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What to Capitalize in a Title: APA Title Capitalization Rules

Which words do you capitalize in a title?

Have you ever been confused about which words to capitalize in the title of your manuscript ? You have probably seen titles where only the first word is capitalized (so-called “sentence case”), titles where all words seem to be capitalized (“title case”), and also titles that look like combinations of the two. And you might have wondered where there is any general rule to all this. 

The answer is that, no, there is not really one general capitalization rule, but there are several style-dependent capitalization guidelines you can rely on, and the journal you plan to submit to will tell you (in their author instructions ) which one they want you to apply to your manuscript before submission. Just like you format your manuscript and reference list following APA or MLA formatting rules, you apply the respective style guide to capitalize your title, headings, and subheadings . In this article, we will first explain the general rules on what types of words to capitalize (e.g., nouns, articles, and conjunctions) and then look at the APA and MLA style guides in particular and their specific variations of those rules.

Research Paper Title Capitalization Rules

According to most style guides, all proper nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in titles of books and articles are to be capitalized. Some elements of titles are, however, never capitalized, such as articles (except articles at the beginning of a title), and some, such as conjunctions, can or cannot be capitalized, depending on the specific style guide variation. In the following, we will outline the general rules for all the different words in your title so that you can orient yourself easily to the different style guides and adapt your title quickly when necessary. 

Capitalizing Nouns and Pronouns in Titles

Nouns (including formal names of people, organizations, and places) and pronouns are easy to format, as all style guides agree that they should always be capitalized using title case capitalization. 

Capitalizing Articles in Titles

The rules for articles are also simple, as all major style guides agree that articles should be lowercase in titles—unless they represent the first and/or last word in the title:

In the latter example, the first “the” is capitalized because it is the first word of the title, while the second “the” is lowercase as articles usually are. Note that the same rule regarding article capitalization applies to subtitles as well.

Capitalizing Conjunctions in Titles

Conjunctions are a slightly more complicated case, as style guides differ on whether to capitalize them or on which conjunctions to capitalize. According to some guides,  conjunctions of three letters or fewer are to be written in lowercase while longer ones should be capitalized. Other style guides, however, state to write all conjunctions in lowercase, or make exceptions for specific conjunctions such as “yet”, “so”, and “as”. It is therefore always necessary to look up the specific rules of the target journal before submitting a manuscript—and have a look at our sections on APA and MLA style below. The following examples are, however, fairly universal:

Capitalizing Prepositions in Titles

Capitalization rules for prepositions are equally ambiguous and depend on the specific style guide you follow. Prepositions of four letters or more are often capitalized, while according to some style guides, all prepositions are written in lowercase, no matter their length. Sometimes, for example, when following the Chicago Manual of Style , capitalization depends on how a preposition is used in a title and whether it does indeed function as a preposition. According to this rule, prepositions are capitalized when they are used “adverbially or adjectivally” in prepositional phrases (as in “How to Back Up a Computer”), but not when used otherwise.

Capitalizing Adjectives and Adverbs in Titles     

Rules for capitalizing adjectives and adverbs , like nouns, are unproblematic, as they are capitalized across style guides. 

Capitalizing Verbs in Titles      

Verbs are another easy case and are also always capitalized, according to all style guides. 

Title Case Rules by Style Guide

Apa title case rules   .

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used for scholarly articles in the behavioral and social sciences. The APA guidelines on when to capitalize a title include the following rules:

MLA Title Case Rules  

The Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook , used primarily to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities, promotes the following rules for when to capitalize a title or header:

Additional Rules for Title Capitalization 

As we have stressed several times throughout this article, it is crucial to always check the specific rules of the target journal and/or the rules of the style guide the target journal wants you to follow—note that these can sometimes conflict with each other, in which case the journal rules override the style guide. Apart from the two common style guides we explained here, APA and MLA , there are several others that have their own rules, such as the Chicago Manual of Style , the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style , or the Associated Press Stylebook , an American English grammar style and usage guide originally developed for AP writers but now used widely across journalistic fields. There is even a specific set of rules for the capitalization of titles of Wikipedia articles !

One capitalization rule that might not necessarily be mentioned in such style guides but is relevant for some academic/scientific fields is that when the Latin name of a species is mentioned, the second portion of the name must be written in lowercase, even when the rest of the title follows title case rules.

Another capitalization rule you might need when describing research experiments is that both elements of spelled-out numbers or simple fractions should be capitalized in title case:

Lastly, no matter your personal preference, make sure you always write the titles of books and articles exactly as they are written on the original document/in the original version, even if they do not seem to follow common capitalization rules.

Correct Capitalization in Your Title with Professional Editing    

If you are even more unsure now how to capitalize your title or find the author instructions of your target journal confusing (which can happen, since those sets of rules have often grown organically over a long period of time and, as a result, can lack consistency), then you might want to make use of professional English proofreading services , including paper editing services —your professional academic editor will figure such details out for you and make sure your manuscript is in the correct format before submission.

If you need more input on how to write and perfect the other parts of your manuscript, then head over to the Wordvice academic resources website where we have many more resources for you.

