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  • Capitalization

Title Case: Capitalization of Titles, Headings, and Headlines

Neha Karve

Capitalize the first, last, and all major words in a book title, headline, or first-level heading. Major words are all words except articles ( a , an , the ), prepositions ( on , in , of , etc.), coordinating conjunctions ( and , or , but , etc.), and the word to . This capitalization style is called title case .

  • Title case: T he C urious I ncident of the D og in the N ight- T ime
  • Title case: T he S trange C ase of D r. J ekyll and M r. H yde

Capitalize lower-level headings using sentence case , in which you capitalize only the words you would normally capitalize in a sentence.

  • Sentence case: T he curious incident of the dog in the night-time
  • Sentence case: T he strange case of D r. J ekyll and M r. H yde

Style guides like the AP Stylebook , Chicago Manual of Style , APA Publication Manual , and MLA Handbook prescribe additional rules, discussed in this article.

Graphic titled "Title Case Capitalization." The left panel shows a bespectacled woman sitting on a human-sized, blocky letter "H," working on a tablet. The right panel lists rules and examples: Capitalize the first and last words; a word after a colon; all other words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (in, of, at, on, etc.), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, so, yet, for), and the word "to"; the first element and major words in a hyphenated term. Examples: (1)To the Lighthouse, (2) The Year of the Flood, (3) Of Mice and Men, (4) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, (5) Nineteen Eighty-Four, (6) Something to Answer For.

Title case is also called headline style or up style: you see it used in headings and titles of books, movies, TV shows, articles, and other works. Sentence case, also called sentence style or down style, is used for second-level headings and lower. News headlines have traditionally been capitalized using title case, although these days, sentence case is often used, especially online.

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).
  • Always lowercase the word to .
  • Capitalize the first element of a hyphenated term. Capitalize any subsequent elements only if they are major words.
  • Capitalize the first word of a subheading that appears after a colon.
  • Break a rule if you need to—for example, if a preposition is emphasized in a title, capitalize it.

Major words are all words except articles , prepositions , and coordinating conjunctions .

  • L ove in the T ime of C holera
  • T hree M en in a B oat
  • P ride and P rejudice
  • R equiem for a D ream
  • C atch M e I f Y ou C an
  • The P ortrait of a L ady
  • The W ay W e L ive N ow
  • The G irl W ho P layed with F ire
  • M en without W omen
  • The G round beneath H er F eet
  • E verything I s I lluminated

The first and last words of a title are always capitalized, no matter what they are.

  • A Clockwork Orange
  • T he Mill on the Floss
  • I n Search of Lost Time
  • T hrough a Glass Darkly
  • F rom Blood and Ash
  • B ut What If There’s No Chimney?
  • A nd Then There Were None
  • Something to Answer F or
  • Something to Believe I n
  • All We Dream O f
  • Where We Come F rom

It may not always be clear at first glance whether a word should be capitalized. Check what function it serves in the title.

  • Capitalize over as an adverb , but lowercase it as a preposition. Adverb: The Soup Boiled O ver Preposition: The Light o ver London

The word to is lowercased, regardless of what function it serves in the sentence (unless it is the first or last word).

  • Train t o Busan
  • Zero t o One: Notes on Startups, or How t o Build the Future
  • A Good Man Is Hard t o Find

In a hyphenated term, the first prefix or word is always capitalized, but the following words are capitalized only if they are major words.

  • The M an- E ater of Malgudi Eater is a noun and should be capitalized.
  • The Academy’s O ut- o f- U niform Procedure Lowercase of , which is a preposition, but capitalize uniform , a noun.
  • The S tep- b y- S tep Guide to Finding Fairies
  • The T hirty- N ine Steps
  • The A nti- I nflammatory Diet Cookbook
  • Originals: How N on- C onformists Move the World
  • The F ire- B reathing Dragon

Any subtitle or subheading that follows a colon is always capitalized.

  • Computer: A History of the Information Machine
  • The Lord of the Rings: T he Return of the King
  • The View from the Cheap Seats: S elected Nonfiction
  • A Memoir: O f Mermaids and Waterfalls

Break a rule if you must. If a word is emphasized in a title, capitalize it, even if it is not a major word.

  • How to Be the Go- T o Person in Your Organization
  • A Run- I n with Religion and Other True Stories

Capitalize all the words that make up a phrasal verb , even a word that is a preposition.

  • What to Do When You R un I nto Someone You Don’t Like
  • How to S et U p Your Spaceship’s AI
  • Don’t P ut O ff Being Happy

Be and is in a title

Verbs are major words and should be capitalized, including the be verb in all its forms: be , is , are , was , were .

