APA Style
Capitalization
Capitalize:
- Words beginning a sentence:
- The floor caved in.
- Major words in titles that are included in the body of the paper:
- In the book Modern Warfare, Clinger (1998) envisioned a world where ground troops are unnecessary.
- This includes:
- All four-letter words:
- Sherks and Houston's (2007) article, "How Long Must This Go On?" questioned the validity of Bergren's research.
- All linking verbs:
- Denning, a Nietzsche enthusiast, wrote We Are Nothing in 1976.
- The first word after a colon:
- Critics panned Harper's novel, The Beginning of the End: A Last Chance.
- Major words in Level 1 and Level 2 headings:
- See our web page on headings, and APA 3.03, for more information.
- Proper nouns:
- Few psychologists were more influential than Freud.
- [Do not, however, capitalize proper adjectives that have a common meaning as defined by Webster's Collegiate: Because her baby was already 14 lbs, her doctor insisted that she have a cesarean section.]
- Trade names:
- My dog loves Purina Puppy Chow.
- Names of specific university departments or courses:
- I enrolled in Scholarly Writing 101
- Glassner was the associate dean of the Department of Psychology, Iowa State University.
- [Do not, however, capitalize generic references to courses or departments: I failed my psychology course.]
- Nouns followed by numerals:
- On Day 2, the rats became more aggressive.
- I read Chapter 6 to understand more about APA style
- Exact titles of tests:
- The students needed to take the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test.
- [This does not apply to generic titles: The students needed to take the vocabulary test.]
Do not capitalize:
- Proper adjectives that have a common meaning as defined by Webster's Collegiate:
- Because her baby was already 14 lbs, her doctor insisted that she have a cesarean section.
- Generic references to courses or departments:
- I failed my psychology course.
- Names of laws, theories, models, hypotheses, effects, or variables:
- The student was unfamiliar with Gardner's multiple intelligence model.
- Floyd and Rivers (2003) were influenced by the hierarchy of needs.
- Nouns that precede numbers and are common parts of books or tables:
- My teacher told me to reread page 5 of section 3 in the fourth chapter; it was important that I revisited column 2 in the table.
- Generic titles of tests:
- The students needed to take the vocabulary test.
