How to create a function to italicize in latex in emacs?

[Pedro Costa]

Hi,

I would like to italicize a word in latex in emacs automatically.
Instead of write \textit{word}, I would like to select the "word" and
then write M-x <my command> and it's added textit around the word. Do
I have to create a lisp function in .emacs? How do I do that?

Thanks,