Capitalization

Capitalization guidelines

Modern practice is to use lower case unless there's a specific reason for capitalizing. Text that is overly ornamented with capitals and boldface is difficult to read.

Capitalize

• The descriptors Chapter, Table, Figure, Appendix, Section, and Clause when cross-referencing a uniquely numbered part of your own document.

• All proper nouns and proper adjectives, even when they are plural, generic, or non-specific—for example, Chinese wall, German shepherd, and Brussels sprout.

Do not capitalize

• Cross-references to parts of a different document.

• The names of buildings, plant, equipment, or features unless they are recognized proper names.

• Labels of time periods or sequences, such as year 2, phase 3, step 6, or week 14.

• The spelled-out form of an acronym unless specified otherwise in your glossary.

• Plural titles or when they are used generically or as adjectives.

• Abbreviated titles unless the unique essence of the title is retained.

• Job titles unless they are attached to a person’s name (as a post-nominal title, for example) or are being described formally.

• Terms of jargon unless they are capitalized in your glossary (see Technical terms and jargon) or are defined (see Defined terms).

• The terms in a glossary unless they are proper nouns or proper adjectives (see Term lists and glossaries).

Note

Specific rules apply to Terms of government.

Titles and headings, capitalization

Style guidelines are less formal than in the past and sentence-style (first word and proper nouns only are capitalized) is often used for headings and titles of publications.

Formal titles

Title-style is traditionally used for formal titles (organizations, job titles, positions, programs, and such).

Table titles and headings

• Use sentence-style without end punctuation in table titles (numbered and unnumbered). For example, “Table 3. Key performance indicators” or “Table 3 List of KPIs used in the analysis”.

• Format table column headings sentence-style.

• Except Term lists and glossaries, in table row headings, use sentence-style.

• Always capitalize proper nouns, wherever they occur.

Lists, capitalization

• Except Term lists and glossaries, capitalize the first word in a bulleted or numbered item in a list, even when the phrase completes an introductory sentence, unless the term is case-sensitive.

• Always capitalize proper nouns, wherever they occur.

Title-style rules

Observe the following rules for capitalization of formal titles.

Capitalize

• All nouns, verbs (including is and other forms of be), adverbs (including than and when), adjectives (including this and that), and pronouns (including it).

• The first and last words, regardless of their part of speech (“The Signs to Look For”).

• Prepositions that are part of a verb phrase (“Washing Down Your Workplace”).

• If you are unsure what role the word plays in the phrase, read it out loud, and if it is stressed, then capitalize it.

Do not capitalize

• Articles (a, an, the) unless an article is the first word in the title.

• Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, nor, or).

• Prepositions or subordinating conjunctions of four or fewer letters (if, when, into).

• To in an infinitive phrase (“How to Optimize Your Pit”).

• The second part of a hyphenated word (“Non-planar Solutions”) where the prefix cannot stand on its own (non-, pre-, anti-, etc.), unless it is a proper noun or proper adjective (“Pre-Cambrian Formations”)

• Case-sensitive terms (“The fdisk Command”). Follow the traditional use of keywords and other special terms in programming languages (“Using AND and OR”).

Compound words in title-style

• Capitalize a word in compound words and hyphenated phrases if it is a proper noun or proper adjective or the words have equal weight (e.g. Cross-Reference).

• Do not capitalize subsequent words if another part of speech or the meaning of the first word relies on the second (e.g. Run-of-Mine, Cut-off Grade, Run-in Period, On-board Telemetry, Out-lying Samples, Consumer-led Recovery). Do not capitalize the second element in a spelled-out number (e.g. Thirty-nine Steps).

Note

When applied to participles and gerunds in compound words and phrases, the previous rule can be difficult to apply. When in doubt, don’t agonize over the capitalization—just capitalize if the word is stressed.

Capitalization following a punctuation mark

Follow these rules when capitalizing the first word following a punctuation mark (full stop, colon, etc.)

Capitalize

• The first word of a new sentence following any end punctuation.

Do not capitalize

• Case-sensitive lower-case words. Write sentences to avoid the use of a case-sensitive lower-case word or numerals at the beginning.

• The word following a colon unless the word is a proper noun or the text following the colon is a complete sentence.

• The word following an em dash unless it is a proper noun, even if the text following the em dash is a complete sentence.

Cross-references, capitalization

Only capitalize cross-references to parts of your own document, such as Glossary and Chapter 5.

Capitalize

• Capitalize references to uniquely identified parts of your document, including the index, glossary, appendices, volumes, parts, chapters, numbered tables and figures, and uniquely numbered sections and clauses.

Do not capitalize

• Do not capitalize references to the parts of a different document, including regulations, codes of practice, and legal documents.

• Do not capitalize references to pages, footnotes, notes, paragraphs, unnumbered sections, nor numbered or labelled list items.

• Do not capitalize descriptive (unnumbered) references, such as “the following table”.

