Tag: Capitalization

• Some chemistry conventions are unique when compared with writing about other sciences.
• In particular, take care to report volume and/or mass of key reagents and to capitalize compounds appropriately.

• The choice to use a capital or lowercase letter is not always clear
• On occasion, a sentence does not start with a capital letter
• The first word after a colon can also be capitalized

• Although an abbreviation is composed of capital letters, the full words that define the abbreviation are not always capitalized.
• Each case involves considering if the word is an official name or a proper noun.

• Basic capitalization rules are simple in English, but there are tricky conventions to consider.
• Proper nouns refer to a specific person, place, or thing and are always capitalized.
• Common nouns refer to a general concept or thing and are only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.

• Capitalization rules for chemical compounds and abbreviations can be confusing.
• At the beginning of a sentence, capitalize the first syllabic portion of the compound name.
• Chemical elements and amino acids are not capitalized within a sentence, just their symbol (e.g., Ag or Gln).

• Like many fields, the geosciences have specific terms and conventions that are important to know when writing and submitting a paper for publication in a geoscience journal
• Pay attention to journal conventions for abbreviations, date and time format, and other terminology

• Use the find and replace tool in Microsoft Word to ensure consistent formatting in your manuscript
• Check for inconsistencies in abbreviations/acronyms, hyphenation, spacing, and more

• An eponym is a type of noun or phrase that is based on a person's name (e.g., einsteinium)

To help you understand the correct use of scientific species names, here are a few key terms and conventions that may appear in your journal's guidelines for authors.