Comments on: Capitalization of Job Titles

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:57:52 +0000

Since the job title “staff nurse” is not used as part of your name, you do not need to capitalize it.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:15:00 +0000

Since the job titles are not being used as part of someone’s name, you do not need to capitalize them. The passage does not seem to be any more difficult to read with lowercase titles.

She has developed a career in the medical technology field holding positions that include supervisor of the Arizona Department of Health Services Laboratory in Flagstaff, AZ; bench medical technologist in microbiology and transfusion medicine at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System at West Los Angeles, CA; and laboratory quality assurance coordinator for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:12:36 +0000

It is the writer’s prerogative to capitalize the title or not, however, the Chicago Manual of Style advises, “As is the case with civil titles, military titles are routinely capitalized in the literature of the organization or government with which they are associated. Nonetheless, in formal academic prose, most such titles are capitalized only when used as part of a person’s name.”

By: Kristin

Kristin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:15:48 +0000

Thank you for your wonderful blog.
I read through all of the comments and saw that you mentioned it is appropriate to capitalize titles that are fairly specific. I am struggling to edit a document that mixes many specific and non-specific titles. For example, “She has developed a career in the medical technology field holding positions that include supervisor of the Arizona Department of Health Services Laboratory in Flagstaff, AZ; Bench Medical Technologist in Microbiology and Transfusion Medicine at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System at West Los Angeles, CA; and Laboratory Quality Assurance Coordinator for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.”

In the case above, I am concerned that if I capitalize all of the titles except supervisor, less informed readers will assume it is a typo. Or should all titles be lower case, in which case I am concerned the passage will be more difficult to read.

Thanks!

By: Kristin

Kristin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:33:44 +0000

It seems that if you prefer to capitalize this title, you could just right the sentence as “He talked about how frustrating it was to be Chief of Staff of the entire U.S. Army.”

By: Oliver

Oliver — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:56:21 +0000

How will you write your position in a letter of resignation? for instance,

I will be resigning as staff nurse from ABC Hospital…

should the word “staff nurse” be capitalized?
Thank you for the reply…

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:48:29 +0000

Since none of the job titles are being used as part of someone’s name, you do not need to capitalize them.
I want to be a fashion designer.
I want to be an animator.

Rule 2 in our “Capitalization” section states, “Capitalize a proper noun.” If you are referring to a specific school, such as Western Illinois University, you would capitalize it. The same rule applies to words like college, high school, etc. Also, unless you are referring to a specific course at the university (such as Algebra 2), do not capitalize the name of a subject.

I study animation at the university. OR I study animation at Bradley University.
I am a university student. OR I am a Brown University student.
My child is now in kindergarten.
I am a high school student.

By: Niki

Niki — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:34:22 +0000

“I want to be a Fashion Designer.” or “I want to be a fashion designer.”

And “I want to be an Animator.” or “I want to be an animator.”

Also “I study Animation at University.” or “I study Animation at university.”

Moreover “I am a University student.” or “I am a university student.”

Would I have to capitalise or not capitalise university? If so then the same rule applies to words like college, high school, primary school, kindergarten etc? e.g “My child is now in kindergarten.” or “My sister’s first born is now in Kindergarten.” or “I am a high school student.” or “I am a High School student.”

Which one is correct? Do I capitalise job titles or names of places when used in sentences like that? I must say that I’m literally confused about this one.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:42:14 +0000

It would not matter whether the “a” was dropped, the word dispatcher would still not be capitalized since it is not being used as part of someone’s name.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:26:06 +0000

Wonderful blog, Jane! I was asked to proofread a term paper for my Boss (that is based on the ego rule!) and he insisted that you capitalize any noun that describes a person’s job. He says it is based on respect for the person who holds the job. I think his ideas come from serving over twenty years in the military, where titles are much more formal than most jobs in the civilian world.

On another subject, in the case above discussing Dispatcher Smith, would it be better to write “I am pursuing this position as Dispatcher” and drop the “a” that precedes the job description?