  • There Will B e Blood
  • Tender I s the Night
  • Where the Wild Things A re
  • Then She W as Gone
  • Their Eyes W ere Watching God

Also capitalize the have and do verbs in all their forms: have , has , had , do , does , did .

  • The Heart H as Its Reasons
  • Owls D o Cry
  • What Katy Did
  • Inequality: What Can Be Done ?

That in a title

The word that is always a major word and should be capitalized.

  • Companies T hat Fleece Their Customers
  • The House T hat Jack Built

It and me in a title

Capitalize all pronouns , including it , my , me , we , our, you , he , his , she , her , they , them , and who .

  • How I t All Began
  • Some of M y Favorite Things
  • The Best W e Can Do
  • The General in H is Labyrinth
  • The Woman W ho Did

No and not in a title

Capitalize the words no and not (a determiner and an adverb) whenever these words appear in titles.

  • Beasts of N o Nation
  • Oranges Are N ot the Only Fruit

AP and APA style

The APA Publication Manual (used in academic editing, especially the social sciences) and the AP Stylebook (preferred in journalism, media, and corporate communication) both specify one major exception to the general rules :

Capitalize all words of four letters or more, even if they are prepositions.

  • One Flew O ver the Cuckoo’s Nest
  • The Girl Who Played W ith Fire
  • Men W ithout Women
  • The Ground B eneath Her Feet
  • So Far F rom God
  • Once U pon a Time in the West
  • Much Ado A bout Nothing
  • The Light B etween Oceans
  • The Cat Who Walks T hrough Walls
  • A Woman U nder the Influence
  • Three Billboards O utside Ebbing, Missouri
  • The World U ntil Yesterday
  • The Man i n the Brown Suit
  • The Wizard o f Oz
  • A Home f or Lunatics
  • The Woman o n the Beach

Rules for AP and APA style capitalization: Capitalize the first word; a word after a colon; all words four letters or longer; all other words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (in, of, at, etc.), and conjunctions (and, but, if, etc.) three letters or shorter; the first element and major words in a hyphenated term; the last word in AP style (but not in APA). Examples: (1) Gone With the Wind, (2) Of Human Bondage, (3) Volume One: The Real and the Unreal, (4) The Son-in-Law, (5) Something to Answer For (in AP style), (6) Something to Answer for (in APA style)

Thus, in APA and AP style, words four letters or longer are always capitalized, regardless of function. Note that the other general rules apply as usual. Capitalize any major words, even if they are three letters or shorter: be , has , had , do , did , me , who , my , etc.

  • We Should All B e Feminists
  • If I H ad Your Face
  • Marley and M e
  • The Man W ho Sold H is Ferrari

Another exception is that all conjunctions three letters or shorter are lowercased. Thus, in APA and AP style, lowercase not only the seven coordinating conjunctions ( and , or , but , nor , for , yet , so ) but also subordinating conjunctions up to three letters long (which pretty much boils down to the word if ).

  • Pride a nd Prejudice
  • I’d Tell You I Love You, b ut Then I’d Have to Kill You
  • Catch Me i f You Can

Also, do lowercase articles and any prepositions up to three letters long: a , an , the , for , in , of , to , etc.

  • The Bridge o n t he River Kwai
  • Stranger i n a Strange Land
  • The Catcher i n t he Rye
  • A House f or Mr. Biswas

Finally, in AP Style, the first and last words are capitalized as usual, regardless of length.

  • A n American Tragedy
  • T he Invisible Man
  • A s I Lay Dying
  • O f Human Bondage
  • O n the Waterfront
  • F or the Green Planet
  • These Times We Live I n

However, in APA style, the last word is capitalized only if it is a major word or longer than three letters.

  • Something to Answer f or
  • These Times We Live i n In APA style, lowercase prepositions, unless they are four letters or longer.

Chicago style

According to the Chicago Manual of Style , the conjunctions to be lowercased are and , or , nor , but , and for . All others are capitalized. Thus, the words yet and so are capitalized regardless of function. The word if is also always capitalized.

  • Sense a nd Sensibility
  • The Hobbit, o r There a nd Back Again
  • Though We Be Dead, Y et Our Day Will Come
  • Even I f We Break

Rules for Chicago style capitalization: Capitalize the first and last words; a word after a colon; all other words except "to" and "as," articles (a, an, the), prepositions (in, of, with, from, etc.), and five coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for); the first part of a hyphenated term, subsequent elements if major words, but lowercase these if first part is a prefix. Examples: (1) Gone with the Wind, (2) Of Human Bondage, (3) Volume One: The Unreal and the Real, (4) The Son-in-Law, (5) Something to Answer For

In a hyphenated phrase, if the first element is merely a prefix that could not stand by itself (e.g., anti- , pre- , non- ), don’t capitalize the second part.

