titles

Individual titles, job titles, composition titles

Individuals: Capitalize if the formal title precedes the name of the person. Capitalization is not necessary for
occupational descriptions. Foundation President and CEO Keetha Mills. The surprise guest was actor Steve Martin.
Lowercase titles when used alone. The president of the Foundation spoke at the conference.

If a job title is used after the individual’s name and could be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence
(usually set off in commas), capitalize elements four letters or longer. For more information, contact Melissa
Conner, Vice President of Advancement, at mconner@foundationccc.org. If the job title is used after the name in
running text and cannot be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence, do not capitalize the title. Chris
has been the director of human resources at the Foundation for more than six months.

Do not use titles such as Mr., Mrs., or Miss unless in a direct quotation. If a person’s gender is unclear and necessary
for the context, use he or she on subsequent reference.

Composition titles: Italicize titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, works of art, plays, albums or CDs,
movies, and other freestanding works. Titles of articles, chapters, radio and television programs, songs, manuscripts
and reports, art exhibits, and shorter works are enclosed in quotation marks.

See capitalization and italics entries. Also see quotation marks under punctuation.