Academic Degrees
Use lower case when using
bachelor's, master's or doctor's degree. Use lower case for doctorate or
doctoral program.
Academic Departments
Capitalize the names of
departments except when used in a person's title.
| Right: | The director of admission is pleased with the number of applicants. |
Use lower case for the word "department" when it stands alone.
| Right: | She's been with the department for three years. |
| Right: | The Department of Special Events organizes commencement. |
| Right: | She's a professor in the Department of Physics. |
| Right: | She's a professor in the Physics Department. |
| Right: | She's a physics professor. |
| Right: | She majored in physics. |
Academic Majors
Use lower case for majors with
the exception of languages, which are proper nouns.
| Right: | Her major is physics. |
| Right: | He's an English major. |
Addresses
Capitalize formal street names, but
use lower case when used with more than one street name in text. Use lower case
when street words stand alone.
| Right: | Meet me at the corner of Forbes and Shady avenues. |
| Right: | The avenue is a dangerous street to cross. |
Administrative Offices
Capitalize the names of
departments, divisions and offices.
Use lower case for the words "department," "division" or "office" when they stand alone.
Capitalize the field when it's used to mean the department, division or office specifically. Do not capitalize the field when it's used in general.
| Right: | He works in the Cashier's Office. |
| Right: | She works in student affairs. (the field) |
| Right: | She works in the Student Affairs Office. (the university office) |
| Right: | He works in Planning. (the university office) |
| Wrong: | The Division will release its report. |
a.m. / p.m.
Use lower case and periods for "a.m."
and "p.m."
Annual Fund
Capitalize references to the Carnegie
Mellon Annual Fund.
| Right: | Did you contribute to the Annual Fund this year? |
| Right: | A healthy annual fund helps colleges and universities support basic programming. |
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees should
be capitalized only when referring to Carnegie Mellon's board, but "board" by
itself is not capitalized, nor is "trustees."
| Right: | The Board of Trustees will meet in November. |
| Right: | The board will meet in November with most trustees attending. |
Buildings
All proper names of buildings, such
as University Center, should be capitalized. Special building projects, such as
the West Campus Project, should be capitalized. Terms such as "north wing" and
"new residence hall" should not be capitalized, unless they are used in the
title.
Centers and Institutes
The formal names of
centers, such as the Center for Innovation in Learning or the Information
Networking Institute, should be capitalized, but "center" by itself should be in
lower case. The same rules apply to institutes.
| Right: | The Software Engineering Institute hosts seminars. |
| Right: | The institute will welcome dozens of affiliates. |
| Right: | The University Center opened in 1996. |
| Right: | The center has an indoor pool and a rotunda. |
Cities and Towns
Use lower case for general
sections of the city, but capitalize widely recognized names for city regions.
| Right: | The meetings will be downtown. |
| Right: | Let's go to a restaurant on the South Side. |
Classes and Courses
Use lower case when you
refer to classes and courses, unless you use the specific (and complete) title
or the name carries a proper noun or numeral.
| Right: | I had a class in industrial management. |
| Right: | I'm taking Industrial Management I. |
| Right: | I'm taking biology, Advanced Shakespeare and calculus. |
Commencement
Use lower case for
"commencement" in text.
Committees
Capitalize the formal names of
groups and committees, such as Faculty Senate, Long-Range Planning Committee,
President's Student Advisory Council. Use lower case for the words "committee"
or "council" when they stand alone.
the Cut
Capitalize the "C" only: the Cut.
| Right: | The Cut is a great place to play frisbee. |
| Right: | The concert will be on the Cut. |
| Wrong: | Meet me at The Cut. |
Dean's List
Always use lower case: the dean's
list.
Fax
The suggested way to use this word in a
sentence is in lower case. If you're providing a fax number on your business
card or in a listing, it's okay to use an initial cap.
| Right: | Call or fax me with the information. |
| Right: | Carnegie Mellon Public Relations |
| Phone: 412-268-1900 | |
| Fax: 412-268-6929 |
Homecoming
Use lower case for "homecoming"
unless it's used as a title.