  • The A nti- i nflammatory Diet Cookbook
  • The Thirty- N ine Steps The word thirty can stand by itself, so capitalize nine as well.

Remember to capitalize not just the first but also the last word of a title or heading, even if it is not a major word.

  • The Things We Believe I n Capitalize the last word, even a preposition.
  • Only One Way T hrough
  • It’s You I’m Dreaming O f

The MLA Handbook (used in academic writing for the humanities) specifies no exceptions to the general rules .

  • T hese T imes W e L ive I n
  • A H eartbreaking W ork of S taggering G enius
  • T he M oon I s a H arsh M istress

MLA-style capitalization rules: Capitalize the first and last words; a word after a colon; all other words except the word "to," articles (a, an, the), prepositions (in, of, between, from, etc.), and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, so, yet, for); the first element and major words in a hyphenated term. Examples: (1) Gone with the Wind, (2) Of Human Bondage, (3) Volume One: The Unreal and the Real, (4) The Son-in-Law, (5) Something to Answer For

Differences in AP, APA, Chicago, MLA rules

As you can see, style manuals differ in their guidelines on what qualifies as a “major” word worthy of capitalization in title case. Here’s a quick summary of the key differences between the popular styles.

In both AP and APA styles, capitalize prepositions four letters or longer. In Chicago and MLA , lowercase all prepositions, regardless of length.

  • APA, AP: The Girl F rom Mars Chicago, MLA: The Girl f rom Mars
  • APA, AP, Chicago, MLA: The Woman i n Red

Lowercase not just coordinating but also subordinating conjunctions shorter than four letters in AP and APA styles; capitalize all subordinating conjunctions in Chicago and MLA.

  • APA, AP: Isolate i f You Are Sick Chicago, MLA: Isolate I f You Are Sick

Capitalize the words yet and so in Chicago style. In the other styles, lowercase them when they are used as conjunctions, but capitalize when they are adverbs.

  • Chicago: Broke Y et Happy APA, AP, MLA: Broke y et Happy
  • Chicago, APA, AP, MLA: Am I Normal Y et?

Capitalize the last word of the title in AP, Chicago, and MLA styles even if it is not a major word; in APA, capitalize the last word only if it is a major word. (But remember that the APA Publication Manual considers all words four letters or longer major words.)

  • Chicago, MLA, AP: Something to Answer F or APA: Something to Answer f or
  • Chicago, MLA, APA, AP: The Places We Come F rom

In all four styles, capitalize the first word (whatever it may be), and lowercase articles.

  • APA, AP, Chicago, MLA: T he Girl Who Found a Dragon Egg

Sentence case

In sentence case, a title is written as a sentence would be: the first word and all proper nouns are capitalized. This capitalization style is generally used for headings that are second level or lower. These days, it is also increasingly being used for online news headlines.

  • C lear light of day
  • W e need to talk about K evin
  • T he quiet A merican

The first word of a subtitle or subheading that follows a colon is also capitalized.

  • Traveling with ghosts: A memoir
  • Understanding comics: T he invisible art

If a title begins with a numeral, lowercase the next word.

  • 27 b ooks to read before you die
  • P ractice guidelines for the pickling of pineapples: 2019 u pdate

Professional and social titles that precede a name are capitalized as well.

  • The island of D octor Moreau
  • The strange life of P resident Farley
  • The story of F ather Femy and his music

For more on which words to capitalize in a sentence, see this article on the rules of capitalization .

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In title case, all major words are capitalized.

In sentence case, only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.

The word it , which is a pronoun, is capitalized in title case.

The words we (a pronoun) and be (a verb) are capitalized in title case.

The word a , which is an article, is lowercased unless it is the first word of the title.

The words let (a verb) and me (a pronoun) are capitalized in title case.

The first word of a subtitle following a colon is capitalized in both title case and sentence case.

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Title Capitalization Rules

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Knowing which words to capitalize in a title can be hard. There are several different style guides in English that all have slightly different rules for title capitalization. Understanding what to capitalize in a title is important to make sure that your titles and headlines look correct. In this guide, we’ll explain the differences between the major styles and what words you should and shouldn’t capitalize.

