Capitalization

When in doubt, do not capitalize.

Capitalize

• Proper nouns, months, days of the week, but not the seasons.

• All words in the titles of books, plays, lectures, musical compositions, etc., except articles, conjunctions, and prepositions under four letters long. Always capitalize the first word of a title or head, even if it is an article, a conjunction, or a preposition.
  
  

  The Man Who Came to Breakfast
  "On the Response of the Timoshenko Beam to a Gaussian Stochastic Process"

• All conferred and traditional educational, occupational, and business titles when used specifically in front of the name or in vertical lists and programs; do not capitalize these titles in the text when they follow the name, unless the title is a named or distinguished professorship. (See also Titles)
  
  

  James L. Nelson, executive vice president and treasurer, or Vice President James L. Nelson
  Prof. Henry Jones is head of the Department of English.
  Charles N. Stewart, chief of the Analog Computation Branch, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; or Chief Charles N. Stewart of the Analog Computation Branch, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
  Mildred Harrison, Brage Golding Distinguished Professor of Research and professor of engineering

• The words Army, Navy, and Air Force, when referring to United States armed forces, whether or not preceded by the letters U.S.

• The words association, building, center, club, conference, department, division, hall, office, program, senate, street, university, etc., when used as part of a title; thereafter, do not capitalize the words association, building, etc., when used alone to refer to that specific place or group.
  
  

  the Alumni Association-thereafter, the association
  the Faculty Senate-thereafter, the senate
  the Department of Physics-thereafter, the department
  the Lake Campus-thereafter, the campus
  Board of Trustees-thereafter, the board or the trustees
  University Honors Program-thereafter, the program

• A specific course or subject, such as ENG 525, Middle English.

• Entire geographical names.
  
  

  the Great Miami River
  John Bryan State Park

• Geographical regions of the country, but not points of the compass.
  
  

  the South, the Midwest, the East
  northeast

• Names of athletic clubs and teams.
  
  

  the Raiders
  the Cincinnati Reds

• Names of all races and nationalities (except for designations based on size, habitat, or local usage).
  
  

  Caucasian, Nigerian, Irish, Japanese, Black
  pygmy, aborigine, bushman, highlander

• Official college degrees when spelled out.
  
  

  Bachelor of Science in Business
  Doctor of Philosophy
  
  WSU Academic Degrees
  
  Associate of Applied Business/A.A.B.
  Associate of Applied Science/A.A.S.
  Associate of Arts/A.A.
  Associate of Science/A.S.
  Associate of Technical Study/A.T.S.
  Bachelor of Arts/B.A.
  Bachelor of Fine Arts/B.F.A.
  Bachelor of Music/B.Mus.
  Bachelor of Science/B.S.
  Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering/B.S.B.E.
  Bachelor of Science in Business/B.S.B.
  Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering/B.S.C.E.
  Bachelor of Science in Computer Science/B.S.C.S.
  Bachelor of Science in Education/B.S.Ed.
  Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering/B.S.E.E.
  Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics/B.S.E.P.
  Bachelor of Science in Human Factors Engineering/B.S.H.F.E.
  Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Engineering/B.S.M.S.E.
  Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering/B.S.M.E.
  Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology/B.S.M.T.
  Bachelor of Science in Nursing/B.S.N.
  Master of Accountancy/M.Acc.
  Master of Arts/M.A.
  Master of Business Administration/M.B.A.
  Master of Education/M.Ed.
  Master of Humanities/M.Hum.
  Master of Music/M.Mus.
  Master of Rehabilitation Counseling/M.R.C.
  Master of Science/M.S.
  Master of Science in Computer Engineering/M.S.C.E.
  Master of Science in Engineering/M.S.E.
  Master of Science in Teaching/M.S.T.
  Master of Science in Urban Affairs/M.U.A.
  Educational Specialist/Ed.S.
  Doctor of Medicine/M.D.
  Doctor of Philosophy/Ph.D.
  Doctor of Psychology/Psy.D.

• Treat the word "fax" as you would the word "phone": use initial capital letters only where appropriate, but lower case in regular running copy. All-capital letters for "FAX" on business cards has been so prevalent that it is an acceptable alternative to "Fax" when distinguishing phone numbers from fax numbers.

• University when it appears alone.
  
  

  The university will sponsor tomorrow's event.

• College when it appears alone.
  
  

  The college just earned a $1.2 million grant for research.

• Titles standing alone or in apposition.
  
  

  The dean of the Raj Soin College of Business must approve the report.
  Contact the dean of students for further information.
  Helen Jones, professor of physics, will speak at the symposium.

• Names of school or college studies, fields of study, options, curricula, major subjects, or programs, except names of languages, unless a specific course is being referred to.

• Organized groups or classes of students in a university or high school, or the words freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, or graduate, when they refer to the year in which a course is to be taken or to the classification of the student.
  
  

  ENG 101 should be taken in the freshman year.
  Jim Gerard is a junior in the School of Medicine.
  The senior class will conduct its annual election tomorrow.

• Unofficial titles preceding the name.
  
  

  guitarist Jim "Fingers" Malone

• Designations of officers of a class or social organization, academic quarters, seasons, etc.
  
  

  Paula Johnson is president of the Inter Club Council.
  She was elected freshman class secretary.
  She is enrolled for fall quarter.

• These words:
  
  

  government	page
  honors	paragraph
  line	state
  master's degree	federal
  baccalaureate	doctorate

• The words offices, schools, and departments when referring to more than one individual office, school, or department
  
  

  schools of Medicine and Professional Psychology (but School of Medicine)

• Time designations a.m. and p.m. -lowercase