Title case: General rules. Here are the general rules for capitalizing titles and headings: Capitalize the first word and last word of a title. Capitalize all major words, which are all words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (e.g., on, in, of, at), and coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, and nor; also for, yet, and so when used as conjunctions).
The Four Major Title Capitalization Style Guides. First, it is important to note that there are four main title capitalization styles:. Chicago style; APA style; MLA style; AP style; Our title capitalization tool also supports Bluebook and AMA style capitalization.. Each of these capitalization styles has slightly different rules for which words are capitalized and each of these styles can be ...
Title capitalization can be tricky. Unsure of what words should be uppercase? Here are a few examples so you can apply the rules to your writing!
According to most English-style guides, book titles, article titles, publications, and works of art should always be capitalized. Use up-style capitalization in these cases; that is, capitalize the first letter of the first and last words and of all words besides short (fewer than five or so letters) articles , conjunctions , and prepositions .
By capitalizing the first and last words, you create a visual mark that shows the reader where the title begins and ends. Even if it’s used within a longer sentence, it can’t be confused with the text surrounding it. 💡 Note: When words are capitalized to form a title, their format is called “title case” or “headline case.”
More about Title Case This infographic explains title case: When writing a title in a business document, capitalize only the first word, the last word, and the so-called "principal" words. This is called title case. Use lowercase letters for articles, conjunctions, and prepositions unless they start or end the title.) More Examples of Title Case
Capitalizing Titles. When and how to capitalize titles of works and titles of formal rank or professional status can remain a common question. We’ll focus on that topic today for additional clarity. (Note that style for capitalizing titles can vary among stylebooks and in-house style guidelines.
Update, Nov. 19, 2025: We added a title capitalizer tool to the online editor. Very few people know which words should be capitalized in a title. In fact, the majority of people adopt rules from others who don’t know either. This usually takes on one of two forms: capitalizing every word, or capitalizing words containing three or more letters. Where blog posts and internal work ...
How to Capitalize a Title in APA Style. APA uses both title case (for titles in the main body of a document) and sentence case (for titles in reference lists). In addition, when using title case, APA capitalizes all words of four or more letters, including conjunctions and prepositions. Title case: Murder Most Horrid: A Study of Crime Rates in ...
This is a simplified representation of the title case rules; the detailed rules for various styles can be found on the dedicated page Title Capitalization Rules. However, if you are not sure what a “subordinating conjunction” is or if you already have a specific word in mind that you want to check, then this is the right page for you.
What to capitalize in a title 1. Always capitalize the first word as well as all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Let's go back to that rule about major words that we referred to earlier. Though the word major may seem a little bit vague, this essentially refers to all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. In addition, all major style guides indicate that the first ...
Summary: Capitalization in Titles. To sum up, sentence case means you only capitalize the first word and any proper nouns. Title case means you capitalize every word except for short or minor words. Unless you’re following a guide or an institution’s requirements, you can choose to capitalize your titles based on your preference.
Familiarize yourself with common title capitalization rules, and it will be easier to write articles, papers, and other pieces.
What is Title Capitalization? The correct formatting of a title by capitalizing certain terms is known as title capitalization. It adheres to a set of guidelines that differ according to several style manuals, including AP, MLA, Chicago, and APA. It is essential for writers, editors, and content producers to comprehend these rules.
The MLA Handbook also explains what to capitalize in titles and when to do so (1.2.1, 1.2.5). Partly, these distinctions are a matter of convention and are intended to respect the ways in which various languages have evolved. In titles capitalized sentence style, for instance, words are capitalized if they are capitalized in the foreign language.
APA Title Case. Capitalize the first word of a title or subtitle; Capitalize the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation; Capitalize nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns; Capitalize all words of four letters or more; Do not capitalize articles, conjunctions, and prepositions of three letters or fewer
Title Score by Capitalize My Title: This tool analyzes your title and gives it a score based on its effectiveness. It takes into account factors such as length, sentiment, and power words. In conclusion, title capitalization tools can be a great help when it comes to writing effective titles. Whether you need to convert your titles to a ...
For titles in the body of a paper, one uses title-case, but without capitalizing conjunctions, articles, or prepositions shorter than four letters. So in the text itself, the APA manual would be Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