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Article Title

• Capitalize first word of title, subtitle, proper nouns
• example:  Toughing it out at Harvard: The making of a woman MBA

Book & E-book Title

• example :  Student cheating and plagiarism in the Internet era: A wake-up call

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• example :  On the fourfold root of the principle of sufficient reason

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• example :  How do we read? Let’s count the ways: Comparing digital, audio, and print-only readers

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• Capitalize All Major Words
• example :  Business and Economics Journal

Website & Webpage Title

• example :  Foods that can cause food poisoning

Work of Art Title

• example :  Girl with a pearl earring

Italics rule of thumb:

If there is only one title in the citation, it will be italicized. When there are two, such as a journal publication title and an article title, the publication title is italicized (it has many articles in it).

Tips on alphabetizing in the list of References: 1) If a title begins with numerals, alphabetize the entry in the reference list as though the number were spelled out. Example: 7 would be alphabetized as if it were “Seven.” 2) If a title is the first element in your citation and it begins with an article (A, An, The), skip the article and alphabetize the first significant word of the title. Example: A Toast, would be placed after the name Stewart, B. A. in your reference list, not up where an “A” would be alphabetized.

Content adapted from University of Maryland Global Campus, "APA 7th Edition Citation Examples: Titles" .

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Capitalisation and Special Fonts in PhD Theses

Posted by Rene Tetzner | Nov 9, 2021 | PhD Success | 0 |

6.2 Capitalisation and Special Fonts: Order or Chaos?

It may seem incredible that something as simple as the use of capital letters and special fonts can so easily become complex and problematic when the primary purpose of both these features in academic and scientific writing tends to be clarification. The fact is, however, that capitalisation and special fonts can potentially cause as much confusion as they attempt to resolve, especially if they are used both extensively and inconsistently. Different disciplines and fields tend to employ capitalisation and special fonts in particular ways, some of them using these features far more than others, so do check university and department guidelines to see if any advice is offered regarding the use of capitalisation and special fonts in your thesis. Whatever guidelines you are following, however, it is essential to keep in mind that the overuse or unnecessary use of capitals and special fonts in any thesis can create an impression of clutter, become distracting for the reader and defeat the purpose of using these elements in the first place, and this is the case even when they are used consistently; when they are used inconsistently, chaos can be the most pronounced result. Generally speaking, keeping the use of capitalisation and special fonts to a minimum is good practice, then, as is using these features in a logical and organised fashion and with enough consistency to allow them to emphasise and distinguish precisely what they should.

6.2.1 Capitalisation for Names, Titles and Other Elements

The use of an initial capital letter on the first word of a sentence to indicate the beginning of the sentence is straightforward and rarely presents problems for authors. An initial capital is sometimes used after a colon as well, although, strictly speaking, a colon does not end a sentence or indicate a new one, so in British English a lowercase letter generally follows a colon, but in American English a capital can be used in this position if the colon introduces what can be read as a complete sentence. When a colon introduces a list, a quotation or similar material, a capital often follows in both kinds of English; the use of capitalisation in such situations tends to depend on the nature of the material and the preferences of the author (on punctuation in relation to lists, see Section 5.5.2, and in relation to quotations, Chapter 8). University and department guidelines rarely provide much detailed advice on the use of capitals, but when they do they will usually focus on two categories of titles: the titles and headings for the thesis itself, and the titles of any books, journals, essays, chapters, web sites, poems, plays and so on that are mentioned in the thesis. The first will usually be associated with the structure of a thesis, while the second will generally be treated in conjunction with the referencing style required. Sometimes one system of capitalisation will apply to both categories and all titles, but such uniform treatment is not the case as often as might be expected, so special care should always be taken to notice any different requirements for different types and locations of titles and headings.

With regard to the titles and headings of the thesis itself, capitals may be required, for instance, only for the initial letter of the thesis title and any proper nouns in the title – ‘A case study of Charlotte Smith: poet and novelist’ – or initial capitals may be needed on all main words in the title: ‘A Case Study of Charlotte Smith: Poet and Novelist.’ A capital may have to appear at the beginning of a subtitle following a colon, en dash or em dash – ‘A case study of Charlotte Smith: Poet and novelist’ – or the subtitle may not use capitals at all although the first part of the title uses them on all main words: ‘A Case Study of Charlotte Smith: poet and novelist.’ Occasionally, block capitals (with no lowercase letters at all) are used for the main title. The pattern of capitalisation used for the title of the thesis may also apply to some or all of the chapter titles and even to the headings and subheadings used to structure and divide the chapters. If a numbered system of headings is used, the same pattern of capitalisation might be used on all heading levels, but using different patterns of capitalisation for different heading levels is an effective way of distinguishing the levels of unnumbered headings as long as all headings of a single level use the exact same pattern of capitalisation and each level’s pattern is distinct from that of others (see also Section 6.1 above). The pattern(s) of capitalisation you choose for the titles and headings in your thesis should meet all university and department requirements and help clarify the structure of your thesis and its sections.