Table of Contents

The Four Major Title Capitalization Style Guides

First, it is important to note that there are four main title capitalization styles:

  • Chicago 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 written using title case capitalization or sentence case capitalization. We’ll get to the nuances of each below.

The Easiest Way to Capitalize Your Titles With the Correct Rules

Before we get into the details of each type of title capitalization style, we highly recommend that you check out our free title capitalization tool . All you have to do is select whether you want title case or sentence case, and then select which style guide you want. It automatically capitalizes your title with the right rules according to style guide you selected. Watch the video below to learn more.

Title Case Capitalization vs. Sentence Case Capitalization

There are two main types of title capitalization methods that are common between all the title capitalization styles. Title case capitalization is the most commonly used title capitalization style used in titles. Sentence case capitalization is commonly used for sub-headings when writing long-form content as well as in many journalism headlines.

Title Case Capitalization

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.

Our title capitalization tool will automatically capitalize your titles according to these rules.

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. These include short words and conjunctions:

  • Articles (a, an, the)
  • Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, for)
  • Short (fewer than 5 letters)
  • Prepositions (at, by, from, 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.

Are Proper Nouns Capitalized?

Yes, proper nouns are capitalized in titles and sentences. A proper noun refers to a definite name for a specific person, place, object, book, movie, or event. In English, proper nouns are always capitalized regardless of whether you are writing a sentence or title.

  • N ew Y ork C ity is the best place to live.
  • I drove home from W almart.
  • He high five Bob for winning the game.

Title Capitalization Rules by Style

Chicago manual of style 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, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
  • Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
  • Lowercase the ‘to’ in an infinitive (I want to play guitar).

APA Style 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, 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.

MLA Style 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, 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.

AP Style 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 follow:

  • Capitalize words with four or more letters (including conjunctions and prepositions).
  • Capitalize the ‘to’ in an infinitive (e.g., I Want To Play Guitar).

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 follow:

  • 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 follow:

  • 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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Posted on Mar 03, 2023

Title Capitalization Rules: Learn Which Words To Capitalize

Like many aspects of the English language, title capitalization rules can seem confusing and unintuitive. While the words that are (and are not) capitalized in a title aren’t always consistent, it’s really not as complicated as you might think.

Whether you’re titling a book , writing a headline for a blog post or article, or referring to a movie, song, or other published work , you’ll need to follow standard title capitalization rules. To help you along, let’s break down the basic rules and explain some exceptions. 

These are the three title capitalization rules you’ll need to remember:

  • Capitalize the first and last words of a title
  • Capitalize verbs, pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs
  • Don’t capitalize articles, coordinating conjunctions, or prepositions

1. Capitalize the first and last words of a title

The simplest rule you can follow with complete certainty is this: the first and last words of a title are always capitalized. It doesn’t matter what length the title is or what grammatical role the word plays. From the humble article “the” to longer nouns like “tyrannosaurus,” you’re 100% safe capitalizing the first and last word.

Example: Andy Williams’s 1966 hit single, “ Music to Watch Girls By ”

All style guides agree on this rule, and it’s because it just makes sense. 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.” This is in contrast to “sentence case,” which is what you’ll see in this very paragraph.

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Create a title that stands out — and sells.

Capitalize the first word of subtitles, too

The rule for subtitles is very simple: the subtitle’s first word is also always capitalized, no exceptions. Subtitles, written after a colon, are especially common in nonfiction books and academic works. 

Example: Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s classic work of feminist literary criticism,  “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination .”  

If this title was written in sentence case, the first word after the colon would not normally be capitalized. And if we were following rule number 3 (spoiler alert), the word “the” would be in lowercase.

If you’re worried about your institution’s style guide of choice, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Capitalizing the first word of a subtitle is one of those rules where APA, MLA, Chicago, and AP style guides are in beautiful, unanimous agreement.

This is not the only rule they agree on — the next one is also universal.

2. Capitalize verbs, pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs

There are many common parts of speech that are always capitalized in a title. Let’s take a quick look at them, one by one.

The ‘action words’ of language, verbs are capitalized in every style guide. This also applies to phrasal verbs, where a verb and a preposition are used together, like “Get Up,” “Stand Up,” “Let Go,” and “Carry Out.”

A commonly asked question is whether the word “is” needs to be capitalized. “Is” and its cousins (“I am,” “you are,” etc.) are all conjugated forms of the verb “to be,” so the answer is yes. The same applies to the verb “do” and its variations “did” and “does.”

Two identical covers for "This Is How You Lose the Time War" contrasted side by side... except the one on the left hasn't capitalized "Is." Boooo!

