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Standards and Guidelines: Capitalisation

Title Case vs. Sentence Case

Published: Content approved by Group 2 members.

Last updated: 30/06/2022

This page defines title case and sentence case and outlines how and where they are used in TAFE NSW Libraries LibGuides. Guide authors should refer to the examples of correct and incorrect use for guidance.

Title Case Definition

Capital letters are used for all principal words.That includes all nouns, adverbs, pronouns, adjectives and verbs.

The principal words in a title are all the words other than:

  • Articles (a, an, the)
  • Conjunctions (and, but, or, nor)
  • Prepositions (on, in, with, at, under, near, upon, by, of, to)

Using Title Case    Required

Use title case for

  • Guide names (Guide names in guide title field only)
  • Page names (Page names in page property only)
  • Box names (Box names in Box heading only)
  • Tab names in tabbed boxes (Tab names in Add/Edit Tabs feature only)
  • Item titles in the description field
  • Approved names of TAFE NSW applications, units and departments in the description field (Check terminology list).

Do not use title case for

  • Item titles (e.g. books, eBooks, DVDs, eVideoseJournals, magazines, links)
  • Website names
  • Widget names
  • Link names
  • Headings and subheadings within boxes
  • Text within boxes.

Title Case Examples

Tell Us What You Think 

How Much Can I Copy for Teaching? 

Contact Us About This Guide 

Make-Up  

In the media 

Tell us what you think 

Contact Us about this Guide 

Sentence Case Definition

Capitalise the first letter only. Proper nouns are the exception and should be capitalised. 

Proper nouns examples

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (Organisation names)
  • Certificate III in Dental Assisting (Proper course names)
  • Isle of Skye (Geographical names)
  • iPhone (Brand names)

 

Using Sentence Case    Required

Use sentence case for any content within boxes

  • Item titles in the title field (e.g. books, eBooks, DVDs, eVideoseJournals, magazines, links)
  • Website names
  • Widget names
  • Link names
  • Headings and subheadings within boxes
  • Text within boxes.

Do not use sentence case for

  • Guide names (Guide names in guide title field only)
  • Page names (Page names in page property only)
  • Box names (Box names in Box heading only)
  • Tab names in tabbed boxes (Tab names in Add/Edit Tabs feature only)
  • Proper nouns 
  • Item titles in the description field
  • Approved names of TAFE NSW applications, units and departments in the description field (Check terminology list).

Sentence Case Examples

The politics of Australian immigration 

Photoshop Elements 12 for dummies 

Welcome to TAFE NSW Library Services  

What are the steps in writing an essay? 

The Body of the essay

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