As I mentioned above, the pattern of capitalisation used for the title of a thesis can also apply to the titles of any sources cited in the thesis or a different pattern may be required for recording those sources. The capitalisation of book titles can vary from that of journal titles, and the capitalisation of article and chapter titles within the same style are often different again: initial capitalisation of all main words in a title is more common on journal and book titles, for instance, than on article and chapter titles, which often use an initial capital only on the first word and proper nouns. The pattern should always be consistent for each type of title, which means that the different patterns of capitalisation actually used in titles as they appear in the sources themselves should not be retained. Retaining the capitalisation of titles found in sources will result in variations in the capitalisation patterns of similar titles recorded in a thesis, and although this may be a sign of scrupulous attention to the originals, it will connect and distinguish titles inappropriately and come across as inconsistent to readers; it will, in short, undermine part of the reason for using distinct and consistent patterns of capitalisation in the first place. An exception is presented by titles in foreign languages: while they can observe the capitalisation patterns used for English titles in a thesis, different rules often apply (for more information on using foreign languages, see Butcher et al., 2006, Section 6.6, pp.246–247 and Appendices 5, 7, 9 and 10; the Chicago Manual of Style , 2003, Chapter 10; Ritter, 2005, Chapter 12). Whatever patterns of capitalisation you use for the titles of the sources you cite, they should effectively mark titles as titles, be consistent within each category (books, articles etc.) and, when necessary, consistently distinct between them.

Capitals are also used to distinguish and emphasise proper nouns or names, which can be straightforward, but such capitalisation often depends on a word’s role and position in a sentence, so the use of capitals can vary on that basis. It is usually simple to determine when to use initial capitals on personal names: ‘Tom Jones’ and ‘Sally Smith,’ for instance, should definitely bear initial capitals. However, certain proper nouns can present greater challenges because capitals are often used on them to distinguish the specific uses of such nouns from their more general uses, and the capitalisation of other words associated with proper nouns varies accordingly. It is therefore imperative that initial capitals be used appropriately and consistently, which can prove somewhat complicated at times. Personal titles and ranks should be capitalised if they accompany a name, for example, and especially when they appear immediately before the name, so the ‘king’ in ‘King George’ should bear a capital, but not the ‘king’ in ‘the king of England,’ and the same principle applies in the following cases: ‘Prime Minister Trudeau,’ but ‘the prime minister,’ ‘Professor Taylor,’ but ‘a professor of mathematics,’ ‘Earl Henry of Huntingdon,’ but ‘the earl of Huntington’ and ‘Pope Francis,’ but ‘the pope.’ When a rank or title is used alone as a name, it usually bears an initial capital – ‘Hello, Father’ and ‘Dear Pope’ – and initial capitals should also be used when referring to an honour, degree or award (‘the Scotiabank Giller Prize’ and ‘Bachelor of Arts’), though for degrees, abbreviations consisting of all capitals (BA) or a combination of capitals and lowercase letters (PhD) with or without full stops (‘B.A.’ and ‘Ph.D.’ are also acceptable) are often used (see Section 6.3).

Religious names and terminology are often capitalised, but not always, and you may choose for your own reasons (if your university, department and thesis committee allow it) to use lowercase letters for religious terms that are usually capitalised in English. Conventionally speaking, however, all references to a monotheistic deity should appear with an initial capital: ‘God,’ ‘Allah,’ ‘the Trinity’ and ‘the Lord.’ Although pronouns used for the deity can be capitalised (God in His wisdom), and in complex theological discussions this distinction can be helpful, this practice is not necessary, and in most cases the text is much tidier without it. For the gods and goddesses of polytheistic religions, only proper names should be capitalised: ‘the god of love’ and ‘Isis, protector of the dead.’ Capitalisation of sacred or religious rites is not uniform, so ‘compline’ is fine, but so is ‘Matins,’ and the same is the case with ‘a mass’ and ‘the Mass’; consistency in usage within your thesis is the goal in such instances. ‘Catholic,’ ‘Protestant,’ ‘Muslim’ and the like are normally capitalised, and so are ‘church’ and ‘cathedral’ when they refer to a specific church or church building – ‘the Catholic Church’ and ‘Worcester Cathedral’ – but not on their own (‘the church’ and ‘the cathedral’) except in specific historical contexts (‘the Church’ meaning ‘the Catholic Church’ in the Middle Ages, for instance). Similarly, ‘the Bible’ and ‘the Koran’ use capitals, but ‘biblical’ does not, and the word ‘prophet’ bears an initial capital when it refers to Muhammad (the Prophet), but not when it is used more generally (e.g., ‘a biblical prophet’).

Political terms such as ‘Democrat’ and ‘Republican’ or ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ have rather specific meanings when capitalised, while ‘Commons,’ ‘House’ and similar political words require capitalisation to avoid ambiguity, but there is no need to capitalise ‘parliament’ because there is very little potential for confusion. The names of other institutions and organisations should also bear initial capitals – ‘the World Health Organization,’ ‘the British Library’ and ‘the Ford Motor Company’ – as should trademark or proprietary names such as ‘Camaro,’ ‘Hoover’ and ‘Xerox,’ with which special care should be taken, as generic terms are often more appropriate (‘muscle car,’ for instance, ‘vacuum cleaner’ and ‘photocopier’). If a trade name is used as a verb, it should not be capitalised: ‘I hoovered the carpet.’ Finally, the names of schools, colleges, universities and movements should use initial capitals: ‘St Michael’s University School,’ ‘York University,’ ‘the Group of Seven’ and ‘Romanticism’ (with ‘Romantic’ referring to a movement in art and literature and thus conveying a meaning very different from that of ‘romantic’).