Here are a few examples of book titles that include verbs:

  • “This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
  • “Where'd You Go , Bernadette” by Maria Semple
  • “ Don’t Cry for Me” by Daniel Black
  • “I'll Tell You in Person” by Chloe Caldwell
  • “ Do You Want to Start a Scandal” by Tessa Dare
  •  “History Is All You Left Me” by Adam Silvera

All style guides agree on capitalizing pronouns in titles. If you’re a native speaker, it’s possible you assume the term simply refers to “he,” “she,” “they,” and “his,” “hers,” and “theirs.” These are pronouns indeed, but there are many more types.

We won’t dwell (no one likes a grammar lesson), but to learn more about further types of pronouns, like relative, indefinite, demonstrative, or interrogative pronouns, you can check out Thesaurus.com’s entry on pronoun types . Fun fact: words like “someone,” “whenever,” “whose,” and “ whom ” are pronouns, too. Hopefully, this knowledge will come in handy when you next capitalize a tricky title.

Still from Shakira's video clip for 'Whenever, Wherever,' showing her smiling mid-dance

Here are a few examples of book titles with pronouns:

  • “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” by Mildred D. Taylor
  • “Guess How Much I Love You ” by Sam McBratney
  • “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway
  • “ Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston 
  • “Go Tell It  on the Mountain” by James Baldwin 
  • “ Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good” by Jan Karon
If you  do  happen to like grammar lessons, however, check out this article about the Oxford comma to learn more about when and how to use it like a pro.

Nouns and adjectives

You already know these ones, so we won’t patronize you. They’re also straightforward when it comes to capitalization: nouns and adjectives are capitalized in all style guides. Wonderful, right?

Let’s look at a few title examples that feature nouns:

  • “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
  • “How the García Girls Lost Their Accents ” by Julia Alvarez
  • “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler ” by Italo Calvino
  • “ Diary of a Young Naturalist ” by Dara McAnulty

And some book titles that capitalize adjectives:

  • “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote
  • “A Cavern of Black Ice” by J. V. Jones
  • “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” by Scott McCloud
  • “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon

You may know adverbs as the words that end in -ly. They describe the way or manner in which something is done or happens. Just don’t forget that adverbs of manner aren’t the only type of adverb. 

If your title includes any of the words below, you’re dealing with adverbs of frequency, time, place, or degree:

You don’t need to remember what category each adverb falls under — you just need to be able to recognize them as an adverb, since all adverbs are capitalized across all style guides.

Here are a few titles that feature adverbs, whether they end in -ly or not:

  • “Isla and the Happily Ever After ” by Stephanie Perkins
  • “A Fairly Honourable Defeat” by Iris Murdoch
  • “ Tomorrow , and Tomorrow , and Tomorrow ” by Gabrielle Zevin
  • “A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London, and New York” by Anjelica Huston

So far, we’ve looked at the two major rules where all style guides agree: capitalizing the first and final words of a title, as well as any “principal” or important words, like nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs. The next rule is where it gets a little bit more complicated.

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3. Don’t capitalize articles, coordinating conjunctions, or prepositions

Unless you’re working with a style guide that says otherwise (or if they’re the first or final word in a title), the following types of words are not capitalized:

  • Articles — the tiny words that come before nouns to indicate whether it’s a general concept or a particular, specific thing, e.g., “ the garden” vs. “ a garden”
  • Prepositions — words that precede nouns to show direction or place, or to establish a relationship between two things, e.g., “ opposite the library,” “ next to the cat” 
  • Coordinating conjunctions — words that link two parts of a sentence that can stand on their own, e.g., “I was tired. Alice went to bed” vs. “I was tired and Alice went to bed.”

Here are the words that fall under these categories:

📚 For more examples and information on prepositions, head to this page by the University of Ottawa.

Here are a few book titles that do not capitalize articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions (unless they are the first or last words of the title):

  • “In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust
  • “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger
  • “The Portrait of a Lady” by Henry James
  • “Again, but Better” by Christine Riccio
  • Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions, on the other hand, are capitalized. These are words that introduce a new part to the sentence that is dependent on the main sentence, or clause. Subordinating conjunctions include: if, since, as, when, although, while, after, before, until, because.

Because titles are not typically multi-clause sentences, it’s harder to intuit which group a conjunction belongs to. The simplest way to know when to capitalize conjunctions is to just remember which are coordinating and which subordinating. 

