Capitalization, Punctuation, and more!

Formal, full names of degrees are capitalized (Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science). However, general references to degrees (bachelor's degree, master's degree) and degree specializations are lowercase unless they are proper nouns.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
He earned his master's degree in history.

Capitalize the names of specific well-known laws, but do not capitalize a section.

This may be granted under section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933.

The Americans with Disabilities Act is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

Do not capitalize acts, bills, codes, and laws.

The article was about the latest environmental Gun control laws are frequently debated among millennials.

Capitalize and italicize court cases when referencing them.

Assembly Bill 5 codifies the ABC test identified in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles.

The California Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Dynamex.

Capitalize the word “city” or “county” only when it is used in the actual name.

Our office in Redwood City will be closed for renovations.

Orange County’s namesake trees exist largely for posterity, not profit.

The city of Anaheim is home to three job centers.

Plumas, Shasta, and Butte counties have experienced labor growth in 2014.

Capitalize the full title of a branch, division, office, section, unit, or program.

The California Department of Human Resources is located in Sacramento.

Lowercase the title when it is used as a common noun.

Human resources provides information on laws that affect the workplace.

Capitalize “Department” when it is used as a proper noun and refers to the EDD.

Lowercase the word “department” when it is used as a common noun.

The Department is responsible for administering the Paid Family Leave program.

The pilot project is a joint effort between the EDD and several other departments.

Capitalize only when used as part of a proper name.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the US government.

Capitalize the following legislative references when used as proper nouns.

• Assembly
• Assembly Member
• Democrat
• House of Representatives
• Legislature
• Republican
• Senate
• Senator

Lowercase generic usage and plural references.

No legislature has approved the amendment.
Several legislatures are considering similar bills.

Capitalize the word “state” only when used as part of a formal name or California as an entity. Lowercase all other references.

New York state is also called the Empire State.
I attended California State University, Sacramento.
The State issued new guidance.
Which state agency do you work for?
I traveled across the state on my vacation.

Do not capitalize the names of seasons except when used in titles.

Our next conference will take place in the spring.

I submitted an article for the Summer 2019 issue of the newsletter.

Capitalize and italicize titles of complete works that are published, including: 

• Books
• Pamphlets
• Poems
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Movies
• Plays
• Musicals
• Television series
• Radio series
• Paintings
• Works of sculpture
• Short videos

Capitalize or italicize “the” at the start of a title if it is part of the title.

According to The New York Times, textile companies are struggling to meet demands. 

Visit Forms and Publications for more on formatting the titles of forms and publications. 

Note: For the titles of seminars or course names, capitalize and italicize. 

The title of today’s course is Benefits for Foster Parents.   

Capitalize official titles of honor that come before a personal name. An official title can be used with a last name alone. 

The featured speaker is President Alice Seamans. 
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Senator Loui-Fong. 

Do not capitalize official titles when the name is in apposition and is set off by commas.

The vice president, Jonathan Nielson, announced his plan to retire. 
Alexa Smith, the vice president, announced her plan to retire.   

Do not capitalize job classifications or occupational titles when they are used as a common noun. 

• employment program representative
• tax compliance representative
• staff services analyst
• auditor
• investigator
• author
• lawyer

The deputy directors will attend the next meeting in the small auditorium. 

Jane is an employment program representative with the Workforce Services Branch. 

The report was reviewed by investigator Ben Leigh. 

Spell out numbers that begin a sentence, unless it is a calendar year. If the number is long, it is better to rewrite the sentence. 

Sixty-two staff attended the economic development conference. 

Seventy crates, 12 bundles, and 42 cartons were donated to the food bank. 

Use the same style for related numbers in a sentence. If any number is above nine, use figures for all the numbers.

We anticipate 7 to 156 participants at next week’s tax seminar.

The hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Use a comma to separate digits in numbers with four or more digits. Spell out numbers over one million.

1,000 (instead of 1000)

30 million (instead of 30,000,000)

5 billion (instead of 5,000,000,000)

Don't use commas in page numbers, addresses, room numbers, zip codes, years, phone numbers, or decimals.

Use the below hyphen usage to note a fiscal or program year.

Fiscal Year 2011-12 FY 11-12
Program Year 2011-12 PY 11-12

Use hyphens when the age is acting like a noun or when the age is used as an adjective.

The 60-year-old was the first customer in line.

The 22-year-old truck driver filed for unemployment benefits.

Do not use a hyphen when the age is an adjective phrase after the noun.

Her son is 18 years old.

Use an en dash for an age range.

Our campaign is aimed at men ages 18–30.

Note: Rework sentences and avoid the use of suspended hyphens with an age range.

Original: The campaign is aimed at 18- to 25-year-old women.

Preferred: The campaign is aimed at women ages 18-25.

The Department has no preference between using "%" or spelling out "percent" or "percentage," as long as the style is consistent. However, use the "%" symbol in tables, forms, and technical material, and visuals. Place it after each number.