Geographical locations, if specific, should bear initial capitals, as should any generic terms that are actually part of the name – ‘Canada,’ ‘New York City’ (but ‘the city of St John’s’) and ‘Lake Huron and Lake Erie’ (but ‘the lakes Huron and Erie’). The capitalisation of compass directions varies, but these elements usually only bear capitals if they indicate a recognised entity, whether cultural or political: ‘Northern Ireland’ and ‘the Middle East’ but usually ‘the northern United States’ and ‘southern Canada.’ For postal codes including letters, capitals are used (A6J 3H8). The names for astronomical entities are a little different, with ‘the Milky Way’ using capitals, but not ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ except (especially in specifically astronomical contexts) to distinguish ‘the Sun and Moon’ of the earth’s solar system from other suns and moons. The names of days, months, festivals, holidays and historical and geological periods are generally capitalised – ‘Thursday,’ ‘November,’ ‘the Chinese New Year,’ ‘Thanksgiving,’ ‘Ramadan,’ ‘the Renaissance,’ ‘the Stone Age’ and ‘the Middle Ages’ – but not always (e.g., ‘the medieval period’). For eras such as AD ( Anno Domini ) and BC (Before Christ), capitals are used, as they are for similar abbreviations (see Section 6.3 below), but the names of modern periods, such as ‘the age of steam’ or ‘the space age’ often do not use capitals, and the same is the case with the names of seasons – ‘winter’ and ‘spring’ – unless they are personified (e.g., ‘the north wind is the breath of Winter’). When personified, many other words (‘Liberty’ is a good example) that would normally appear entirely in lowercase letters are also given an initial capital.

The names of major historical events (catastrophes, exhibitions, wars, treaties, councils etc.) should use initial capitals: ‘the Great Famine,’ ‘the First World War,’ ‘the Gunpowder Plot,’ ‘the Council of Nicaea,’ ‘the Reformation’ and ‘the Crucifixion,’ with the initial capitals distinguishing the last two, as instructive examples, from the common and more generic terms ‘reformation’ and ‘crucifixion.’ The names of people and languages and the adjectives derived from them are similarly capitalised in English – ‘Canadians,’ ‘a Torontonian,’ ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘Irish’ – but with considerably inconsistency: ‘Americanise’ is the standard form, for instance, but so is ‘anglicise,’ and ‘Roman’ is capitalised when referring to numerals, but not when referring to ‘roman font’ (the capital in such cases sometimes indicates a closer relationship with the originating nationality, but not always, as ‘Roman’ versus ‘roman’ in my last example demonstrates). The same is the case with words derived from personal names such as ‘Chaucerian,’ ‘Shakespearean’ or ‘Platonic,’ with capitalisation used frequently but not always and generally varying the meaning when it is: the adjective in ‘a Platonic dialogue’ means something very different from that in ‘platonic love.’ Scientific units derived from names do not use initial capitals – ‘a watt’ and ‘a joule’ – but compound terms for scientific laws, tests and names generally retain the initial capital(s) on the personal name part: ‘the Mann–Whitney test,’ ‘Murphy’s law’ and ‘Halley’s comet.’ In biological nomenclature, the Latin names of genera bear an initial capital, but species names do not, as in Thymus vulgaris (thyme).

Specific building names are capitalised – ‘the Eiffel Tower’ and ‘the Dominion Building’ – but not generic ones: ‘the tower’ and ‘a skyscraper.’ Similarly, ‘the ship’ and ‘an airplane’ do not use capitals, but the names of ships and planes should appear with initial capitals – ‘the Spirit of St Louis ,’ ‘a Cessna Skyhawk’ and ‘the Golden Hinde ’ (as these examples show, the individual names of ships and planes use italic font as well, on which see Section 6.2.2 below). Names including a number also tend to be capitalised (e.g., ‘Scene 2,’ ‘Flight 423’ and ‘Route 66’) and cross references can be as well, as those in this document are with an initial capital on ‘Chapter’ and ‘Section,’ or they can appear in block capitals (as in ‘CHAPTER 3’). Block capitals of this sort can be used for a number of other purposes as well: to emphasise words or short phrases, though this should be done very selectively to avoid overuse; to highlight one or more words at the beginning of chapters and, more rarely, sections; to transcribe material that is itself entirely in capitals (from Roman inscriptions or coins, for instance); to record manuscript sigla (London, British Library MS Royal 6.C.XIV) and other information including Roman numerals; and to indicate character names in passages quoted from a play or author surnames in a bibliography or reference list, in which case author–date parenthetical references are occasionally set in block capitals to match the format of the list.

A useful approach for avoiding the overuse of capitalisation and thus allowing it to achieve its purpose effectively is to use a lowercase initial letter instead when referring back to a compound proper name that was introduced in initial capitals: ‘the University of Toronto,’ for instance, might be referred to in the next sentence as ‘the university,’ ‘the Second World War’ in the next paragraph as ‘the war’ and ‘the Great Famine’ as ‘the famine’ in subsequent mentions. As long as there is no potential for ambiguity and this approach does not conflict with any guidelines you need to follow, it can work well, but if, for instance, two wars or two famines are discussed, it is best to use the full name in each instance for clarity or to devise a system of abbreviation that distinguishes the two (see Section 6.3 below). Generally speaking, any system of capitalisation devised for such purposes that is not cumbersome and serves to emphasise the words and concepts requiring emphasis is acceptable as long as it is used both logically and consistently throughout a thesis.

Why PhD Success?

To Graduate Successfully

This article is part of a book called "PhD Success" which focuses on the writing process of a phd thesis, with its aim being to provide sound practices and principles for reporting and formatting in text the methods, results and discussion of even the most innovative and unique research in ways that are clear, correct, professional and persuasive.

