On why Baz needs to adopt minimal capitalisation

Harvard referencing

Ah, the bane of academics. Struggling students triple-checking direct quotes; struggling universities pumping through software supposedly aware of quotes.

Hey, I wonder what sort of combination of information would break the assignment checker? Hexadecimal? Binary? Yes, barcode… I knew it. Look I’m not sure if you can break that gizmo but I’ve maintained a firm belief in the following:

1. Harvard referencing
2. Minimal capitalisation

Baz reluctantly acknowledges the referencing but He’s the Sort of Guy That Thinks Things Need Titles. He has made me change entire documents based on this difference. So why worry about it?

Central Queensland University’s own Harvard [author-date] referencing guide (2007) devote a section to the conundrum.

Faculty and departmental disclaimers aside, ‘ … if there is no requirement, the Harvard author-date system endorses minimal capitalisation.’ (P.19)

I endorse this, especially in business writing. We’re usually limited by a style guide, we have an important internal business message to get across. Do the right thing, leave Capitalisation rules be.

I’ll post a FAQ/ guide for said capitalisation rules tomorrow.

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