Subordinating conjunctions do get capitalized, as in these title examples:

  • “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke” by Eric LaRocca
  • “As Good As Dead” by Holly Jackson
  • “What If ?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions” by Randall Munroe
  • “Live Right and Find Happiness ( Although Beer Is Much Faster): Life Lessons and Other Ravings” by Dave Barry

4. When in doubt, refer to your style guide

If you're writing for a specific institution, keep their style guide bookmarked. For your convenience, here's what the four most commonly used style guides in North America require when it comes to capitalizing titles correctly:

Chicago Manual of Style

Capitalize:

  • The first and last words of a title
  • Verbs, pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs

Don’t capitalize:

  • Articles, prepositions of any length, and coordinating conjunctions
  • “To,” if used in an infinitive (e.g., “Failure to Launch” )

Modern Languages Association (MLA) Handbook

American psychological association (apa) publication manual.

  • Words that consist of more than four letters, even conjunctions and prepositions
  • Words shorter than four letters

The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook

  • “To,” if used in an infinitive (e.g., “Failure To Launch” )
  • Articles and prepositions shorter than four letters
  • Coordinating conjunctions

You’ll notice that the first two, Chicago and MLA, are the same — whereas AP and APA share an enthusiasm for capitalizing words longer than four letters.

Now compare these book titles:

See the difference? 

  • Chicago and MLA don’t capitalize “along” because it’s a preposition. 
  • AP and APA do capitalize it because it’s longer than four letters long. 
  • “For” is a coordinating conjunction (so lowercase for Chicago and MLA) and not long enough to be capitalized in AP and APA.
  • All four style guides capitalize the first and last words of the title, as well as the first word of the subtitle.

Annotated example of the title discussed above

🎯 Want to test yourself? Head over to our book title generator and give it a whirl. Write down what titles you’re given and then ask yourself how they’d be formatted for each style guide. 

Those are all the rules, so you can go ahead and capitalize your title. Beyond your title, if you’ve got a whole manuscript in need of polishing, consider hiring a copy editor to take care of the finer details.

capitalize title of an essay

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What to Capitalize in a Title

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Written by  Scribendi

Confused about what to capitalize in a title?

Do you ever encounter titles in which every word is capitalized? It's understandable why some authors and publications do this. The advice that is commonly given in terms of capitalization in titles is very vague, and rules vary based on the style guide being used.

A common rule that is thrown around is to capitalize all major words in a title. But what constitutes a major word? All of the words in a title are major, right? Well, not quite. 

Although capitalizing your title correctly can be difficult, there are several concrete rules that you can rely on when it comes to capitalization in titles. Title case is used for titles, headings, subheadings, and headlines. Here, we'll be describing the rules for writing in title case, as outlined in The Chicago Manual of Style , which is a very common style guide. However, we'll also offer some resources at the end of this article that discuss some of the variations in title case, based on the rules of other style guides.

Download our capitalization rules guide

If you're curious to learn more, download our guide to capitalization rules. Using helpful examples, it explains all kinds of capitalization rules from book titles to job titles and more.

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 word of the title should be capitalized regardless of the word's role as a part of speech. So, yes, even if the first word of the title is not a noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, or adverb, it must be capitalized.

As long as you know your parts of speech , you should have no problem identifying the words that require capitalization. Here are some examples:

The Grapes of Wrath Title Capitalization

In this example, both Grapes and Wrath are nouns, so they should be capitalized. The is capitalized because it is the first word in the title.

The Old Man and the Sea Title Capitalization

2. Articles, conjunctions, and prepositions should not be capitalized.

Though it is sometimes said that small words in a title do not require capitalization, let's be a bit more specific. After all, many nouns and verbs are small (e.g., dog , go ), but these words must still be capitalized. The small words we are referring to in this case essentially include articles, conjunctions, and prepositions, which should not be capitalized (again, unless they are the first word of a title). There are only three articles in the English language ( a, an , and the ), so pinpointing these words in a title should be a cinch. Conjunctions like and, nor, but, for, and or should also be written in lowercase.

The Sound and the Fury Title Capitalization

Let's break down this example from William Faulkner. Sound and Fury are nouns and must be capitalized. Though the is used twice in this title, only the first appearance of this article needs to be capitalized, because it is at the beginning of the title. Finally, and is a conjunction and should be written in lowercase.