The assumption of the book is that the doctoral candidate reading it is both eager to write and more than capable of doing so, but nonetheless requires information and guidance on exactly what he or she should be writing and how best to approach the task. The basic components of a doctoral thesis are outlined and described, as are the elements of complete and accurate scholarly references, and detailed descriptions of writing practices are clarified through the use of numerous examples.

The basic components of a doctoral thesis are outlined and described, as are the elements of complete and accurate scholarly references, and detailed descriptions of writing practices are clarified through the use of numerous examples. PhD Success provides guidance for students familiar with English and the procedures of English universities, but it also acknowledges that many theses in the English language are now written by candidates whose first language is not English, so it carefully explains the scholarly styles, conventions and standards expected of a successful doctoral thesis in the English language.

Individual chapters of this book address reflective and critical writing early in the thesis process; working successfully with thesis supervisors and benefiting from commentary and criticism; drafting and revising effective thesis chapters and developing an academic or scientific argument; writing and formatting a thesis in clear and correct scholarly English; citing, quoting and documenting sources thoroughly and accurately; and preparing for and excelling in thesis meetings and examinations. 

Completing a doctoral thesis successfully requires long and penetrating thought, intellectual rigour and creativity, original research and sound methods (whether established or innovative), precision in recording detail and a wide-ranging thoroughness, as much perseverance and mental toughness as insight and brilliance, and, no matter how many helpful writing guides are consulted, a great deal of hard work over a significant period of time. Writing a thesis can be an enjoyable as well as a challenging experience, however, and even if it is not always so, the personal and professional rewards of achieving such an enormous goal are considerable, as all doctoral candidates no doubt realise, and will last a great deal longer than any problems that may be encountered during the process.

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Rene Tetzner

Rene Tetzner's blog posts dedicated to academic writing. Although the focus is on How To Write a Doctoral Thesis, many other important aspects of research-based writing, editing and publishing are addressed in helpful detail.

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Capitalization Of Titles And Headings — The 3 Methods

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When crafting your dissertation , capitalizing chapter and section headings can be approached in three distinct ways: only the first word is capitalized, all words of significance are capitalized, or a blend of the two methods. The choice of method greatly impacts the presentation and readability of academic writing . This article is designed to guide you through these three capitalization strategies.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 Capitalization of Titles – In a Nutshell
• 2 Definition: Capitalization of titles and headings
• 3 Capitalization of titles and headings: The methods
• 4 Capitalization titles and headings: Proper nouns
• 5 Consistency is important
• 6 Why consistency is important

Capitalization of Titles – In a Nutshell

Depending on the style of capitalization of titles, you may capitalize all significant words or only the first word. If you choose the first option, then you should capitalize every word except the following:

• Articles – an, a, the, etc.
• Prepositions – of, in, on, etc.
• Coordinating conjunctions – but, or, and, etc.
• The word “to.”

Also, ensure you understand what the Style Guides, like APA style , MLA and Chicago style , s ay about capitalization before writing your paper.

Definition: Capitalization of titles and headings

The three main methods of capitalizing headings include sentence case, title case, and a combination of both sentence and title case.  All three have specific guidelines you should follow when using them.

It is essential to look out for any inconsistencies while using the different styles of capitalization of titles for your academic writing. Hence, always remain consistent to ensure your audience can easily follow through with your content. You must also understand that all proper nouns appearing in any headings should be capitalized.

Capitalization of titles and headings: The methods

Here is an in-depth look at the capitalization of titles methods you can use:

Method 1 – Title case

When using the title Case, you capitalize every significant word. This capitalization of titles style helps you understand what a powerful word is and what is not.

Generally, significant words are pronouns , nouns, adjectives , adverbs, and verbs; therefore, do not capitalize any prepositions , articles , or conjunctions .

Here is a table that gives examples of this method of capitalization of titles:

Method 2 – Sentence case

If you choose to use the sentence case, you only capitalize the first words. The table below shows examples of this capitalization of titles method:

Method 3 – Capitalization varies by methods

You can combine the two methods above in this capitalization of titles method. Here, you choose when to use a title case and when to format it with the sentence case. For example, you can use method 1 for chapter headings and 2 for lower-level headings and titles.

The table below shows examples of this method of capitalization of titles:

Capitalization titles and headings: Proper nouns

However, theories, models or schools of thought are not proper nouns, so you should not capitalize them in any of the styles of capitalization of titles. It would help if you only capitalized the scholar’s name when necessary.

Wrong: The Realist School

Correct: the realist school

Despite the capitalization of titles style, ensure you follow the grammar rules for using proper nouns. These constitute the name of organizations, people, and places and are always capitalized in headings, regardless of the writing style. For example, when writing the names of a country, like England, you must capitalize it regardless of your writing style.

Consistency is important

If you are wondering which option you should use for the capitalization of titles, we recommend using the title or sentence case for your headings. Both, title and sentence cases, are easier to follow and would not require you to make many choices of the words you should capitalize and those you should not. Additionally, using many capital letters may make it difficult to read the texts and follow through, especially when your headings are longer.

You should also remember the specific requirements for writing headings for the APA, MLA , and Chicago styles. This will ensure you use the method of capitalization of titles as required.

Why consistency is important

Whatever option you choose for capitalization of titles and headings, remember that consistency throughout your document matters. This applies to your main chapter headings and the supporting materials, including appendices , acknowledgements, abstracts, figures and tables, reference lists, or table of contents.

