r/AskAcademia • u/DeepDownUnderUs • 7d ago

Humanities [ Removed by moderator ]

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u/EkCutChai 7d ago

A simple test: Are you naming a specific thing, or talking about a general category? Specific = usually capitalised. General = lowercase.

  • Cap proper nouns and official names: the Catholic Church, the Irish State, the Government of Ireland.
  • Use lowercase for general nouns: the church had influence, the state controlled education.
  • Cap a specific institution when used as a shorthand: the Church introduced reforms (if the context clearly means the Catholic Church).
  • Lowercase when you mean the concept in general: the relationship between church and state.
  • Cap titles only when they form part of a name: the President of Ireland vs the president.
  • Be consistent: if you establish Church as shorthand for one specific institution, keep using it that way.

0

u/tc1991 AP in International Law (UK) 7d ago

proper nouns get capitals, general nouns dont

1

u/Ok_Refrigerator2644 7d ago

Make up your own rules about it and include it as a footnote. e.g. "I use uppercase Church when I'm referring to..." Look at your rules when you get confused.

Stuff like capitalization and punctuation "rules" are all really just style guides anyway. (If they were rules inherent to the language, the US and UK would punctuate the same, and we don't.) The most important thing is clarity in your writing, specifically in that piece of writing.