User:Vasha77/Chicago Manual of Style on Capitalization
From the 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. Excerpts from Chapter 8 (on citation of titles in text and notes) and 14 (on citation in bibliographies).
8.155 Capitalization of titles of works—general principles
Titles mentioned or cited in text or notes are usually capitalized headline-style (see 8.157).
8.157 Principles of headline-style capitalization
The conventions of headline style are governed mainly by emphasis and grammar. The following rules, though occasionally arbitrary, are intended primarily to facilitate the consistent styling of titles mentioned or cited in text and notes:
- Capitalize the first and last words in titles and subtitles (but see rule 7), and capitalize all other major words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and some conjunctions—but see rule 4).
- Lowercase the articles the, a, and an.
- Lowercase prepositions, regardless of length, except when they are used adverbially or adjectivally (up in Look Up, down in Turn Down, on in The On Button, to in Come To, etc.) or when they compose part of a Latin expression used adjectivally or adverbially (De Facto, In Vitro, etc.).
- Lowercase the conjunctions and, but, for, or, and nor.
- Lowercase to not only as a preposition (rule 3) but also as part of an infinitive (to Run, to Hide, etc.), and lowercase as in any grammatical function.
- Lowercase the part of a proper name that would be lowercased in text, such as de or von.
- Lowercase the second part of a species name, such as fulvescens in Acipenser fulvescens, even if it is the last word in a title or subtitle.
The following examples illustrate the numbered rules in 8.157. All of them illustrate the first rule; the numbers in parentheses refer to rules 2–7.
Mnemonics That Work Are Better Than Rules That Do Not
Singing While You Work
A Little Learning Is a Dangerous Thing (2)
Four Theories concerning the Gospel according to Matthew (2, 3)
Taking Down Names, Spelling Them Out, and Typing Them Up (3, 4)
Tired but Happy (4)
The Editor as Anonymous Assistant (5)
From Homo erectus to Homo sapiens: A Brief History (3, 7)
Defenders of da Vinci Fail the Test: The Name Is Leonardo (2, 3, 6)
Sitting on the Floor in an Empty Room (2, 3), but Turn On, Tune In, and Enjoy (3, 4)
Ten Hectares per Capita, but Landownership and Per Capita Income (3)
Progress in In Vitro Fertilization (3)
8.159 Hyphenated compounds in headline-style titles
The following rules apply to hyphenated terms appearing in a title capitalized in headline style.
- Always capitalize the first element.
- Capitalize any subsequent elements unless they are articles, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor), or such modifiers as flat or sharp following musical key symbols.
- If the first element is merely a prefix or combining form that could not stand by itself as a word (anti, pre, etc.), do not capitalize the second element unless it is a proper noun or proper adjective.
- Capitalize the second element in a hyphenated spelled-out number (twenty-one or twenty-first, etc.) or hyphenated simple fraction (two-thirds in two-thirds majority).
The examples that follow demonstrate the numbered rules (all the examples demonstrate the first rule; the numbers in parentheses refer to rules 2–4).
Under-the-Counter Transactions and Out-of-Fashion Initiatives (2)
Bed-and-Breakfast Options in Upstate New York (2)
Record-Breaking Borrowings from Medium-Sized Libraries (2)
Cross-Stitching for Beginners (2)
A History of the Chicago Lying-In Hospital (2; “In” functions as an adverb, not a preposition)
The E-flat Concerto (2)
Self-Sustaining Reactions (2)
Anti-intellectual Pursuits (3)
Does E-mail Alter Thinking Patterns? (3)
A Two-Thirds Majority of Non-English-Speaking Representatives (3, 4)
Ninety-Fifth Avenue Blues (4)
8.162 Subtitle capitalization
A subtitle, whether in sentence-style or headline-style capitalization, always begins with a capital letter. Although on a title page or in a chapter heading a subtitle is often distinguished from a title by a different typeface, when referred to it is separated from the title by a colon. When an em dash rather than a colon is used, what follows the em dash is not normally considered to be a subtitle, and the first word is not necessarily capitalized. See also 14.98.
"Manuals of Style: Guidelines, Not Strangleholds” but Chicago—a Metropolitan Smorgasbord
ON PUNCTUATION AND SUCH
8.163 Permissible changes to titles
When a title is referred to in text or notes or listed in a bibliography or reference list, its original spelling (including non-Latin letters such as π or γ) and hyphenation should be preserved, regardless of the style used in the surrounding text. Capitalization [should] be changed to headline style.... As a matter of editorial discretion, an ampersand (&) may be changed to and. On title pages, commas are sometimes omitted from the ends of lines for aesthetic reasons. When such a title is referred to, such commas should be added, including any comma omitted before a date that appears on a line by itself at the end of a title or subtitle. (Serial commas need be added only if it is clear that they are used in the work itself; see 6.18.) If title and subtitle on a title page are distinguished by typeface alone, a colon must be added when referring to the full title. A dash in the original should be retained; however, a semicolon between title and subtitle may usually be changed to a colon. [From 14.96: Numbers should remain spelled out or given as numerals according to the original (Twelfth Century or 12th Century) unless there is a good reason to make them consistent.]
14.97 Subtitles—the colon
A colon, also italicized, is used to separate the main title from the subtitle. A space follows the colon. The subtitle, like the title, always begins with a capital letter. Although in European bibliographic style a period often separates title from subtitle, English-language publications need not follow that convention for foreign titles.
14.98 Two subtitles
If, as occasionally happens, there are two subtitles in the original (an awkward contingency), a colon normally precedes the first and a semicolon the second. The second subtitle also begins with a capital.
14.99 Use of “or” with double titles
Old-fashioned double titles (or titles and subtitles) connected by or are traditionally separated by a semicolon, with a comma following or, and less traditionally but more simply by a single comma preceding or. Chicago prefers the first form.
England’s Monitor; or, The History of the Separation
or, less formally,
England’s Monitor, or The History of the Separation
14.100 “And other stories” and such
Such tags as and other stories or and other poems are treated as part of the main title but usually separated from the title story, poem, essay, or whatever by a comma, even when such comma does not appear on the title page. The first part of the title is not enclosed in quotation marks.
A River Runs through It, and Other Stories
When the main title ends with a question mark or exclamation point, the comma is omitted. See also 14.105.
What Is Taoism? and Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History
14.101 Dates in titles
When not introduced by a preposition (e.g., “from 1920 to 1945”), dates in a title or subtitle are set off by commas, even if differentiated only by type style on the title page. If a colon has been used in the original, however, it should be retained.
Brothers and Strangers: Black Zion, Black Slavery, 1914–1940
14.102 Titles within titles
Titles of long or short works appearing within an italicized title are enclosed in quotation marks, regardless of how such titles would appear alone.
14.104 Quotation marks in titles
A quotation used as a book title should be enclosed in quotation marks only if it appears that way in the source (i.e., on the title page or its equivalent). Headline-style capitalization should be used.
“An Artist Is His Own Fault”: John O’Hara on Writers and Writing.
14.105 Question marks or exclamation points in book titles
When a main title ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, no colon is added before any subtitle. When the question mark or exclamation point is within quotation marks, however, retain a colon before the subtitle.