To remove any inconsistency that might result from your preferred capitalization of titles style, carefully analyze your take on the contents. You can use Microsoft Word to automatically generate your list and see all your headings in a list. Looking through headings together without any distractions will pinpoint any anomalies. Also, ensure that other components of your dissertation format and layout are consistent and relate to your headings.

What words should you capitalize when writing a thesis title?

Because a thesis statement is an argument or claims you write to defend your research, do not capitalize it. Only capitalize the words you should capitalize according to the English Grammar.

What can you capitalize on an MLA paper?

All the first words of titles and subtitles are capitalized in MLA format. For example, The Future Fair: A Fair for Everybody.

What is the difference in capitalization of titles and headings between APA, MLA, and Chicago?

In Chicago and MLA, all prepositions appear lowercase, regardless of length. However, in APA style, capitalize all four letters and longer words, even if they are prepositions.

How do you capitalize headings in the AP Stylebook?

Most people use the AP Stylebook to write media, journalism, and corporate communication content. In this capitalization of titles method, capitalize all words of four and more letters, even when they are prepositions.

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Making title capitalization easy. Automatically capitalize and case convert to Title Case (in AP, APA, Chicago, MLA, BB, AMA ) , sentence case, UPPERCASE, lowercase, and more.

What is capitalize my title.

Capitalize My Title is an easy, smart title capitalization tool that uses title capitalization rules published by leading professional organizations to ensure your titles and headlines are capitalized correctly. We analyze your titles and headlines using a combination of logic and artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning to determine which words in your heading should be capitalized.

Join our free writing community on Skool .

How to use capitalize my title.

• Select your title capitalization style above by clicking on a tab. If you have questions, read our title capitalization rules below.
• Enter your title in the text box.
• Watch your title convert case and be automatically capitalized!
• If you want to, you can press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the Copy button next to the text box to copy the text to your clipboard.
• Capitalize your next title.

Bonus: We have some great shortcuts to make your life easier.

Quick Links: How to Use Capitalize My Title , What to Capitalize in a Title ( What Is Title Case , What Is Sentence Case ), Title Capitalization Rules by Style ( APA , Chicago , AP , MLA , BB , AMA , NY Times , Wikipedia )

Case Converter Options

You have multiple options to capitalize and change the case of your titles, headlines, song titles, book titles, email subjects, and more. Below is a description of the ways you can use our case converter.

The top tabs allow you to select which style of capitalization you want to use. You can learn more in the Title Capitalization Rules by Style section.

• APA : Capitalize using the APA style guide.
• Chicago : Capitalize using the Chicago Manual of Style capitalization rules.
• AP : Use the Associated Press Stylebook capitalization guidelines.
• MLA : Use the MLA Handbook title capitalization rules.
• BB: Use the Bluebook title capitalization rules.
• AMA: Use the AMA Manual of Style capitalization rules.
• NY Times: Use the NY Times style guidelines.
• Wikipedia: Use Wikipedia’s capitalization rules.
• Email: Use proper capitalization rules for email.

Bottom Buttons

The buttons at the bottom let you choose specific case conversion options for the various styles.

• Title Case: Capitalize only the words that should be capitalized according to the top tab style guide.
• Sentence Case : Capitalize only the first word of each sentence.
• Uppercase: Convert your title from lowercase to uppercase .
• Lowercase: Convert your title from uppercase to lowercase .
• First Letter / Proper Case: Capitalize the first letter of every word.
• Alt Case: Capitalize every other letter of your text starting with the first letter being capitalized.
• Toggle Case: Change the case of every letter in your string. Similar to the Microsoft Word feature.

Other Options

• Straight quotes: Curly quotes (“,”,‘,’) are used in good typography . If you need to use straight quotes, enable this feature.
• Get Headline Score/Get Email Subject Score: Find out how strong your headline or email subject is by using our convenient tools.

Common Case Converter Uses

Title case converter.

Quickly convert your title or text to title case by simply clicking the “Title Case” button in the tool above.

Sentence case converter

Quickly convert your title or text to sentence case by simply clicking the “Sentence case” button in the tool above.

Uppercase to lowercase converter

If you left caps lock on accidentally, you can quickly convert your title from uppercase to lowercase by selecting the “lower” button above. This will uncapitalize your text. You can also use this tool to do it automatically.

Lowercase to uppercase converter

Alternatively, you can use our tool to convert text from lowercase to uppercase by clicking the “UPPER” button. You can also use this tool to do it automatically.

Uppercase to title case converter

If you want to change your title from uppercase to title case, you can select the “Title Case” button above.

All caps converter

You can quickly convert your text or title to all caps by selecting the “UPPER” button on the tool. This will convert your text to uppercase.

What to Capitalize in a Title

Understanding what to capitalize in a title is important to make sure that your titles and headlines look correct. If you’re confused about what words to capitalize in a title or headline, we recommend using our title capitalization tool above, but if you want specific capitalization rules, they are as follows.

First, it is important to note that there are four main title capitalization styles: Chicago style, APA style, MLA style, and AP style . Each of these capitalization styles has slightly different rules for which words are capitalized and each of these styles can be written using title case capitalization or sentence case capitalization.

What Is Title Case Capitalization?

Title case is the most common form of title and headline capitalization and is found in all four major title capitalization styles. Title case is also commonly used for book titles, movies titles, song names, plays, and other works.

