types of formatting are used for different purposes, so I'm not sure if you can reason by example from one to the other. Usually if you italicise one or two words, it's for emphasis of those words (or because the quote emphasises them); if you italicise the entire quote, it's to indicate that it's a quote. [[User:Matt Crypto|&mdash; Matt]] 16:28, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:::If you're italicizing a quote to indicate that it's a quote, then why would you also be using quotation marks?  One or the other method is sufficient&mdash;the policy I cited below says as much, and prescribes the use of quotation marks.  It also says that for especially long quotes, indentation can be used in addition to the quotation marks.  So italics shouldn't be used to indicate a quotation. [[User:Triskaideka|<nowiki></nowiki>]]&mdash;[[User:Triskaideka|Triskaideka]] 17:16, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:You could raise the issue at [[Wikipedia_talk:Manual of Style]] if you wanted to get a definite consensus. Note, however, that [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Quotation marks]] says that "Since quotations are already marked by quotation marks or indentations, they need not be italicized."  Are you sure that the words inside the quote marks need to be italicized?  Or alternately, are you sure that the italicized words need to be quoted? [[User:Triskaideka|<nowiki></nowiki>]]&mdash;[[User:Triskaideka|Triskaideka]] 16:13, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)