Prepositions are a different story, as they can be tricky to identify. Prepositions link nouns or other phrases (the objects of the prepositions) to the rest of the sentence. Simple prepositions indicate temporal, spatial, or logical relationships between the object of the preposition and the rest of the sentence; these include above, below, after, around, outside, toward, through, into , etc. Participial prepositions are not linked to nouns and include terms like concerning, considering, regarding, and during. Neither simple prepositions nor participial prepositions should be capitalized in a title. Though some prepositions can be quite lengthy, they should still be written in lowercase. (There are some exceptions to this rule, but we'll get to that a bit later.)

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Title Capitalization

In this example, at is a preposition that adds spatial information to the sentence and should be written in lowercase. Bury (verb), My (possessive pronoun), Heart (noun), and Wounded Knee (proper noun) are all capitalized.

Okay, things get more complicated here. When prepositions function as adverbs, they should be capitalized. ( Near and beneath can act as either prepositions or adverbs.) When does a preposition function as an adverb, you ask? A good way to determine this is to identify the part of speech of the term following the word that you are unsure about. If the word that follows is a noun, then the term you are unsure about is probably functioning as a preposition. If a noun does not follow the term, then the word is an adverb and should be capitalized.

3. Capitalize the first element in a hyphenated compound.

If a title contains a hyphenated compound, then the first element must always be capitalized. The other elements of the compound are generally capitalized, unless they are parts of speech that are not capitalized (articles, conjunctions, or prepositions) .

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Title Capitalization

In this example, Half-Blood is a hyphenated compound. Blood is capitalized because it is a noun.

If you come across a title that contains a hyphenated compound with a prefix that cannot stand as a word on its own, the second element of the compound should be written in lowercase (unless it is a proper noun or proper adjective). Examples of this include such words as "Co-owner" and "Re-elect."

4. Capitalize both elements of spelled-out numbers or simple fractions.

When a spelled-out number or simple fraction is used in a title, both components require capitalization.

Capitalizing Numbers in a Title

You're getting to be an expert with title case capitalization, so instead of rehashing what we have already learned, let's move on, shall we?

5. If the scientific name of a species is mentioned, the second portion of the name must be written in lowercase.

This is one of those picky rules that is easy to overlook. This rule will most often apply to the titles of academic works in the medical or scientific fields. If you are working with a title that contains the scientific name of a species, then the second portion of the name must be lowercased.

Scientific Name Capitalization

6. Pay attention to the specific requirements of the style guide.

The rules outlined above are the usual conventions when it comes to title case capitalization rules, but make sure that you check the specific style guide that you are using. In addition to formatting, many style guides have established their own rules for the proper use of title case. And though many of these style guides follow the basic rules outlined in this article, there are some variations that you definitely must consider.

For example, remember the previous point about prepositions always being written in lowercase? Well, let's compare two style guides to clarify some of the differences that exist.

According to The Chicago Manual of Style (8.157), a long preposition, such as between , should be written in lowercase. However, some style guides allow words that are longer than five letters to be capitalized (such as the style guide of the Associated Press).

Here are some useful links that provide more information on the rules for title case capitalization according to various style guides:

  • Modern Language Association (MLA)
  • American Psychological Association (APA)
  • Associated Press

Though properly capitalizing a title of your own might be difficult, we hope that this guide has eliminated some of the confusion regarding what to capitalize in a title. The majority of the rules are pretty straightforward, but others (such as the capitalization of prepositions) vary among style guides. Make sure you know which style guide you want to use and that you stick to it.

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What to Capitalize in a Title: APA Title Capitalization Rules

capitalize title of an essay

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.

is can capitalized in a title, keyboard closeup

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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Why does the MLA capitalize certain words in titles?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook . For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

MLA style’s rules for capitalization are intended to help authors remain consistent while also respecting the ways in which titles have traditionally been styled in different languages.

The history of capitalization in titles is complicated, though titles of printed works from earlier eras written in English generally conform to a currently recognizable style. For instance, the title of the 1605 edition of  Hamlet  appears on its title page as THE Tragicall Historie of HAMLET, Prince of Denmarke . The spelling and capitalization differ slightly from those of a modern edition, but the title reflects some distinctions that survive into the present day. “Of” is lowercase, while adjectives, nouns, and the first word of the title are all uppercase. 

In MLA style, titles of English-language works are capitalized headline-style, and titles of works in languages other than English are capitalized sentence-style. This distinction is somewhat arbitrary but accords with other usage guides.  The Chicago Manual of Style  follows the same principles and   explains that   headline style mandates capitalizing all words except prepositions and the common coordinating conjunctions, whereas sentence style mandates capitalizing the title as one would a normal sentence (8.158–59). 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. For example, in German all nouns are capitalized, but not all nouns are capitalized in French, so this difference is reflected in which words are capitalized in German and French titles. 

