Some administrative professionals do not know or remember when to capitalize. This dilemma often comes up when writing or reviewing the minutes of meetings. There may even be short-lived debates and disagreements on what should be capitalized and why. For example, you may have had the experience of putting the word “minutes” in lowercase when writing meeting minutes; and you are told that it should have been capitalized. In what context is the word “minutes” being used? We, as administrative professionals, are known for our high levels of accuracy and perfection. Yet, we make mistakes!

When do we capitalize? According to the Certified Administrative Professional examination curriculum book: Office Administration, Fifth Edition, by Betty L. Schroeder and Diane Routheir Graf, the following are general rules of when you should capitalize:

• At the beginning of sentences or expressions.

• At the beginning of a complete sentence within parenthesis

• At the beginning of a quotation

• Always capitalize the pronoun “I”.

• The titles of people

• The titles of books and articles – that is, the first word (and/or preposition, noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb and verb)

• The names of academic courses

• The names of geographic locations

• The name of organizations and institutions

• The name of departments within organizations

• The names of ethnic groups, national groups, political groups and religious groups. Do not capitalize the name of social groups and economic groups.

• The names of specific objects, not the general category of objects. These include the specific names of structures, artefacts, documents, brand names and trade names.

• The names of specific periods of time but not the name of the seasons. Specific periods of time include months, holidays, event, days and historic periods.

When revising your writing or any written work presented to you, as much as possible, try not to rush your review. Ensure that capitalization is correct through the document. Ideally, an administrative professional should always have these books in hand reach: a dictionary, a grammar book and a computer-internet technology book. However, in our modern times, internet access can replace these books. If you are in doubt, check it out immediately! Grammar should never been taken for granted and the rules of grammar should always be revised. Distractions, such as deadline pressures and illness can really affect our levels of perfection but this must be the exception and not the rule! Our humanity calls for us to always be constantly in study and review.

There is no excuse for capitalization mistakes!

Be grammar-wise, when you capitalize!