School Subjects, Academic Majors, and Course Names: Capitalization
Academic capitalization is easiest when subjects, majors, and courses are handled together. General fields and majors are usually common-noun descriptions, while language/nationality terms retain proper-name capitals and formal course titles function as names. Institutional house style can refine the details.
Lowercase general school subjects and academic majors unless they contain a proper noun; capitalize the formal names of specific courses. In the reviewed CSU style, “engineering” and “chemistry” are lowercase, “English” is capitalized because it is a proper name, and a specific course such as “Introduction to Sociology” is capitalized.
Key details
Important caveats
Proper Name Boundary
A capital can come from a proper noun inside the academic term rather than from major/subject status itself. That is why “English” is capitalized even when “engineering” is not.
Further guidance
Course Names
Capitalize the formal name of a specific course, such as “Algebra I” or “Introduction to Sociology.” A generic reference such as “my sociology course” is not automatically the official course name.
Majors And Minors
The reviewed CSU style lowercases majors and minors except those containing proper nouns: “engineering” but “English” and “Asian studies.”
Subjects
Lowercase general subjects such as “algebra,” “chemistry,” and “engineering” unless a proper noun independently requires a capital.
Worked Examples
“She majors in engineering and takes English.” “He enrolled in Introduction to Sociology.” “My chemistry class starts at nine” if that is a generic description rather than the formal catalog title.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Editorial Style Guide — Capitalization (opens in a new tab)California State University · Institutional style lowercases general academic subjects unless they are proper nouns or part of a specific formal course name. Supports a subject-vs-course-name decision with explicit institutional scope.