Style Guide: I

IBBY = International Board on Books for Young People

ID = identification

IDEA = Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (note lowercase w; this follows the style of official name)

identification = ID

i.e.,
Abbreviation of the Latin id est, meaning "that is." This abbreviation requires two periods and a comma after the second period. It should not be italicized or underlined. As a conjunctive adverb it is sometimes preceded by a semicolon, and sometimes by a comma (see conjunctive adverbs). Often confused with e.g., (See e.g.,). As is the case with similar Latin abbreviations, i.e., should be used only in parenthetical material. In regular text, use the English translation, "that is" (APA 5th, 3.24).

IEP = Individualized Education Program (or Plan, outside the U.S.)

IERI = Interagency Education Research Initiative

if-then

ILC = International Leadership Conference

Illinois Reading Council = IRC

illiterate (See bias-free usage)
Use this term with caution. It connotes a complete inability to read that is rare in developed countries. Authors or editors who ignore this may draw scolding letters from readers. "Functional illiteracy" is dangerously vague. "Low literacy" or "problems with literacy" are more acceptable and likely more accurate descriptions. UNESCO materials still refer to illiterates; for societies lacking universal education the term may be more accurate. Outside of UNESCO-derived materials, it may be better to describe exactly a particular person's difficulties with literacy than to label that person illiterate.

illustrator names in reference/literature cited lists
IRA reference style conforms to APA 5th style in excluding illustrator names from individual entries in a reference list or literature cited list.

IM (n.) = instant message

IMing (v.; use instant messaging instead)

impact
In recent years the use of impact as a verb has increased dramatically, usually in the context of business- or government-related jargon. Although W-MDEU defends this usage as "standard and reasonably well established," most IRA readers find it questionable at best. IRA writers and editors should avoid using impact as a verb. Instead, use affect, influence, have an impact on, or a similar, more standard construction.

imply / implication
To imply is to send a message that is not explicitly stated but may be assumed from the context, the words that are used, and the tone or manner of their delivery. An implication is a message that is not explicitly stated but is conveyed by the context, word choice, and tone of the statement.

Example: This is the brand that doctors recommend most. (Implies that this brand is best.)

important, more important, most important (not more importantly, etc.)

import into

import ratio

in-class (hyphenate as adjective preceding the noun it modifies)

include

1. Follow this verb with a selected group, never a complete listing. The sentence, "My favorite authors include Shakespeare, Dickens, and Poe" implies that you have other favorites that you have not named. If these three are your only favorite authors, you should say, "My favorite authors are Shakespeare, Dickens, and Poe." Likewise, you should not say, "My household includes a wife, husband, two children, and a Labrador retriever" unless there is at least one additional household member who is not mentioned in the sentence. If your list is "all-inclusive," it would be better to say, "My household comprises a wife, husband, two children, and a Labrador retriever."
2. Do not insert a colon (or any other punctuation) between include and the example or examples it is introducing (See colon).

inclusive language

1. Avoid terms and ideas that give unfair preference to one type of person or that disparage others, and avoid stereotypes based on sex, race, or other characteristics (see bias-free usage). Examples: the assumption that a nurse must be female, that a police officer must be a male, or that a person's ethnic or racial background will predispose that person to particular values, attitudes, or abilities
2. Do not use "he" when a person of either sex is meant. The easiest way to avoid this is to use plurals (Not, "A child reads best when he can read what he likes "; instead, use "Children read best when they can read what they like." When just one person is meant, use "he or she" or "she or he." Do not use "she" to replace "he." Do not alternate the two pronouns. Do not use "s/he" or other forms using slashes.
3. Remember that the International Reading Association has members around the world, and avoid such errors as referring to "our country" when the United States is meant.

incredible
The literal meaning of this word is "not believable" or "beyond belief." A careful writer or editor will not use this adjective to describe something that he or she knows to be true. As a figure of speech, incredible has been badly overused—to the point that it has become a cliche, an empty, almost meaningless expression. Choose a more precise term, like astonishing or amazing.

in-depth (hyphenated as adjective preceding noun; otherwise in depth)

Independent School District = ISD

indexes

indigenous peoples
Whenever possible, use the name of the particular nation or group, such as Cherokee, Inuit, or Australian Aborigines. If the name is not widely familiar—"Athabascan," for example—explain it. For larger groups or more general references, the terms indigenous people and native people are less culturally loaded and probably more accurate than American Indians, aboriginal tribes, Native Americans, and similar terms. Capitalize Indigenous when used interchangeably with Native American. Canada refers to its indigenous peoples as First Nations.

Individualized Education Program = IEP (Program, not Plan, is the language used in the IDEA document; however, in areas outside the U.S. such as the U.K. and Canada, this document is called an Individualized Education Plan.)

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act = IDEA

infer / inference
To infer is to derive a meaning from a statement in which that meaning is not explicitly stated but may be gathered from such clues as context, word choice, and tone. An inference is a meaning that is not explicitly stated but may be gathered from the context, word choice, and tone of a statement.

Example: She said she couldn't go out with me tonight because she had to water her cactus. (I infer that she doesn't want to go out with me.)

Information Technology = IT

infrastructure

in-house (adv. or adj.; this compound is hyphenated wherever it appears)

initials
Although many style guides (e.g., APA 5th 4.08; CMS 15th, 8.6) call for inserting hard (i.e., nonbreaking) spaces between two or more grouped initials, IRA style calls for such initials to be closed. Thus "T.S. Eliot was reading about J.E.B. Stuart" (not T. S. Eliot, J. E. B. Stuart).

inkjet

inner-city (as adjective; noun is inner city)

in-school literacy

inservice

instant message = IM

institute/Institute
Capitalize only as part of a full formal name: IRA Institute on Adolescent Literature. Lowercase in all other cases: an institute, the institute, a series of institutes.

Interagency Education Research Initiative = IERI

interdisciplinary

intergenerational

intermediate-grade (or -level)

international address standards

International Board on Books for Young People = IBBY

International Leadership Conference = ILC

international perspective
International Reading Association authors and editors should bear in mind that IRA materials have an international audience. References to "our government," and "this nation" should be changed to "the U.S. government" and "the United States." Regional names should also be identified: not "a city in the South," but "a city in the southern United States."

the Internet

Internet Service Provider = ISP

interracial

interreliability

inter-rater reliability

intersentential

intertextuality

intranet

introduction / Introduction
Capitalize introduction if the word is used as the name of a part of a specific book (e.g., “In his Introduction to the third edition of The Elements of Style, E.B. White mused on the history of his involvement with the project”). Otherwise, lowercase (e.g., “E.B. White never would have contributed an introduction to a book as carelessly written as this.”) See book parts or sections for further discussion.

Iowa Test of Basic Skills = ITBS

iPhone

IRA / the IRA

1. To prevent confusion with the Irish Republican Army, commonly called "the IRA," writers and editors should take pains never to refer to our Association as "the IRA."
2. Use of "IRA" in running text is acceptable after the organization's full name has been spelled out and where an acronym is appropriate.

IRA mailing addresses

IRC = Illinois Reading Council

ISD = Independent School District

ISP = Internet Service Provider

IT = information technology

ITBS = Iowa Test of Basic Skills

it's / its
The form with the apostrophe is not the possessive. It's actually a contraction of it is. A personal pronoun never needs an apostrophe to form its possessive. It forms its possessive without an apostrophe.