Capitalizing Compulsively

Why do we Indians capitalize every other word in business documents? And why does it unsettle me?

Whenever I look at a resume, a draft proposal or a presentation, I feel like taking a red pen and crossing out all the unnecessarily capitalized words!

It is entirely appropriate to write "I hold a B.E. degree in Software Engineering and am an expert in user interface design". 'Software Engineering' was probably the exact title of the degree and so may be capitalized.

But if you write "I hold a B.E. Degree in Software Engineering and am an Expert in User Interface Design", then you are going too far. Too much unnecessary capitalization.

You may argue that 'User Interface' is a standard term (abbreviated as UI) and its design is a formal area of knowledge, hence the words may be capitalized.

But I see it as a slippery slope. The modern world is littered with many formal areas of knowledge, some here to stay and some just passing fads, some established and some controversial, some broadly popular and some niche. To capitalize them all would render documents ugly and unreadable.

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So I try to resist capitalization of mere areas of knowledge.

Therefore, I would not like to see on a general resume that the candidate is "an expert in Supply Chain". Or "an expert in Operations Management". Or "an expert in Human Resource Management" even. (And definitely not "an Expert" of any sort!)

In a few select cases, capitalization is more permissible since the words now mean something highly specific, something quite different from their general meaning. So, for example, 'I am an expert in Enterprise Resource Planning' is somewhat acceptable. Saying you are an expert 'in Supply Chain Management' or 'in Quality Assurance' is borderline tolerable.

Still I would suggest: err on the side of caution.

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Capitalization is totally acceptable only where we are referring to the name of a formal department (e.g. the 'User Interface Group') or a formal job title (e.g. 'User Interface Designer') or a course (e.g. 'ME210: Heat Transfer') or a universally accepted software category (e.g. 'Customer Relationship Management software') or something similar. Otherwise it is typically best avoided.

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Now, why does excessive capitalization bother me?

1. Reasons of effectiveness:

Every time you capitalize a word, you draw the reader's attention to that single word, pulling it away from an orderly perusal of the text. Is that single word where you want the reader's attention to go? Mostly not.

2. Reasons of aesthetics:

Too much capitalization strewn about the page makes the document look cluttered and ugly.

3. Reasons of presumption:

By capitalizing a general word or phrase referring to a body of knowledge, you are arrogantly proclaiming that it is a formal, well accepted area. As a reader, I may not know about it, or as an educated reader, I may not agree with the importance you are giving it. Therefore you have to be careful. E.g. a phrase such as 'Communication-Driven Decision Support' should be capitalized (if at all) only where the specific audience will certainly understand what exactly is being referred to. Normally never.

4. 'Slippery slope' reasons:

Once you start capitalizing, it's difficult to stop. Consider the following paragraph:

"In the past ten years, there has been an increasing focus on using information technology to address various supply chain areas, including supply chain management, supply chain optimization, supply chain execution and supply chain event management. Supply chain management guru Dr. XYZ says that increasingly forecasting, replenishment, and warehouse management are also coming under the scope of supply chain IT."

Suppose you allowed the use of capitalization for 'Supply Chain Management'. There would then be a tendency to capitalize 'Supply Chain Optimization' as well. And so on. Soon, the paragraph would look like this:

"In the past ten years, there has been an increasing focus on using Information Technology to address various Supply Chain areas, including Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Optimization, Supply Chain Execution and Supply Chain Event Management. Supply Chain Management guru Dr. XYZ says that increasingly Forecasting, Replenishment, and Warehouse Management are also coming under the scope of Supply Chain IT."

You see now what I mean when I say it is a slippery slope?

5. Reasons of inconsistency:

Most people who capitalize freely are also poor at maintaining consistency. Therefore they may sometimes refer to 'Human Resource Management' and sometimes to 'Human Resource management'. This inconsistent capitalization is painful. At the same time, if you aim to be highly consistent in capitalization, you waste a lot of your time thinking about how to avoid situations like the slippery slope example in the previous point.

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The way out is simple - avoid capitalization where possible. Resist.

Specifically, capitalize the names of knowledge areas only if you are referring in fact to the names of courses, departments, job titles or something similarly formal and permanent. Otherwise, think again.