When to capitalize a registered profession?

I understand the rule to capitalize a profession (i.e. job title) when it is precedes a name, as in President John Doe. but what if we are talking about titles in general. I am working on a document that discusses when to request a referral to Registered Dietitian, Occupational Therapist or Speech Language Pathologist. Should these all be lower case, or capitalized? Example: Feeding therapists are often Speech Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists or Registered Dietitians and can be referred to using [blank] form.

Those are titles. If you are just discussing the profession, we don't use caps. It depends on what the organization you are working for wants. Not on any rule. Also, we don't say a registered profession in English. We say: licensed profession.

I think it refers to common nouns - doctor, teacher, engineer etc. - and unless they occur at the start of the sentence they need not start in upper case.

@Lambie - good comment but some legally designated professions are actually "registered" in the U.S. I'm a registered practitioner as per the USPTO. That term covers individuals who are empowered to represent others before the patent office by virtue of passing the patent bar exam. Completely orthogonality, some are also state licensed attorneys, some are not. There may be other registered professions.

@GeorgeWhite Yes, sure, I understand. Therapists are licensed. I was surprised that a dietician is registered.

2 Answers 2

Actually Choster is incorrect. These titles are still common nouns. Just because they say “certified or professional or licensed” does not make them proper. Unless they include the name of the licensure, they remain common. I’m a technical writer with more than 16 years of experience and an undergrad and grad degree in the subject matter. People always want to over capitalize everything. It’s annoying.

Welcome to ELU! Note that Stack Exchange works differently from discussion forums. If you wish to refute Choster, it's best to do this in the comments under Choster's comment although lengthy discussion in the comments are not encouraged. On SE it is best to simply answer the OP's original question "When to capitalize a registered profession?" Ignore what others may have answered and give your answer and your reasons. Of course it is good to mention your own credentials as an expert when answering. As I say, welcome, and I hope this helps.

Welcome to EL&U. I noticed your comment on this old question, but I believe my comment on theglo's post says essentially the same thing you do: the title would be capitalized when it refers to a specific certification or designation. Just because Mexico is a country of united states of America does not mean Mexico is the United States of America, and by the same token you would not deny capitalization to the United States of America because it is in fact a country of united states of America.