Capitalisation

Chancellor
always capitalise
Chris Patten is the Chancellor of the University.

college
capitalise only when used as part of the title of a college, not when referring to an institution without using its full name Exeter College was founded in 1314. The college is one of the oldest in Oxford.
Exeter was founded in 1314. The College is one of the oldest in Oxford.

collegiate University
capitalise ‘University’ but not ‘collegiate’
We are seeking opinions from all members of the collegiate University.

department
capitalise only when used as part of the title of a department, not when referring to a department without using its full name
The Department of Computer Science was previously known as the Oxford University Computing Laboratory. Both undergraduates and postgraduates study in this department.
The Department for Work and Pensions has to make significant cuts this year, as do many government departments.

division
capitalise only when used as part of the title of a division, not when referring to a division without using its full name There are four academic divisions of the University: Humanities, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences, Medical Sciences and Social Sciences.
The Medical Sciences Division is based mainly in Headington. The division’s head is Alastair Buchan.

faculty
capitalise only when used as part of the title of a faculty, not when referring to a faculty without using its full name
The Faculty of English is based in Manor Road. The faculty’s phone number is 271055.

fellow
capitalise only when used as part of an academic’s formal title, not when referring to fellows in general
There are ten Fifty-Pound Fellows at All Souls.
At its foundation, provision was made at All Souls for 40 fellows.
At its foundation, provision was made at All Souls for 40 Fellows.

government
never capitalise, regardless of whether referring to a specific country’s government or the concept of a government
The current British government is a coalition.

names with prefixes
follow the preference of the individual, if known; if not, use lower case for the prefix and alphabetise by the prefix

professor
capitalise only when used as part of an academic’s formal title, not when referring to professors in general It is common for Oxford professors to publish their works in learned journals.
The Omega Solution is the latest contribution to research in the field by Professor Stephanie Archibold.

Reverend
capitalise both ‘Reverend’ and ‘The’ (as well as other parts of the title) My tutor is The Reverend Smith/The Very Reverend Smith.

small caps
do not use small caps, even for BC and AD
Egypt’s Old Kingdom period began c2700 BC.

terms
capitalise the name but not the word ‘term’
The Michaelmas term begins in October.
The coldest part of the year usually falls in Hilary term.
Finals take place in Trinity term.

titles

• people – see section Names and titles
  
• books/films/songs/games etc – capitalise the first word of the title, and all words within the title except articles (a/an/the), prepositions (to/on/for etc) and conjunctions (but/and/or etc). See section Bold and italic for further details
  The Last Mohican
  Far from the Madding Crowd
  Gone with the Wind
  World of Warcraft
  Grand Theft Auto III
  'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'
  'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life'
  do not capitalise subtitles following a colon unless the original title is printed in that way
  Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• headlines – only capitalise the first word (and any proper nouns)
  Rock rafts could be 'cradle of life'
• journal articles and chapter titles – only capitalise the first word (and any proper nouns) 'Multiplicity of data in trial reports and the reliability of meta-analyses: empirical study'
• lecture titles – only capitalise the first word, any proper nouns and the first word following a full stop/question mark/exclamation mark:
  'Who speaks for climate? Making sense of media reporting on climate change'
• webpages – only capitalise the first word (and any proper nouns), but consider instead using the actual URL for disambiguation in print or hyperlinking the descriptive text. Never change the capitalisation within a URL as it will cease to work
  For the cost of placing an advert, see the Gazette website’s Classified advertising page.
  For the cost of placing an advert, see www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/classifiedadvertising.
  For the cost of placing an advert, see www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/Classifiedadvertising.

tutor
capitalise only when used as part of an academic’s formal title, not when referring to tutors in general The Oxford tutorial system creates strong ties between students and their tutors.
Dr Obadiah Braithwaite is the Tutor in Embroidery at Magdalen.

University
capitalise only when used as part of the title of a university and when referring to the University of Oxford (both when ‘University’ is used as a noun and when it is used as an adjective)
Oxford University is a large employer. The University has 10,000 staff members.
Funding for universities has been cut recently.
The University has four academic divisions.
The largest University division is Medical Sciences.
She attended the University of Liverpool to study English. It’s a well-respected university and course.