Honors
Use lower case and italicize
Hyphenated Words in Titles
A general rule of
thumb is to always capitalize the first unit and capitalize the second unit if
it's a noun or adjective or if it has equal balance with the first unit.
| Right: | "Twentieth-Century Poets in South America" |
| "City-States in Nineteenth Century Europe" | |
| "Non-Christian Religions in North America" |
The second unit should be in lower case if it's a participle modifying the first unit or if both units constitute a single word.
| Right: | "English-speaking People throughout Asia" |
| "Medium-sized Companies with Unions" | |
| "E-flat Minor Melody" | |
| "Re-establishing a Youthful Outlook" | |
| "Self-fulfilling Prophecies in Small-Town America" |
Government
Use lower case when the word
"federal" is an adjective: federal court, the federal government.
Majors and Programs
Use lower case for majors,
programs, specializations or concentrations (with the exception of languages,
which are proper nouns).
| Right: | He received a bachelor of arts degree in history. |
| Right: | He'll study history. |
| Right: | He's a history major. |
| Right: | She's a Spanish major. |
Race
Capitalize names of races (African American,
Caucasian, Asian, Native American), but do not capitalize "black" or "white"
when referring to race.
Regions
Region names are capitalized when they
stand alone and are widely understood to designate a specific geographic area.
| Right: | western Pennsylvania |
| Right: | the West Coast, the Midwest |
| Right: | the east coast of Florida, the midwestern United States |
Rooms
Capitalize only when used with a number,
letter or name. In combination with a building name, use the number only.
| Right: | We'll be in Room 100. |
| Right: | We'll be in the training room. |
| Right: | The movie is in Doherty 2110. |
Seasons
Capitalize only when used in a title or
as part of a formal name. Use lower case when these words stand alone.
| Right: | fall semester, summer program |
| Right: | The program started in fall 1989. |
| Right: | The Spring Fling will be repeated this year. |
Semesters
Do not capitalize semesters in
text.
| Right: | Spring Carnival takes place during the spring semester; homecoming occurs in the fall semester. |
Social Security
Use lower case when referring to
social security number. Only capitalize references to the Social Security
Administration.
| Right: | Fill in your name and social security number. |
| Right: | The forms will be forwarded to Social Security. |
Student Classifications
Do not
capitalize "freshman," "sophomore," "junior," "senior," "postdoctoral fellow" or
"graduate student." But do capitalize as a class designation or formal title.
| Right: | He's a senior engineering major. |
| Right: | The Senior Class gift was the clock. |
Titles
A person's title is capitalized only when
used before the name. When using a capitalized title immediately before the
name, try to keep it short. Do not capitalize an occupational designation, only
a true title. Department names are in lower case in a person's title.
| Right: | We met President Cohon. |
| Right: | The president will speak at the dinner. |
| Right: | Vice President for Enrollment William Elliott issued the memo. |
| Right: | Our speaker will be artist William Cooper. |
Titles following a person's name should appear in lower case. Use lower case when a title is used alone.
| Right: | The president of Carnegie Mellon will address the group. |
| Right: | Jeff Bolton, vice president for business and planning and chief financial officer, will host the reception. |
Chaired professorships appear in lower case, except for the proper name. University professorships also use lower case.
| Right: | Andres Cardenes, the Dorothy Richard Starling and Alexander C. Speyer Jr. professor of music, donated his Stradivarius violin to the School of Music in Carnegie Mellon's College of Fine Arts. |
| Right: | Her years of hard work were acknowledged when she earned the rank of university professor. |
University
Do not capitalize the word
"university" when it stands alone.
| Right: |
The university is highly regarded locally, as well as nationally and internationally. source: http://www.cmu.edu/styleguide/capitalization.html |