In general, the following capitalization rules apply across the four styles in title case:

• Capitalize the first word in the title
• Capitalize the last word in the title
• Capitalize the important words in the title

Important words in that last bullet generally refer to:

• Adjectives (tiny, large, etc.)
• Adverbs (quietly, smoothly, etc.)
• Nouns (tablet, kitchen, book)
• Pronouns (they, she, he)
• Subordinating conjunctions (when fewer than 5 letters)
• Verbs (write, type, create)

Title case is the most common title capitalization for book titles, headlines, articles titles, etc. When multiple letters in a title need to be capitalized, use title case capitalization.

Words Not Capitalized in Title Case

While the above words are generally capitalized in titles regardless of style, there are some words that are generally not capitalized when using title case. Again, these will depend on the specific style you choose (see Title Capitalization Rules by Style section). These include short words and conjunctions:

• Articles (a, an, the)
• Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, for)
• Short (fewer than 4 letters)
• Prepositions (at, by, to, etc.)

What Is Sentence Case?

The other major type of title capitalization standard is sentence case. Sentence case simply means you capitalize the first letter of a sentence, proper nouns , and nothing else as opposed to capitalizing almost every first letter in title case. It is the same across all of the four styles.

For more specific title capitalization rules, you can see the following sections which cover each style of title capitalization rules or check out our FAQs for common capitalization questions. Our tool lets you convert the case of your text easily into sentence case.

Title Capitalization Rules by Style

Chicago manual of style 17th edition capitalization rules.

Chicago Style is one of the most used and respected headline capitalization methods used in journalism. The rules are fairly standard for title case:

• Capitalize the first and the last word.
• Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as “play with”), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
• Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions (regardless of length).
• Lowercase the second word after a hyphenated prefix (e.g., Mid-, Anti-, Super-, etc.) in compound modifiers (e.g., Mid-year, Anti-hero, etc.).
• Lowercase the ‘to’ in an infinitive (e.g., I Want to Play Guitar ).

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition Capitalization Rules

Making sure you have the right capitalization for APA headings is crucial for scholarly articles. The following rules apply to APA headline capitalization and title capitalization:

• Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading
• Capitalize all major words (nouns, verbs including phrasal verbs such as “play with”, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns) in the title/heading, including the second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., Self-Report not Self-report)
• Capitalize all words of four letters or more.

Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook, 9th Edition Capitalization Rules

Making sure you have the right capitalization for MLA headings is crucial for scholarly articles. The following rules apply to MLA headings:

• Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading.
• Capitalize all major words (nouns, verbs including phrasal verbs such as “play with”, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns) in the title/heading, including the second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., Self-Report not Self-report).
• Do not capitalize articles, prepositions (regardless of length), and coordinating conjunctions.
• Do not capitalize ‘to’ in infinitives (e.g., I Want to Play Guitar ).

The Associated Press (AP) 2020 Edition Stylebook Capitalization Rules

AP style capitalization is mainly used by writers for the Associated Press but is also used widely throughout journalism. The capitalization rules are as follows:

• Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
• Lowercase the second word in a compound modifier (e.g., Mid-year or On-site).
• Capitalize words with four or more letters (including conjunctions and prepositions).
• Capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word ( new as of 4/25/23 ).
• Capitalize the ‘to’ in an infinitive (e.g., I Want To Play Guitar ).

Bluebook 21st Edition Capitalization Rules

Bluebook style capitalization is mainly used by lawyers. The capitalization rules are as follows:

• Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions of four letters or fewer.
• Lowercase “to” in the infinitive (though not defined in the stylebook).

American Medical Association ( AMA) Manual of Style 11th Edition Capitalization Rules

AMA style capitalization is mainly used in the scientific community. The capitalization rules are as follows:

• Capitalize the first and the last word of titles and subtitles.
• Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as “play with”), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions (major words).
• Lowercase “to” in the infinitive.
• Lowercase the second word in a hyphenated compound when it is a prefix or suffix (e.g., “Anti-itch”,”world-wide”) or part of a single word.
• Capitalize the second word in a hyphenated compound if both words are equal and not suffices or prefixes (e.g., “Cost-Benefit”)
• Capitalize the first non-Greek letter after a lowercase Greek letter (e.g., “ω-Bromohexanoic”)
• Lowercase the first non-Greek letter after a capital Greek letter (e.g., “Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol”)
• Capitalize the genus but not the species epithet

NY Times Style Capitalization Rules

NY Times style capitalization is mainly used by writers for the NY Times but is also used widely throughout journalism. The capitalization rules are as follows:

• Capitalize major words, e.g. nouns, pronouns, verbs.

