drop-capieeetran
I'm using the \IEEEPARstart{}{} command to "drop cap" the first letter of my paper. As explained in the IEEEtran LATEX Class document automatically :
The other letters in the first word are rendered in upper case.
I don't want this as my first word is big and ugly. I want the rest of the characters to be rendered in lower case. How can I do that?
I think the part after "In particular..." in your question really denotes the begin of a separate question (that is worth to be asked here on TeX.SX). However, regarding the main part of your question you could patch the \@chapter macro as follows.
\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{ebgaramond}
\usepackage{lettrine}
\usepackage{xstring}
\makeatletter
\let\ltx@@chapter\@chapter
\def\@chapter[#1]#2 #3 {\ltx@@chapter[#1]{#2}\lettrine[nindent=0em]{\@tempa}{\@gobble#3}\ }
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\chapter{Introduction}
When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother,
``What will I be? Will I be pretty, will I be pretty, will I be pretty?!''
What comes next? Oh right, will I be rich -- which is almost pretty depending
on where you shop. And the pretty question infects from conception passing
blood and breathe into cells. The word hangs from our mothers hearts in a
shrill fluorescent floodlight of worry. Will I be wanted? Worthy? Pretty?
\end{document}
You also might want to check first if the first letter is an actual letter and \lettrine only if this is the case:
\def\@chapter[#1]#2 #3 {%
\ltx@@chapter[#1]{#2}
\StrLeft{#3}{1}[\@tempa]
\ifcat\@tempa a
\lettrine[nindent=0em]{\@tempa}{\@gobble#3}
\else
#3
\fi
}
A possible workaround for the problem of dealing with alternative input right after the start of the chapter could be to define a chapterpreamble environment (like @Werner proposed in the comments of the OP). In Difference, I would put the environment right before the corresponding chapter -- its use would be then optional "by force". The environment would then collect its content into a token register and the redefined \@chapter macro would take care of outputing its content:
\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{ebgaramond}
\usepackage{lettrine}
\usepackage{xstring}
\usepackage{environ}
\makeatletter
\let\ltx@@chapter\@chapter
\def\@chapter[#1]#2 #3 {%
\ltx@@chapter[#1]{#2}
\the\ch@pterpreamble
\ch@pterpreamble{}
\StrLeft{#3}{1}[\@tempa]
\ifcat\@tempa a
\lettrine[nindent=0em]{\@tempa}{\@gobble#3}
\else
#3
\fi
}
\newtoks\ch@pterpreamble
\NewEnviron{chapterpreamble}{\global\ch@pterpreamble=\expandafter{\BODY}}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\begin{chapterpreamble}
\begin{quote}
``The word pretty is unworthy of everything you will be. And no child of mine
will be contained in five letters. You will be pretty intelligent, pretty
creative, pretty amazing. But you will never be merely pretty.''
\end{quote}
\end{chapterpreamble}
\chapter{Introduction}
%{``T}o be or not to be.''
When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother,
``What will I be? Will I be pretty, will I be pretty, will I be pretty?!''
What comes next? Oh right, will I be rich -- which is almost pretty depending
on where you shop. And the pretty question infects from conception passing
blood and breathe into cells. The word hangs from our mothers hearts in a
shrill fluorescent floodlight of worry. Will I be wanted? Worthy? Pretty?
\end{document}
The reason for your problems - "all letters [becoming] small" - is because \normalfont is a declaration that changes the font from that point onward. Typical usage would be {\normalfont ...} instead of \normalfont{...}. Either way, you're better of changing the shape manually:
\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}
\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\section{Real {\upshape f}MRI Data}
\end{document}
Best Answer
Alternately, you can even do this: