II. CAPITALIZATION

Our rules regarding the capitalization of certain words (such as school and department, for instance) are driven by our desire to maintain readability, clarity, and consistency, both within our own published pieces and when compared to the majority of outside pieces from highly reputable sources.

A. When in Doubt, Do Not Capitalize.

B. Capitalize

1) Proper nouns, months, days of the week, but not the seasons.

2) All words, except articles (the, a, an), conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet, if, as, since, when, because), and short prepositions (of, in, on) in headings and the titles of books, plays, lectures, musical compositions, etc., including A and The if at the beginning of a title.

The Man Who Came to Dinner
“Melodrama Unveiled: Theatre and Culture”
“Effects of Pelican Migration on Coastal Ecosystems”

3) The official names of departments when used in text; do not capitalize the informal name.

He enrolled in the Department of Civil Engineering.

but

He enrolled in the civil engineering department.

Exceptions:

The South Carolina Honors College may be referred to as the Honors College. (Otherwise a repetition occurs when the name is attached to the University’s.)

When denoting the administrative unit of the Division of Libraries and Information Systems, the term University Libraries should be used. (This distinguishes the administrative unit versus the physical locations, which would be referred to as University libraries.)

4) All conferred and traditional, educational, occupational, and business titles when used specifically in front of the name; do not capitalize these titles when they follow the name.

President Harris Pastides, University of South Carolina
Les Sternberg, dean
Professor T.S. Sudarshan is chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering.

Note: In tabular matter and addresses, these titles may be capitalized regardless of location.

Exception: When a word such as former is used in conjunction with a title and name, the title does not get capitalized, as it is considered part of a compound adjective (i.e. former president Andrew A. Sorensen).

5) The words Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force, when referring to U.S. armed forces, whether or not preceded by U.S.

6) The words association, building, center, club, conference, department, division, hall, office, program, senate, street, etc., when used as part of a title; thereafter, do not capitalize the words when used alone to refer to that specific place or group.

the Faculty Senate; thereafter, the senate
the Department of History; thereafter, the department
the Audiovisual Center; thereafter, the center
the Marine Science Program; thereafter, the program

7) The words offices, colleges, and departments, when referring to more than one individual office, college, or department.

Colleges of Education and Nursing

8) Board of Trustees; thereafter, the board.

9) A specific course or subject.

ENGL 285 Themes in American Writing

10) Entire geographic names.

Saluda River
Sesquicentennial State Park

11) Geographical regions of the country, but not points of the compass (direction or locality).

the Middle West or the Midwest, but middle western
East Coast, Gulf Coast
in the Southeast or Northern Hemisphere, but northern Atlantic

12) The word Southern when referring to a cultural or area distinction.

Southern cooking
the Southern way of life

13) Names of athletic clubs and teams.

the Gamecocks
the Carolina Panthers

14) Figure or Table, and their abbreviations, when used in text to designate a specific insert.

Figure 1 shows the flotation process.
The flotation process (Fig. 1) removes the fish wastes.

15) Names of all races and nationalities. Do not capitalize white and black when referring to the groups of people.

African American, Caucasian, Nigerian, Irish, Japanese

16) The word room when used to designate a particular room.

Room 21 of Gambrell Hall

17) Official college degrees when spelled out.

Bachelor of Fine Arts, but bachelor’s degree
Master of Philosophy, but master’s degree

18) The major when it appears as part of the degree.

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

However, lowercase the major when it follows the word degree.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science.

19) In headlines, subheads, and publication titles, when one part of a hyphenated compound adjective is capitalized, both parts should be capitalized. However, fractions and compounds containing a prefix are exceptions.

The Two-Headed Monster of Chaos Theory
When Older Students Re-enter College
How to Earn One-half Your Tuition in One Summer

C. Do Not Capitalize

1) Words such as college, school, department, office, division, association, and conference when they stand alone, even if they refer to a specific, previously identified entity. The only exception to this rule is University when referring to the University of South Carolina.

2) Titles standing alone or in apposition.

The dean of the Moore School of Business must approve all research papers.
Contact the budget director for further information.
Nancy A. Smith, professor of English, will speak at the symposium.

3) Names of school or college studies, fields of study, options, curricula, major areas, or major subjects, except languages, unless a specific course is being referred to (see B9).

He is studying philosophy and English.
Each student must meet core requirements in biological sciences and liberal arts.
The University offers a curriculum in textiles and clothing.

4) The unofficial or informal names of departments when used in text.

He enrolled in the civil engineering department.

5) Organized groups or classes of students in a university or high school, or the words freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, or graduate.

John Smith is a junior in the College of Engineering and Computing.
The senior class will hold its annual election tomorrow.

However, when referring to a class according to its year of graduation, capitalize Class.

The program was made possible by a gift from the Class of 1988.
The Class of 2004 initiated environmental awareness week.

6) Unofficial titles preceding a name: comedian Richard Pryor.

7) The words or abbreviations a.m., p.m., baccalaureate, federal, state, government, honors, page, and paragraph.

8) Common names of plants and animals except proper nouns and adjectives:

Queen Anne’s lace, Canada thistle, dandelion, spring beauty.

9) Names of seasons, including references to semesters.

10) Plural words that refer to multiple preceding terms that individually would be capitalized:

Richland and Lexington counties.

Note: Grammatical rules regarding capitalization are often bent for the sake of visual appeal in headings, display type, and tabular matter.