Do I capitalise economics (Economics)?

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Hamad_786

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Is it economics or Economics? I am getting a mixed response from people and it is really annoying as my personal statement is about economics/Economics. I list a few example sentences (not from my PS, just generic sentences I made up) and you decide whether they should be capitalised or not.
I love studying economics
I think economics is important in this society
I want to continue studying economics at uni
I believe economics is a great subject
I studied economics

Frazzle27

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You don't capitalise science, maths or physics, so why capitalise economics? In my opinion it should be lower case and it makes sense for it to be lower case since it isn't a proper noun.

Doones

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(Original post by Hamad_786)
I love studying economics
I think economics is important in this society
I want to continue studying economics at uni
I believe economics is a great subject
I studied BSc Economics at Bristol

FIFY.

The subject is economics, the course is Economics.

e.g. At university you study a course called BSc Economics (or BA...) to learn more about economics.

Last edited by Doones; 3 years ago

LeapingLucy

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In a personal statement, you always capitalise the course. It’s the name of the course - hence in this instance it’s a proper noun, and thus has a capital letter, like the name of a person or a country would.

Your degree certificate will say BSc Economics, not BSc economics.

I applied for History and Politics, and I used the capitalised versions whenever I referred to the subjects in my PS.

LeapingLucy

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(Original post by Frazzle27)
You don't capitalise science, maths or physics, so why capitalise economics? In my opinion it should be lower case and it makes sense for it to be lower case since it isn't a proper noun.

The subject isn’t a proper noun, but the course is - it’s BSc Economics.

Doones

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Yes you can - compare:
* I got an A in Economics (or Maths)
* I am learning about economics (or maths)

Last edited by Doones; 3 years ago

Hamad_786

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(Original post by Doonesbury)
Yes you can - compare:
* I got an A in Economics (or Maths)
* I am learning about economics (or maths)

Thanks for the response, my main concern is if I talk about 'studying economics'. Some people have said capitalise as I am talking about studying it, so it links to the course title but others have said not to capitalise it because it is generally a common noun.

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(Original post by Hamad_786)
Thanks for the response, my main concern is if I talk about 'studying economics'. Some people have said capitalise as I am talking about studying it, so it links to the course title but others have said not to capitalise it because it is generally a common noun.

It’s “correct” not to capitalise it (in almost all contects used in a PS). But people capitalise words that they consider important - so you can guarantee that economics academic staff capitalise economics (incorrectly) all the time.

Don’t beat yourself up over this...your place at university will not be affected by it either way. I generally recommend avoiding capitalising subjects (you’re very unlikely to be talking about economics as a proper noun in your PS) - that way you can stay consistent throughout your PS and avoid drawing the eye of the reader (particularly if they’re reading in a rush) to what might not be the most important points of your PS. Capitalising some occurrences and not others isn’t ideal.

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(Original post by LeapingLucy)
The subject isn’t a proper noun, but the course is - it’s BSc Economics.

A PS isn’t written about a single course. It’s directed toward 5 different economics degrees. In 5 different economics departments at 5 different universities. While they’re proper nouns individually - collectively they’re not.