Capitalization

Lecture 1 Click to edit Master subtitle style

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Terms

Full caps means that every letter in an expression is capital, LIKE THIS Caps & lc means that the principal words of an expression are capitalized, Like This Caps and small caps refers to a particular font of type containing small capital letters instead of lowercase letters

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Elements in a document such as headings, titles, and captions may be capitalized in either sentence style or headline style: Sentence style calls for capitalization of the first letter, and proper nouns of course. Headline style calls for capitalization of all principal words (also called caps & lc).

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Sentence Style Capitalization

Sentences The first word in a sentence is capitalized. Questions When a direct question occurs within a sentence, the author may or may not choose to capitalize the first word of the question: The question addressed by this research project is, What system 4/29/12

Lists

Items in a displayed list should begin with a capital whether they are complete sentences or not: The purposes of this report are 1. To evaluate the performance of the instruments 2. To expand the data base We can define the requirements of the power converter as follows: 1. Energy conversion should be high. 4/29/12

Stylistic Uses for Sentence Style Capitalization

Table entries, captions, or footnotes, are often capitalized as a matter of style. Figure captions: Figure 1. Three-view sketch of the research aircraft. Dimensions are in inches. A word or phrase appearing in a symbolic expression: Cm = Pitching moment/qS

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Headline Style Capitalization

Headline style calls for all principal words to be capitalized (caps & lc) Do not capitalize the articles a, an, and the; the prepositions or adverbs at, by, for, of, in, up, on, and to; and the conjunctions and, as, but, if, or, and nor. In effect, this rule means that words of four or more letters are considered principal words and are capitalized. Evaluation of Twenty-one High-Resolution

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Abbreviations

An abbreviation is a shortened version of a word or phrase and is often followed by a period, for example, c.o.d., ft-lb, St.,or publ. Abbreviations usually have become standard so that their form can be looked up in a reference book. normally lowercase abbreviations should always be left lowercase, particularly abbreviations for units of measure:
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Acronyms

words formed from the initial letters of successive parts of a term" (Skillin et al. 1974), for example, NASA, NASTRAN, STIF, NASP. They never contain periods and are often not standard, so that definition is required. Acronyms are always formed with capital letters. A few words have crept into our language which were initially acronyms, for example, laser and radar. But generally 4/29/12 acronyms remain in full caps.

Proper Nouns and Adjectives

Proper nouns are defined as "the name of a particular person, place, or thing. Thus, the names of such things as organizations, political divisions, calendar divisions, and historic events and holidays are capitalized just as personal names and geographic names are.

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In general, proper nouns and derivatives of proper nouns used in a proper sense are capitalized: Italy Rome Alps Newton Italian Roman (of Rome) Alpine Newtonian

However, derivatives of proper nouns that have acquired an independent meaning are not capitalized:
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roman (numeral)

pascal (the unit)

A common noun used with a number or letter for purposes of designation is not capitalized chapter 4 figure 1 case 8 part I reference 25 run 234

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Personal Names and Titles In foreign names, particles such as d', de, du, and von
are capitalized unless preceded by a forename or title: E. I. du Pont Du Pont Theodore von Karman Von Karman Institute personal name that is used in a common sense is no longer capitalized: the units curie, watt, newton, and kelvin But degree Celsius degree Rankine degree Fahrenheit Civil and professional titles are capitalized when they precede a personal name as part of the name
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Geographic Names

The names of particular regions, localities, countries, and geographic features are capitalized: Names of geographic features Northern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere Arctic Circle North Pole Equator Tropic of Cancer But: equatorial the tropics polar region Tropic of Cancer
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Names of regions and localities Middle East Southeast Asia Gulf States6 North Atlantic States6 Great Plains Corn Belt North and South (Civil War Period) But western Sudan northern manufacturers eastern Gulf states northern Kordofan
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Various holidays, historic events, and other time designations are capitalized: Names of months and days of the week January Sunday fall December Thursday spring

Calendar and Time Designations

But seasons are not capitalized:

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Titles of Works

Titles of written and artistic works are capitalized. Historic documents. Declaration of Independence Treaty of Paris Titles of documents, essays, and articles: Slater, Philip N. 1980: Remote Sensing--Optics and Optical Systems. Addison-Wesley Publ. Co., Inc. Elterman, L. 1970: VerticalAttenuation Model With Eight Surface 4/29/12

Names of computer programs that are published (for example, in COSMIC): Optimal Regulator Algorithms for the Control of Linear Systems (ORACLS) Interaction of Structures, Aerodynamics, and Controls (ISAC) Aircarft Noise Prediction Program (ANOPP)
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