def _upper_case_column(df, cols=None, include_index=False):
    """Converts contents of pandas.Series to uppercase string

    Parameters
    ----------
    df : pandas.DataFrame()
    cols : string or list, optional (default=None)
        column names that will be converted to uppercase
    unclude_index : bool, optional (default=False)
        whether to convert the index to an uppercase string

    Returns
    -------
    pandas.DataFrame()
    """
    if len(df) == 0:
        return df

    df = df.copy()

    if cols is not None:
        if isinstance(cols, str):
            cols = [cols]

        for col in cols:
            if col in df.columns:
                df[col] = df[col].map(str).str.upper()

    if include_index:
        df.index = df.index.map(str).str.upper()

    return df