I used this book (I see that it's now out-of-print, though) to improve my handwriting by using italic. You can see some examples inside the book.

https://www.amazon.com/Write-Now-Complete-Program-Handwritin...

I ordered http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0876781180?psc=1&redirect=t... a long time ago.

This: http://www.amazon.com/Write-Now-Complete-Self-teaching-Handw... seems to be updated.