How do I know what words to capitalize in my APA papers? (2024)

According to the APA Style Guide section on Capitalization, "APA Style is a 'down'style, meaning that words are lowercase unless there is specific guidance to capitalize them."

Here are some basic rules for capitalizing within APA papers:

Diseases, Disorders, Therapies, and More

• In general, do not capitalize the names of diseases,treatments, theories, concepts, etc.
• Do capitalizepersonal names that appear within these kinds of terms.
• Examples: lung cancer, art therapy, Alzheimer's disease, Adlerian therapy

Proper Nouns, Trade Names, and Generic Drug Names

• Capitalize proper nouns, names of racial &ethnic groups, and trade & brand names.
• Do not capitalize generic drug names.
• Example: Prozac (trade name) vsfluoxetine (generic name)

When in doubt, ask a librarian or consult the APA Dictionary of Psychology.