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Would I capitalize all words in my personal essay in regards to “Speech-Language Pathology Program at University of Connecticut” Should the

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Would I capitalize all words in my personal essay in regards to “Speech-Language Pathology Program at University of Connecticut” Should the word program be capitalized or not?

Answered By: Linda Kern
Last Updated: Dec 12, 2016     Views: 7543

As you know, capitalization is a matter of grammar and academic style. According to APA style, common nouns aren't capitalized; only proper nouns are capitalized (APA p.102).  The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a common noun as "a noun that may occur with limiting modifiers (as a or an, some, every, and my) and that designates any one of a class of beings or things." On the other hand, a proper noun is "a noun that designates a particular being or thing, does not take a limiting modifier, and is usually capitalized in English."

So the question is, is the word "program" part of the official name of the program of study, or only a way of describing it? If UCONN calls it the Speech-Language Pathology Program in its description, then capitalize Program. If instead, UCONN refers to the M.A. program in Speech-Language Pathology, then don't capitalize it.

You didn't ask, but the same rule would apply to speech-language pathology also.

Let us know if you have further questions!

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