Information for Authors

3.5. Capitalization

Internal consistency in capitalization is very important. A few general principles of capitalization may be set out:

  1. Civil, military, religious, professional, and noble titles are capitalized only when followed by a proper name: "Premier Lougheed," but "the prime minister."
  2. Nouns designating parts of the world are capitalized, whereas descriptive adjectives usually are not: "the West," and "western Canada."
  3. Names of organizations, movements, and political parties are capitalized, but not the words "organization," "party," and "movement."
  4. Nouns and adjectives designating political and economic systems of thought, philosophical, literary, and artistic styles and schools of thought are lowercase unless derived from a proper noun.
  5. Military groups, armies, battalions, regiments, etc., are capitalized, as are full names of wars and rebellions: "Riel Rebellion," "the War of 1812," "World War II."
  6. Capitalize foreign words as they appear in their original form.

Move on to: 3.6. Dates
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© 1995 University of Calgary Press
Release no. 1.0 (August 1995)