Capitalization
1. Capitalize official names of awards and scholarships
E.g., Angela Armitt Award for Excellence in Teaching by Part-Time Faculty
2. Capitalize Western’s Board of Governors, but lowercase when referring to “the board” alone. Avoid using the acronym BOG to refer to the board.
3. Lowercase course titles and programs.
E.g., Her sister is in engineering.
4. Lowercase committee names.
5. Write COVID-19 in all caps. Lowercase the general term, novel coronavirus or coronavirus, but capitalize its adopted formal name SARS-CoV-2.
Capitalize names of variants of concerns: Delta, Omicron
6. Capitalize the proper name of faculties and schools but lowercase informal or general terms. Do not capitalize department names.
E.g., Faculty of Education, but education faculty
department of anthropology
Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, but nursing school
When referencing departments as standalone terms, lowercase except when containing a proper noun, in which case use uppercase only for the proper noun.
E.g., department of biology; English department; department of Earth sciences
7. Capitalize formal titles immediately preceding a name. Lowercase when standing alone or separated from the name. In general, formal titles are those that can be used with the surname alone, including government titles, professional titles, religious titles and military titles.
E.g., President Alan Shepard issued the statement.
Alan Shepard, Western president, issued the statement.
Minister Smith; Bishop Warren; General Murray
8. Capitalize funded chairs, but lowercase department chairs
E.g., Canada Research Chair
i .chair of the department of geography and environment
9. Capitalize graduating class references and use full, not abbreviated, date.
E.g., The Class of 1979 gathered to honour their retiring professor.
Lowercase convocation in all references, including Western’s convocation.
10. Honorary degrees are lowercase when spelled out. Use uppercase when abbreviated.
See Acronyms & Abbreviations for more information.
11. Capitalize Indigenous Peoples in all instances. The term Indigenous Peoples is an all-encompassing term that includes the First Peoples of Canada.
The term Indigenous Peoples is generally used in an international context. The title of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a prime example of the global inclusiveness of the term Indigenous Peoples.
First Nation(s) – Capitalize in all instances. First Nation is a term used to describe Indigenous Peoples of Canada who are ethnically neither Métis nor Inuit. This term came into common usage in the 1970s and 1980s and generally replaced the term Indian, although unlike Indian, the term First Nation does not have a legal definition. While First Nations refers to the ethnicity of First Peoples, the singular First Nation can refer to a band, a reserve-based community or a larger tribal grouping and the status Indians who live in them.
First Peoples – Capitalize in all instances. First Peoples is an all-encompassing term that includes Inuit, First Nations and Métis.
Métis – capitalize in all instances. The term refers to a collective of cultures and ethnic identities that resulted from unions between Indigenous and European people in Canada. This term has general and specific uses, and the differences between them are often contentious. It is sometimes used as a general term to refer to people of mixed ancestry, whereas in a legal context, Métis refers to descendants of specific historic communities.
Innu – Capitalize in all instances. Innu are a First Nations group located in northeastern Quebec and central Labrador.
Inuit – Capitalize in all instances. Refers to a member of an Indigenous People of northern Canada and parts of Greenland and Alaska.
Native – Avoid using this term when referring to Indigenous Peoples.
More resources are available from the Office of Indigenous Initiatives.
Lowercase indigenous when used as an adjective to refer to a thing that is naturally occurring or originating from a place.
E.g., The pawpaw tree is indigenous to southwestern Ontario.
12. Lowercase internet, website and email (not e-mail). Capitalize Twitter, but lowercase when used as a verb (i.e., tweet, tweeted).
13. Capitalize names of units at Western
E.g., Western International, Student Experience, Office of Indigenous Initiatives.
14. Capitalize the proper names of nationalities, peoples, races and tribes.
Capitalize Black in racial reference, but do not capitalize white
In the United States, African-American is also used; in Canada, African-Canadian may be used when necessary for context, but avoid if possible. Use Black or Black Canadians instead.
15. Lowercase occupational titles and descriptions, including officials of companies and organizations.
E.g., The study’s co-author, chief scientist Jane Smith, said the research is timely.
16. Write Orientation Week in uppercase when referencing Western’s Orientation Week. Lowercase general references to first-year orientation week outside of Western.
Use OWeek as a short form for Western’s Orientation Week.
17. Lowercase professor at all times, including when preceding a name.
E.g., Western University professor John Smith may understand the book better than anyone on Earth.
John Smith, a Western University professor, may understand the book better.
18. Capitalize proper names of people, places, events, organizations.
19. Sports. Do not capitalize sports teams unless it’s an official name.
E.g., The women’s hockey team took home the title.
.The Western Mustangs are playing against the home team.
20. Use Western University on first reference, then Western on succeeding reference. Although The University of Western Ontario remains the university’s legal name, do not use The University of Western Ontario (or UWO) in any reference.
Do not capitalize “university” when standing alone, even in reference to Western.
E.g., Western University issued the statement yesterday. The university will implement the changes next month.
21. Capitalize Western Libraries when referring to Western’s entire library system.
22. Capitalize the formal reference to Western University Senate, but lowercase senate when standing alone.
NOTE: If not specified in this WN Style Guide, follow CP Style.
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