Wikipedia Style Capitalization Rules

Wikipedia editors must follow certain capitalization rules for any posts to Wikipedia. The capitalization rules are as follows:

• Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
• Lowercase indefinite and definite articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
• Prepositions that contain five letters or more.
• The word “to” in infinitives.
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Modern Languages Association (MLA) style, 7th edition

To our knowledge, the MLA style does not distinguish between titles for articles as a whole and dissertations. As such, we have based this style guide on the requirements for titles set out by the MLA style guide, 7th edition. The main considerations when writing your dissertation title from a style perspective are: (a) capitalisation in titles and subtitles; (b) when not to capitalise in titles and subtitles; (c) italics; (d) quotation marks; and (e) hyphenated compounds. Each of these considerations is present below with associated examples:

Capitalisation in titles and subtitles

The first letter of a title and subtitle should be capitalised. A subtitle should be separated using a colon or hyphen and then a single space (i.e., Title: Subtitle OR Title — Subtitle). If a subtitle follows a title that ends with a question mark, a colon should not follow the colon (i.e., Title? Subtitle NOT Title?: Subtitle). Also, the last word of the title and subtitle should be capitalised [examples in bold below]

M odernisms and Medievalisms, Old and N ew

B lue O rder: W allace Stevens's Jazz E xperiments

R eading R enunciation: L aura Riding and the End of P oetry

P rivate Worlds, Public M inds: W oolf, Russell and Photographic V ision

Subordinating conjunctions (e.g., after, although, because, before, until, when, where) [bold below] :

The Eight Animals in Shakespeare; or, Before the Human

All adjectives , adverbs , nouns , pronouns , and verbs should be capitalized, in addition to all words that have four letters or more.

When not to capitalise in titles and subtitles

Do not capitalise articles (i.e., a, an, the) unless they are the first letter of a title or subtitle [bold below] :

"Vertebrae on Which a Seraph Might Make Music"

Rich Woman, Poor Woman: Toward an Anthropology of the Nineteenth-Century Marriage Plot

Reading Renunciation: Laura Riding and the End of Poetry

Do not capitalise prepositions (e.g., as, at, by, in, of, off, on, to, up) [bold below] :

Eliot's Last Laugh: The Dissolution of Satire in The Waste Land

The Enfreakment of America's Jeune Fille � Marier : Lily Bart to Carrie Bradshaw

Do not capitalise coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, for, nor) [bold below] :

Modernisms and Medievalisms, Old and New

Math for Math's Sake: Non-Euclidean Geometry, Aestheticism, and Flatland

Do not capitalise the word to in infinitives (e.g., to Interpret, to Provide)

Italics should be used for names of books, poems that are published as books, journals, magazines, newspapers, operas, paintings, plays, sculptures, and Web sites (for a complete list, refer to 3.6.2 (p.88) of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , 7th edition) [bold below] :

On Homelands and Home-Making: Rebecca Goldstein's Mazel

Stumbling into Crossfire: William Carlos Williams, Partisan Review , and the Left in the 1930s

Trauma and Cure in Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier

Quotation marks

Quotation marks should be used for the titles of articles (i.e. articles of encyclopaedias, journals, and magazines), chapters and essays in books, lectures, poems, radio and television episodes, songs, stories, and Web pages. Quotations marks should be double (i.e., "..." ), not single (i.e., '...' ) [bold below] :

" A Few Cool Years after These " : Midlife at Midcentury in Niedecker's Lyrics

Bottomless Surfaces: Saul Bellow's " Refreshed Phrenology "

Hyphenated compounds

When hyphenated compounds capitalised in titles, both words should be capitalised (e.g., Time-Based, Self-Regulation, Short-Term).

If the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , 7th edition, is not in your university library, it can be purchased on Amazon for around £15/US$12/CDN$26. It is a comprehensive guide to the MLA style.

Clements, J. (2009) Bottomless Surfaces: Saul Bellow's "Refreshed Phrenology", Journal of Modern Literature , 33(1): 75-91

Cohen, M.A. (2009) Stumbling into Crossfire: William Carlos Williams, Partisan Review, and the Left in the 1930s, Journal of Modern Literature , 32(2): 143-158.

Fisher, T. (2010) Reading Renunciation: Laura Riding and the End of Poetry, Journal of Modern Literature , 33(3): 1-19.

Savage, E. (2010) "A Few Cool Years after These": Midlife at Midcentury in Niedecker's Lyrics, Journal of Modern Literature , 33(3): 20-37.

DiCicco, L. (2010) The Enfreakment of America's Jeune Fille à Marier: Lily Bart to Carrie Bradshaw, Journal of Modern Literature , 33(3): 78-98.

Henderson, A. (2010) Math for Math's Sake: Non-Euclidean Geometry, Aestheticism, and Flatland, PMLA , 124(2): 455-471.

Hoffman, K.A. (2010) ?Vertebrae on Which a Seraph Might Make Music?, PMLA , 125(1): 152-160.

Keane, D. (2009) Modernisms and Medievalisms, Old and New, Journal of Modern Literature , 32(2): 185-192.

Lehman, R.S. (2009) Eliot's Last Laugh: The Dissolution of Satire in The Waste Land, Journal of Modern Literature , 32(2): 65-79.

Mackin, T. (2010) Private Worlds, Public Minds: Woolf, Russell and Photographic Vision, Journal of Modern Literature , 33(3): 112-130.

Meyers, H. (2010) On Homelands and Home-Making: Rebecca Goldstein's Mazel, Journal of Modern Literature , 33(3): 131-141.

Michie, E.B. (2009) Rich Woman, Poor Woman: Toward an Anthropology of the Nineteenth-Century Marriage Plot, PMLA , 124(2): 421-436.

Pinkerton, S. (2008) Trauma and Cure in Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier, Journal of Modern Literature , 32(1): 1-12.

Shannon, L. (2009) The Eight Animals in Shakespeare; or, Before the Human, PMLA , 124(2): 472-479.

Taylor, C.M. (2009) Blue Order: Wallace Stevens's Jazz Experiments, Journal of Modern Literature , 32(2): 100-117.