Capitalization on job positions and academic courses

Ilovepensandpaper · Apr 26, 2006

Capitalization of job positions and academic courses

I am writing cover letters to go with my resumes, and I am wondering whether you capitalize the job you are interested in, such as:

I am interested in the Administrative Assistant position.
I am interested in the Data Entry position.
I am interested in the Full Time position...

Also are academic courses/majors capitalized?

I took an Administrative Assistant Fundamentals online class.
I majored in Psychology. I majored in Liberal Studies.
I took Twentieth Century Literature.
I took psychology.
I took english.

Help would be lovely.

Tish Davidson · Apr 26, 2006

I think this is right, but as always , I defer to reph, the grammar queen (but not the Grammar Queen.)

Classes in languages (English, French, etc.) are always capitalized. You would also write English literature, not English Literature.

Other classes (math, medical terminology) are not capitalized.

Job positions are not capitalized. You are applying for the administrative assistant job. The only time job titles are capitalized are when they come before a name. Director of Intellitence, John Q. Dumbo, said...
but John Q. Dumbo, the director of intelligence.

You would write I have a degree in chemistry.
If it is a language, you would write I have a degree in Greek.

There are a few exceptions on titles, like refering to the Pope, but you are unlikely to need them on your resume.

veronie · Apr 26, 2006

Leave job titles lowercase unless they come directly before a person's name. But uppercase English and all other languages: French, German. Lowercase science, biology, psychology, liberal studies. And it would be twentieth century, or twentieth-century literature (compound modifier, lowercased). (Also, full-time position — compound modifier.)

Aconite · Apr 27, 2006

Ilovepensandpaper said:
I took Twentieth Century Literature.

Are you referring to a specific course title in this case? That is, are you saying the name of the course was Twentieth-Century Literature?

Maryn · Apr 28, 2006

I'll defer to reph, too, if I'm wrong, but I think I'm not. (Don't I always?)

Fields of study are lower-cased unless the world is a proper noun, like French. Individual courses are in capital case. So you study math, but you take Geometry 101 or Advanced Calculus. When the field of study is part of a degree earned or a major, it is capitalized: I have a B.A. in Physics. I studied Astronomy, with a History minor.

Jobs being used as an individual's title are capitalized: Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, Professor Harold Hill. Only high-end jobs are capitalized even without the name: The Pope, The Secretary of War. (Not the kind you need to apply for, eh?) Descriptors like full-time (hyphenated if it's before the noun job, position, etc.) or spirit-crushing are not capitalized.

So I'd be writing:
I am interested in the administrative assistant position.
I am interested in the data entry position.
I am interested in the full-time position...

I took an Administrative Assistant Fundamentals online class.
I majored in Psychology. I majored in Liberal Studies.
I took Twentieth Century Literature.
I took psychology. (One class? Give its full name and capitalize. Several? Reword to I studied psychology.)
I took English.

Maryn, hanging out until reph gets here--anybody got a deck of cards?

reph · Apr 28, 2006

Maryn said:
So you study math, but you take Geometry 101 or Advanced Calculus. When the field of study is part of a degree earned or a major, it is capitalized: I have a B.A. in Physics. I studied Astronomy, with a History minor.

Only high-end jobs are capitalized even without the name: The Pope, The Secretary of War.

I took an Administrative Assistant Fundamentals online class.
I majored in Psychology. I majored in Liberal Studies.
I took Twentieth Century Literature.
I took psychology.[/i] (One class? Give its full name and capitalize. Several? Reword to I studied psychology.)

I've quoted only the parts I disagree with, plus "Admin Asst Fundamentals...," which I agree with because it's the title of a course at one institution (in this case, it's online, but that doesn't change anything).

I wouldn't cap words like "physics" when they're identical with the name of the field.

I have a B.A. in physics.
I studied astronomy, with a history minor.
I majored in psychology.
I took psychology for two semesters.
I completed an invertebrate zoology course.
I enrolled in Invertebrate Zoology 175.
I took introductory psychology.
I took Introduction to Psychology.

Pope John Paul II consulted with the cardinals.
Who will be the next pope?
President Lincoln went to the theater.
The president stood and began to speak.
Secretary of State Rice attended the meeting.
The secretary of state visited Europe.
The governor of Iowa made an announcement.
When Margaret Thatcher was prime minister,...
Beauregard T. Jones became the chief operations officer of Smitty's Software, Inc., in 2003.

veinglory · Apr 28, 2006

I tend to but the position name and number in italics near the beginning of the letter for the sake of clarity. I feel the 'I took' sentences feel ungramatical to me.

Capitalization on job positions and academic courses

Ilovepensandpaper

Come...Tell me about it

Tish Davidson

veronie

practical experience, FTW

Aconite

Maryn

Baaa!

reph

Fig of authority

veinglory

volitare nequeo