Capital letters after the colon!

[RoseSpring]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Howards End, applying the features of the Edwardian era in order to be able to answer the following question: Does Howards End truly express the Edwardian era?

Generally, do we use capital letters after the colon or not?

 

[RoseSpring]

Could anyone kindly answer?

 

[Abstract Idea]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Howards End, applying the features of the Edwardian era in order to be able to answer the following question: Does Howards End truly express the Edwardian era?

Generally, do we use capital letters after the colon or not?

Naturally it depends on the situation. For me, in your example it is okay to use the capital. In this example, I would prefer to capitalize the initial "D" but I guess it is a matter of style.

Not a native speaker

 

[corum]

In English, a colon may be followed either by a capital letter or by a lower case letter, depending on usage; where direct speech follows, a capital letter is used; where an acronym or proper noun follows, a capital is used; otherwise, a lower case letter is used.[3] In British English, the word following the colon is lowercase unless it is a proper noun, an acronym, or if it is normally capitalized for some other reason. Some modern American style guides, including those published by the Associated Press and the Modern Language Association, prescribe capitalization where the colon is followed by an independent clause (i.e. a complete sentence). However, The Chicago Manual of Style[4] requires capitalization only when the colon introduces two or more complete sentences.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_(punctuation)