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* The standard order for optional appendix sections at the end of an article is ''See also'', ''Notes'' (or ''Footnotes''), ''References'', ''Further reading'' (or ''Bibliography''), and ''External links''; the order of ''Notes'' and ''References'' can be reversed. ''See also'' is an exception to the point above that wording comprises nouns and noun phrases. For information on these optional sections, see [[Wikipedia:Guide to layout#Standard appendices and descriptions]] and [[Wikipedia:Citing sources]].
==Capital letters==
{{main|Wikipedia:Manual of Style (capital letters)}}
There are differences between the major varieties of English in the use of capitals (uppercase letters). Where this is an issue, the rules of the cultural and linguistic context apply. As for spelling, consistency is maintained within an article.
Within articles and other wiki pages, capitals are not used for emphasis. Where wording cannot provide the emphasis, italics are used.
:{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'': ||Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are Not the same as anteaters.
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'': ||Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are NOT the same as anteaters.
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are ''not'' the same as anteaters.
|}
===Titles===
*'''When used as titles''' (that is, followed by a name), items such as ''president'', ''king'' and ''emperor'' start with a capital letter: ''President Clinton'', not ''president Clinton''. The formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun: ''Hirohito was Emperor of Japan'' and ''Louis XVI was King of France'' (where ''Emperor of Japan'' and ''King of France'', respectively, are titles). Royal styles are capitalized: ''Her Majesty'' and ''His Highness''; exceptions may apply for particular offices.
*'''When used generically''', such items are in lower case: ''De Gaulle was a French president'' and ''Louis XVI was a French king''. Similarly, ''Three prime ministers attended the conference'', but, ''The British Prime Minister is Gordon Brown''.
*For the use of titles and honorifics in biographical articles, see [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)#Honorific_prefixes|Honorific prefixes]].
===Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines and their adherents===
*'''Religions, sects and churches''' and their followers (in noun or adjective form) start with a capital letter. Generally ''the'' is not capitalized before such names (''the Shī'a'', not ''The Shī'a''). (But see also the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Latter Day Saints)|style guide]] and [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Latter Day Saints)|naming convention]] for the Latter Day Saint movement.)
*'''Scriptures''' are capitalized but not italicized (for example, the names of the Qurʾan, the Talmud, the Granth Sahib, and the Bible). When ''the'' is used, it is not capitalized. Some derived adjectives are capitalized by convention, some are not (''biblical'', but normally ''Koranic''); for others, check a dictionary appropriate to the topic, and be consistent in an article.
*'''Honorifics for deities''', when used alone in reference to a specific figure of veneration, start with a capital letter (''God'', ''Allah'', ''the Lord'', ''the Supreme Being'', ''the Great Spirit''); ''the'' is not capitalized. The same is true when referring to major religious figures and figures from mythology by titles or terms of respect (''the Prophet'', ''the Messiah'', ''the Virgin'', ''a Muse''). When used generically, descriptively or metaphorically, such descriptive terms are not capitalized; thus ''the Romans worshipped many gods'', ''many Anglo-Saxons worshipped the god Wotan'', ''Jesus and Muhammad are both considered prophets in Islam'', ''biblical scholars dispute whether Mary was a virgin for her entire life'', and ''her husband was her muse''.
*'''[[Pronoun]]s and [[Possessive pronouns|possessive]]s referring to figures of veneration''' are not capitalized in Wikipedia articles, even when they traditionally are in a religion's scriptures. They are left capitalized when directly quoting scriptures or any other texts that capitalize them.
*'''Broad categories of mythical or legendary creatures''' do not start with uppercase capital letters (''elf'', ''fairy'', ''nymph'', ''unicorn'', ''angel''), although in derived works of fantasy, such as the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien and real-time strategy video games, initial capitals are sometimes used to indicate that the beings are regarded as cultures or races in their [[fictional universe]]s. Names or titles of individual creatures are capitalized (''the Minotaur'', ''the Pegasus'') as are those of groups whose name and membership are fixed (''the Cherubim'', ''the Magi or the Three Wise Men''). As with terms for deities, generalized references are not capitalized (''cherub-like'', ''the priests of this sect were called magi by some'', ''several wise men were consulted'').
*'''Spiritual or religious events''' are likewise capitalized only when they are terms referring to specific incidents or periods (''the Great Flood'', ''the Exodus'', but ''annual flooding'' or ''an exodus of refugees'').
*'''Philosophies, theories and doctrines''' do not begin with a capital letter unless the name derives from a proper noun (''capitalism versus Marxism'') or has become a proper noun (lowercase ''republican'' refers to a system of political thought; uppercase ''Republican'' refers to one of several specific political parties or ideologies, such as the US Republican Party or Irish Republicanism). Physical and natural laws and parodies of them are capitalized (''the Second Law of Thermodynamics'', ''the Theory of Special Relativity'', ''Murphy's Law''; but ''an expert on gravity and relativity'', ''thermodynamic properties'', ''Murphy's famous mock-law''). Doctrinal topics or canonical religious ideas (as distinguished from specific events) that may be traditionally capitalized within a faith are given in lower case in Wikipedia, such as ''virgin birth'', ''original sin'' or ''transubstantiation''.
