Capitalization

In headlines, capitalize the first letter of every word except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. In subheadlines, capitalize the first letter of the subheadline. In sentences, capitalize the first letter of the first word.

Rule: Words that are directly juxtaposed with the person's name begin with a capital letter. Standard or commonly used names of an office are treated as proper names. Royal styles are capitalized.

Example: President Obama, not president Obama; David Cameron was British Prime Minister; Louis XVI was King of France; Her Majesty; His Highness

Rule: Terms referring to ethnic groups start with a capitalized letter.

Example: Black, White, Indigenous, Aboriginal, Hispanic, African American

Rule: When referring to a specific group of the same nationality, capitalize “People.” When referring to a specific group of different nationality, lowercase “people."

Example: the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, but: the authors were all Indigenous people but belonged to different nations

Rule: Religions, sects, and churches and their followers (in noun or adjective form) start with a capital letter. Generally, ‘the’ is not capitalized before such names. The same rule applies for religious texts (scriptures).

Rule: Titles for deities, including proper names and titles, start with a capital letter.

Example: God, Allah, the Lord, the Great Spirit

Rule: Common nouns for deities and religious figures are not capitalized. The same rule applies for philosophies, theories, movements, and doctrines unless the name derives from a proper name or has become a proper name.

Example: many gods; saints and prophets; capitalism versus Marxism

Rule: Seasons are uncapitalized (a hot summer) except when personified.

Example: Soon Spring will show her colors.

Rule: When using scientific names, capitalize the genus. Supergenus and subgenus, when applicable, are treated the same way.

Example: Berberis, Erithacus

Rule: Scientific names (order, family, etc.) are capitalized and italicized in Latin but not in their English equivalents.

When writing out an email address or website URL, use all lowercase.

• • • info@lecturio.com

    • lecturio.com

Rule: Full sentences are capitalized, phrases are not. Avoid unnecessary capitalization (also for medical terms and diseases: if it is not a name, it will be lowercase!)

Rule: Directions and their derived forms are not generally capitalized; only when they form part of a proper name.

Example: north, north-east, southeast, northern, southeasterly, but: Great North Road

Rule: When referring to regions, the direction word in it is capitalized if it is consistently capitalized in reliable sources.

Example: eastern Spain, Southern California, North Korea

Rule: Capitalize names of particular institutions but not generic words for institutions

Example: Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine

Rule: Capitalize the names of departments and teams, but not the word 'team' or 'department'. Capitalize individual job titles when referencing to a specific role.

Example: Marketing team, Support department, the new Marketing Manager, but “All the managers ate donuts.”

Rule: Logical operators as an algorithm can stay capitalized "AND, OR, NOT."