CapitalizationCapitalizationex.: department of psychology, biology department, department of English, the Spanish department.
ex.: Merit Scholarship, Pulitzer Prize; Renaissance, Prohibition; Labor Day, Halloween; the Boer War, World War II.
ex.: Bible, Qur'an, Book of Job (not underlined)
God, Allah. The rules about pronouns referring to the deity vary;
some reference works state that "He" or "His"
or "Thee" are capitalized whenever "God"
is capitalized. Some writers always put the pronouns in lower
case. Check with your professors about their requirements.
Proper names of gods are capitalized: Krishna, Hera, Odin.
ex.: Buick, Nike, Microsoft. Lowercase generic terms: a VW van.
ex.: the James Center, Chrysler Building, President's Dining Room, Oval Office; waiting room, doctor's office, bank building.
ex.: U.S. Capitol and the Capitol (when referring to the building in Washington, D.C. or to state capitols).
ex.: U.S. Congress and Congress (referring to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives). Lowercase "congressional" unless it is part of a proper name.
Capitalize references to the U.S. Constitution, with or without the "U.S." Place "constitutional" in lowercase. Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, First Amendment, and other legislation and treaties are capitalized.
north, south, northeast, etc. when they indicate direction;
North, South, West, etc. when they indicate geographical regions.
Phrases such as the Mid Atlantic, Silicon Valley, Dixie, Sun
Belt, and Midwest are capitalized.
ex.: Ben drove south to visit his uncle Bubba, who has
a Southern accent.
ex.: In his garden, he enjoyed the feeling of earth
between his fingers.
"You Earth creatures make me VERY angry, " the
Martian shouted as he pulled out his disintegrator.
ex.: Henrico County, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Richmond City Council, Virginia General Assembly. Also "City Council" or "General Assembly" when writing about a specific governmental body.
ex.: U.S. Highway 1, U.S. Route 66, Virginia Route 6, Interstate 95, Pennsylvania Turnpike, Rock Creek Parkway.
ex.: Democrat, Republican, German Social Democratic Party. Fred's parents were staunch Republicans; at their urging he joined the Party.
ex.: We went fishing on the James River. Later, our family joined us at the river.
ex.: President Lincoln; Professor Smith; Bill Gates, president of Microsoft Inc.; the Honorable I.M. Juste; professor of history; farmer Brown; security guard.
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