If you spell out "percent" in a series, only use it after the last number.

We have had increases of 10%, 20%, and 30%.

We have had increases of 10, 20, and 30 percent.

Men 40%

Women 35%

Children 25%

Do not abbreviate months or express days in ordinal figures. For example, 1st, 2nd.

The committee did not meet on Monday, September 1, 2014.

When writing a month-day-year date, use a comma after the year when it appears in the middle of a sentence.

The system will be down January 1, 2018, for scheduled maintenance.

Use an en dash to indicate a date range.

The seminar runs April 1–5, 2020.

When referring to specific decades, do not include an apostrophe before the “s.”

The unemployment rate continued to increase in the early 2000s.

Do not add a decimal point or zeros unless it is not a whole dollar amount. In a column, add a decimal point and two zeros to all whole dollar amounts to maintain consistent.

The cost of the luncheon for nonmembers is $12.50; members pay $10.

$150.50

$25.00

$8.05

Use hyphens to separate digits with 1+area code before the 7-digit phone number. Do not use parentheses for the area code.

Call toll-free at 1-800-123-4567.

When listing a phone number, include a reference to the California Relay Service for individuals with hearing disabilities.

Time is expressed as a numeral, and a.m. and p.m. are always lowercase. When working in tables or columns, include the zeros or don’t for one a consistent appearance. Do not include zeros on whole hours. Use 12 noon or 12 midnight and not 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. When referencing a start and end time, the a.m. or p.m. is not required if the start and end times are both a.m. or p.m.

10 – 11 a.m.

2 – 5 p.m.

10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

When referring to a time zone, eliminate references to standard and daylight saving times by using:

Eastern time (ET)

Central time (CT)

Mountain time (MT)

Pacific time (PT)

Spell out the word “and.” Do not use the ampersand unless it is part of a formal name, like AT&T.

Use the apostrophe for contractions (it’s, you’re, can’t) and possessive nouns.

Contraction: Who’s going to the holiday party?

Possessive: A manager’s approval is needed.

For words ending in “s,” include the apostrophe after the word.

I found Chris’ paperwork.

The attorneys’ fees may be waived.

Avoid using asterisks to define required fields or as a footnote symbol to add context.

When words in parentheses falls within other words in parentheses, enclose the smaller one in brackets and enclose the larger one in parentheses.

John had a list of items to buy (bread, milk [nonfat], and cheese) but he only bought the bread.

Use a colon to introduce an example, a list, or a bulleted list. Capitalize the first word after a colon if it is a proper noun. Avoid overusing colons.

The panel discussed the most important topics: climate change, hunger, and poverty.

For consistency, we have adopted the Oxford comma. In a series of three or more items, place a comma before the last item. 

The keynote speaker is an expert in discrimination law, labor law, and wrongful termination.

The em dash (—) is used for emphasis or interruption in text and headings. Place a space before and after the em dash.

Use the em dash sparingly — and then only for deliberate effect.

Use an en dash (–) for number ranges, avoid using en dashes in other content.

Refer to pages 33–47 for the appendices.

In quotations, ellipses are used to show that information has been removed. If you use them, make sure the words taken out won’t change the original meaning. Avoid using ellipses when possible.

The ceremony honored five women from southern California for their 30 years of state service.

The ceremony honored five women ... for their 30 years of state service.

If the phrase before an ellipsis is a complete sentence, add a period at the end of the last word before the ellipsis. Avoid starting or ending a quote with an ellipsis.

The ceremony honored five women. Their names will be published in the journal.

Use hyphens to connect two or more words that represent a single idea. Hyphenate compound adjectives when they come before a noun.

The employer will provide on-the-job training.

The employee fell asleep while on the job.

Do not use hyphens with the adverb very and all adverbs that end in ly:

We had a very good time.

It’s an easily remembered rule. Do not hyphenate ethnic references when used as nouns. However, hyphenate the terms when used as adjectives.

Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States.

The seminar is targeted toward Asian-American small business owners.

When one or more hyphenated adjectives has a common basic element, use suspended hyphens.

We provide information for English- and Spanish- speaking customers.

Parentheses are used to separate information, like a word, phrase, sentence, number, or abbreviation.

When used in a sentence, punctuation goes outside the closing parenthesis.

At the last meeting (two weeks ago), we proposed two versions of draft rules for approval.

Our office is open late on Wednesdays (until 8 p.m.).

Use quotation marks for direct speech or sections of text.

Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks.

“The unemployment rate has been the same for the past four months,” said the spokesperson.

Use a semicolon to separate items in a series if any of the items already have commas. Do not capitalize the first word after a semicolon unless it is a proper noun.

The representatives include John Smith, Employment Development Department; Jane Doe, Franchise Tax Board; and Bob Jones, Board of Equalization.

A slash shows a division between paired terms, with no space on either side.

Do not use a slash as a substitute for “or” and “and.”