Editing Encyclopedia:Naming conventions (capitalization) (section)

==Specific topics and examples==
===Page names that differ only by capitalization===
{{see also|WP:Article titles#Precision and disambiguation}}
It is occasionally acceptable to create two articles (on different topics) with titles that differ only in capitalization, such as [[Duck sauce]] and [[Duck Sauce]]. If this arises, place a [[Wikipedia:Hatnote|hatnote]] at the top of each page, linking each to a dedicated disambiguation page or to the other article. It is also acceptable to use names that are differentiated in other ways; which approach should be taken may vary from case to case, balancing such considerations as the risk of confusion in using one set of names against the departure from brevity and common usage in using the other.<!--for an RfC on this topic, see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (precision)/Archive -->

===Titles of works===
{{see also|WP:Manual of Style/Titles#Capital letters}}
In general, each word in English titles of [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (books)|books]], [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films)|films]], and other works takes an initial capital, except for articles ("a", "an", "the"), the word "to" as part of an infinitive, and prepositions and coordinating conjunctions shorter than five letters (e.g., "on", "from", "and", "with"), unless they begin or end a title or subtitle.  Examples: [[A New Kind of Science|{{xt|''A New Kind of Science''}}]], [[Ghost in the Shell|{{xt|''Ghost in the Shell''}}]], [[To Be or Not to Be|{{xt|''To Be or Not to Be''}}]], [[The World We Live In|{{xt|''The World We Live In''}}]]. {{crossref|(For details, see [[WP:Manual of Style/Titles#Capital letters|the main guideline on title capitalization]].  For non-English titles, see [[#Works and compositions|below]].)}}

===Organisms===
<!-- This section summarizes three other guidelines. Please DO NOT CHANGE IT without consensus at those other pages first. -->
{{See also|WP:Manual of Style#Animals, plants, and other organisms|WP:Naming conventions (fauna)|WP:Naming conventions (flora)}}
English common names of species and of general types of organisms are not capitalized, and article titles about them are sentence-cased, except where [[proper names]] appear and are capitalized: [[Bottlenose dolphin|{{xt|Bottlenose dolphin}}]], [[Livestock guardian dog|{{xt|Livestock guardian dog}}]], [[Red oak|{{xt|Red oak}}]], but [[Small Indian civet|{{xt|Small Indian civet}}]].  Redirects should be created from the alternative capitalized form(s), e.g., {{xt|[[Bottlenose Dolphin]]}}, and from plural forms of each spelling.

===Capitalization of expressions borrowed from other languages===
{{see also|WP:Naming conventions (use English)|Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Foreign terms}}
For French, see for instance {{section link|WP:Manual of Style/France and French-related#Capitalization}}. In French, the capitalization rules (for books, works of art, and many other topics) are different from those in English. The situation is further complicated by [[loanword]]s, for example a French expression can be adopted in English (such that you'll find it in English dictionaries), but with a different capitalization:
* [[Art Nouveau|{{xt|Art Nouveau}}]] is how the name of a certain art movement is most often written in English; but {{lang|fr|italics=no|2=[[:fr:art nouveau|{{xtn|art nouveau}}]]}}<!--Don't italicize here; this is an illustration of how French would be written in a French text, not of French as used in an English text.--> is how it is written in French.

====Expressions====
For expressions borrowed from other languages a two-step approach is advised (example explained for expressions borrowed from French):
* Check whether or not a French expression has been adopted in English as a loan word: if it is, follow the usual English capitalization rules, as explained in other parts of this page.
* If the French expression is untranslated (not a loanword), follow French capitalization practice. For French: some expressions are not capitalized at all (e.g., {{lang|fr|[[:fr:fin de siècle|{{xt|fin de siècle}}]]}}), others have a capitalization of the first word.
For Spanish, German, and any language usually written in the Latin alphabet the same (or something similar) would apply.

====Works and compositions====
{{anchor|Works of art|reason=Old, too-specific section name.}}
{{see also|WP:Manual of Style/Titles#Capitalization in foreign-language titles|WP:Naming conventions (music)#Capitalization of generic names|WP:Naming conventions (operas)}}
If the article is about a creative or academic work (such as a book or other written work, movie, album, song, or composition) with a title in a foreign language, or by a non-English-speaking creator, retain the style of the original for modern works. For historical works, follow the dominant usage in modern, English-language, [[Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources|reliable sources]].

====Place names====
{{see also|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)}}