*'''[[Platonic ideal|Platonic]] or transcendent ideals''' are capitalized (''Good'', ''Truth''), but only within the context of philosophical doctrine; used more broadly, they are lower-case (''Superman represents American ideals of truth and justice''). Personifications represented in art, such as a statue of the figure ''Justice'', are capitalized.
===Calendar items===
*'''Months, days and holidays''' start with a capital letter: June, Monday, the Fourth of July (when referring to the U.S. Independence Day, otherwise ''July 4'' or ''4 July'').
*'''Seasons''', in almost all instances, are lowercase: ''This summer was very hot''; ''The winter solstice occurs about December 22''; ''I've got spring fever''. When personified, season names may function as proper nouns, and they should then be capitalized: ''I think Spring is showing her colors''; ''Old Man Winter''.
===Animals, plants, and other organisms===
{{main|Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life#Article titles|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna)}}
'''Scientific names''' for ''genera'' and ''species'' are italicized, with a capital initial letter for the genus but no capital for the species; for more specific guidelines for article titles, see [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life#Article titles]]. For example, the tulip tree is ''Liriodendron tulipifera'', and humans are ''Homo sapiens''. Taxonomic groups higher than genus are given with an initial capital and are not in italics; for example, gulls are in the family Laridae, and we are in the family Hominidae.
'''Common (vernacular) names''' of flora and fauna should be written in lower case—for example, ''oak'' or ''lion''. There are a limited number of exceptions to this:
# Where the common name contains a proper noun, such as the name of a person or place, that proper noun should be capitalized; for example, ''The Amur tiger may have a range of over 500 square kilometres'', or ''The Roosevelt elk is a subspecies of ''Cervus canadensis''.''
# For specific groups of organisms, there are specific rules of capitalization based on current and historic usage among those who study the organisms. These should ordinarily be followed:
<!-- Add to this list if a consensus has been reached within a Wikiproject to deviate from the base prescription. The addition should be a link to the discussion or to the location where a prescription other than the base is detailed. -->
#* [[WP:BIRD#Bird_names_and_article_titles|Official common names of birds are normally capitalized]]
# In a very few cases, a set of officially established common names are recognized only within a country or a geographic region. Those common names may be capitalized according to local custom but it should be understood that not all editors will have access to the references needed to support these names; in such cases, using the general recommendation is also acceptable.
In any case, a [[Wikipedia:Redirect|redirect]] from an alternative capitalization should be created where it is used in an article title.
===Celestial bodies===
*'''''Sun'', ''earth'' and ''moon''''' are not capitalized generally (''The sun was peeking over the mountain top''). They may be proper nouns in an astronomical context but only when referring to specific celestial bodies (our ''Sun'', ''Earth'' and ''Moon''): so ''The Moon orbits the Earth'', but ''Jupiter's moon Io''.
*'''Other planets and stars''' are proper nouns and start with a capital letter: ''The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux.'' Where a name has multiple words, it is treated like other proper nouns where each leading letter is capitalized: ''Alpha Centauri'' and not ''Alpha centauri''.
===Directions and regions===
*'''Directions''' such as ''north'' are not proper nouns and are therefore lowercase. The same is true for their related forms: someone might call a road that leads north a ''northern'' road, compared with the [[Great North Road (United Kingdom)|Great North Road]]. Composite directions may or may not be hyphenated (''northeast'' and ''north-east'', ''Southeast Asia'' and ''South-East Asia''), depending on the general style adopted in the article.
*'''Regions''' that are proper nouns, including widely known expressions such as ''Southern California'', start with a capital letter. Follow the same convention for related forms: a person from the [[Southern United States]] is a ''Southerner''. Regions of uncertain proper-noun status are assumed not to have attained it.
===Institutions===
*'''Proper names''' of institutions (for example, ''the University of Sydney'', ''New York-Presbyterian Hospital'', ''George Brown College'') are proper nouns and require capitalization. Where a title starts with ''the'', it typically starts with lowercase ''t'' when the title occurs in the middle of a sentence: ''a degree from the University of Sydney''.
*'''Generic words''' for institutions (university, college, hospital, high school) require no capitalization:
::{|style="background:transparent"
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|''Incorrect'' ||''(generic)'': ||The University offers programs in arts and sciences.
|-valign=top
|''Correct'' ||''(generic)'': ||The university offers ...
|-valign=top
|''Correct'' ||''(title)'': ||The University of Ottawa offers ...
|}
==Acronyms and abbreviations==
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