Proper names - Titles, names, and numbers - Style

Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010

Proper names
Titles, names, and numbers
Style

23.2.1 People, Places, and Organizations

Capitalize the first letter in each element of the names of specific people, places, and organizations. Names that contain particles (such as de and van) or compound last names are capitalized unpredictably. When in doubt, consult Webster's Biographical Dictionary (1995) or another reliable authority. Do not capitalize prepositions (of ) and conjunctions (and) that are parts of names. If the precedes a name, it is not capitalized.

Eleanor Roosevelt the United States Congress

W. E. B. DuBois the State Department

Ludwig van Beethoven the European Union

Victoria Sackville-West the University of North Carolina

Chiang Kai-shek the Honda Motor Company

New York City the National Conference of Christians and Jews

the Atlantic Ocean the Roman Catholic Church

the Republic of Lithuania the Allied Expeditionary Force

A professional title that immediately precedes a personal name is treated as part of the name and should be capitalized. If you use the title alone or after the personal name, it becomes a generic term and should be lowercased. This also applies to other generic terms that are in place of organization names.

President Harry Truman announced the president announced

Professors Harris and Wilson wrote the professors wrote

next to the Indian Ocean next to the ocean

Names of ethnic and national groups are also capitalized. Terms denoting socioeconomic level, however, are not.

Arab Americans the middle class

Latinos blue-collar workers

Capitalize adjectives derived from names, unless they have become part of everyday language.

Machiavellian scheme french fries

Roman and Arabic art roman and arabic numerals

23.2.2 Historical Events and Periods

The names of many historical periods and events are traditionally capitalized; more generic terms usually are not, unless they include names.

the Bronze Age ancient Rome

the Depression the nineteenth century

the Industrial Revolution the Shang dynasty

Prohibition the colonial period

the Seven Years' War the baby boom

23.2.3 Other Types of Names

Other types of names also follow specific patterns for capitalization, and some require italics.

Acts, Treaties, and Government Programs

Capitalize the formal or accepted titles of acts, treaties, government programs, and similar documents or entities, but lowercase informal or generic titles.

the United States (or U.S.) Constitution the due process clause

the Treaty of Versailles the treaty

Head Start social programs

Brand Names

Capitalize the brand names of products, but do not use the symbols ® or ™ after the names. Unless you are discussing a specific product, use a generic term instead of a brand name.

Coca-Cola cola

Xerox photocopy

Electronic Technology

Capitalize names of computer hardware and software, networks, browsers, systems, and languages as well as shortened forms of these names.

Windows XP the Internet; the net

Internet Explorer the World Wide Web; the web

Ships, Aircraft, and Other Vessels

Capitalize and italicize the names of ships, aircraft, and the like. If the names are preceded by such abbreviations as USS (United States ship) or HMS (Her [or His] Majesty's ship), do not italicize these abbreviations or use the word ship in addition to the name.

USS Constitution Spirit of St. Louis

HMS Saranac the space shuttle Endeavor