Capitalized (own document only)

in the Index

see the Glossary for descriptions of

For more information, see Chapter 3.

refer to Appendix B for

(see Section 3.2.1)

refer to Clause 3.2.1 (a)

are listed in Table 3.2

Figure 6 shows

are shown in Tables 3 through 6

---

Uncapitalized

in the previous chapter

the following table

as defined in rule 93(a)(iv) in the NER

see clause 4.5 of the EULA

Defined terms, capitalization

Capitalization is used to indicate significance of a term, such as a legally significant term like “Subcontractor” or a code- or rule-defined term like “Competent Person” or “Retailer of Last Resort”. However, avoid unless the term is legally or commercially significant. Also see Code-defined terms.

Minerals and geological terms, capitalization

All metals (uranium), minerals (rutile), chemical compounds (potassium sulfate), and most geological terms (greenstone belt), including terms derived from a person’s name (riebbeckite) and proper nouns (californium) are not capitalized.

Only formally named geological formations (Yandal Greenstone Belt) and geological eons, eras, and periods (Paleozoic, Silurian) are capitalized.

Elements, minerals, chemical compounds, geological terms

Pleistocene

Indus glaciation

an ice age, the Ice Age

the Archean eon

the Late Quaternary

in late Quaternary times

lithium hydroxide

tungsten

sulfide

lamproite

Yamba Formation

Lens B

low-grade lens

Technical terms and jargon, capitalization

Do not capitalize technical terms unless capitalized in your glossary. In particular, do not capitalize:

• Financial terms, such as net present value (NPV), return on investment (ROI), and capital expenditure (CapEx).

• Business processes or devices, such as due diligence, prudential management, annual budget, and revenue forecast.

• Operational processes, facilities, or systems, such as distribution pipeline, city gate, filtration plant, and concentrator.

• Generic types of equipment or materials (unless they are brand names), such as gas spectrometer, acoustic viewer, shotcrete, weld mesh (generic), Weldmesh™ (product-specific), and Cat 755. If in doubt, check the supplier’s website.

• Standard property and quality parameters or tests (except proper nouns), such as crucible swelling number, Wobbe index, total sulfur, mercaptan sulfur, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), specific gravity (SG), loss-on-ignition (LOI), Hardgrove grindability index (HGI), rippability, calorific value (CV), and heating value (HV).

Place names, capitalization

Do not capitalize the names of buildings, plant, equipment, or features—“the washing plant” and “the copper concentrator” and “the change house” and “LNG storage facility”, for example—unless it is a recognized proper name—“the Boathouse” or “No.3 Pumping Station” or “South Adit” or “Western Deeps Mine” or “Boorilla field”, for example. To be recognized as a proper name, it must be either labelled as such on a map (regional, topographical, geological, locality, or site) or with a plaque erected at that location.

Code- and rules-defined terms, capitalization

Only capitalize terms defined in a code of practice or regulation when the precise meaning of the term is important to the reader. For example, it is unnecessary, in general, to capitalize such terms in an overview or general guide, in a software user guide, in a media release, or in a proposal. In more technical or procedural documents, use your judgement—remember that unnecessary capitalization makes the document harder to read.

When capitalizing a term defined in a code of practice or regulation, always provide a clear reference to the defining code, standard, or rule—capitalization on its own is not sufficient. On first use of the capitalized term, define it in text or add a documentary note to the defining code or rule. Thereafter, the capitalized term can be used freely. Repeat the footnote reference or provide a cross-reference if the term is reused much later in the document.

If numerous terms need to be defined, include a “Definitions” section early in your document and list all the terms there. Note that, in general, your “definition” is only a reference to the defining code or regulation. Do not repeat the definitions from those sources unless your discussion relies on their precise wording, and then cite the source. Similarly, glossaries do not define terms, they describe them in plain language.

Note

The appearance of the term in the defining code or regulation is unimportant. You are not capitalizing the term because it is capitalized there: you are capitalizing it to tell the reader that the phrase is significant and not just a common phrase.

If the code or rule reference is unimportant, or the term is used generically, do not capitalize. However, where such terms are only used in reference to a code of practice or regulation, generic use should be avoided.

It is especially important not to shorten these terms. Shortening, in general, indicates that it is no longer code-specific. If shortened, do not capitalize. For example, under the National Gas Rules, “Market Participant” is not the same as “Participant”, but both can be “participants”. Similarly, “Mineral Resources” implies a mining code of practice, but the shortened “resources” is generic and is not capitalized.

Interface elements, capitalization

The following general guidelines cover the basic capitalization rules as they apply to the interface elements of IT systems:

Menu names, command names, dialog box titles, and tab names

Follow the interface. Usually, these items use title-style. If the interface is inconsistent, use title-style.

Dialog box elements

Follow the interface. Newer style calls for these items to use sentence-style. If the interface is inconsistent, use sentence-style.

Functional elements

Capitalize the names of functional elements that do not have a label in the interface, such as toolbars (the Standard toolbar) and toolbar buttons (the Insert Table button). Do not capitalize interface elements used generically, such as toolbar, menu, scroll bar, and icon.

User input and program output

Do not capitalize unless it is case-sensitive. Always consult your glossary for terms that are case-sensitive or traditionally all upper or lower case.