Using headline style for English titles and sentence style for titles in languages other than English helps maintain consistency and provides a simple and concise guideline for styling titles. 

Works Cited

The Chicago Manual of Style . 17th ed., U of Chicago P, 2017.

MLA Handbook . 8th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

Shakespeare, William.  The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke . London, 1605.  Early English Books Online , gateway.proquest.com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&res_id=xri:eebo&rft_id=xri:eebo:image:12949.

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How to Capitalize Titles and Headings?

Home / Blog / How To Capitalize Titles And Headings?

How to Capitalize Titles

Introduction

When you write your essay , it can be easy to overlook some basic elements of your essay. You need to ensure that titles, subheadings, and headings are correctly formatted in your paper, which leads us to headings and title capitalization. Most of us have never really bothered about it and leave our titles and headings formatted incorrectly. 

Although this may not matter if you are in middle school, a high school or university student needs to ensure that they properly format their titles and subheads to not lose marks. This is because different types of papers have varying styles, and you need to make sure where exactly you are using upper and lower-case letters in your text. This article will provide you with a brief guide to ensure you are properly capitalizing your titles and headings. 

Why are heading and title capitalization important?

Different types of essays or academic research papers require you to use different formatting styles. This helps to bring out the content in your paper more and make sure your text appears structured and readable. This is where you should be looking to capitalize your title, heading or subheading. Down below, I have discussed the importance of capitalizing each element of your text.

Title 

The title holds the highest significance in your academic paper. It helps to convey to your reader the main idea or theme behind your writing. Title capitalization is important because it helps to make your title stand out all the more. It reinforces the idea that it conveys and makes the reader interested in reading through your text.

Using upper and lower-case letters in headings is essential to make your heading’s meaning appear clearer and consistent with your text below it. Many specialized academic papers will have different styles of implementing capitalization in headings.

Subheadings

Using capitalization in your subheading further reinforces the idea behind your heading. Significant words can be capitalized here to convey your idea or thought more clearly to your reader. 

Down below, I have provided a guide to using capitalization in the correct manner in all three of these elements. 

How to use capitalization for your paper

There are mainly three ways in which you can use capitalization for your title, heading and subheading.

  • Capitalizing the first letter

This includes capitalizing only the first letter of your title. This is usually basic formatting that is done to make sure the title is readable and sends a clear message. 

You are also required to capitalize the first letter of every subheading and heading to keep following proper formatting and punctuation in your text. Capitalizing the first letter is the default way most of us write our academic papers.

  • Capitalizing only significant words

There might be certain words in your titles, headings and subheadings that hold more value than the other words. In situations like these, it may help if you capitalized the first letter of every significant word. This way you can bring out the meaning or impact of those words all the more. 

For example, if you are writing an essay on Java programming language , you might want to capitalize the word Java in every title, heading or subheading that you use. Another good example; if our title is “top ten ways to write a letter,” then you can write it like “Top Ten Ways to Write a Letter.” As you can see, only significant words are the upper case here. 

  • Capitalizing Proper nouns

This is another way of using capital letters in your paper. You capitalize words that are names, terms, abbreviations, etc. This way you can establish the importance of those proper nouns (like Collective Nouns ) and use them in your text correctly. 

Essays or papers on history, biology or even physics have many proper nouns that need to be capitalized. Another essential thing to note here is that the letter “I” has to be always in capital, regardless of the sentence, essay or paper you are writing. 

As you can see, these are the three main ways in which you can capitalize your titles, headings and subheadings in your content.

Parting thoughts

I hope this blog helped you understand how to use capitalization in your paper correctly. Proper use of upper and lower-case letters goes a long way to ensure that your content is readable and properly formatted. 

If you are still having trouble trying to understand how to use capitalization in your academic paper, you can get in touch with us and take help from one of our professional assignment writers . 

Learn to properly use capitalization with the help of Essayhack.io

You can get in touch with us and avail help to write your paper and understand all about using capitalization. We have a team of experienced and talented writers who are well acquainted with all the proper formatting and capitalization styles for your paper. Get professional writing help from us along with other guarantees like:

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What words do i capitalize in my essay title.

When capitalizing words in a title you create for an essay, there are common rules that overlap between various writing styles, such as AP (Associated Press), APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), and Chicago.

Regardless of the writing style you are using for a class, here are set rules for capitalizing words in your essay's title:

1) Always capitalize the first word and the last word in a title. Here are examples of titles that have their first words and last words capitalized.

Example: Gone with the Wind 

Example: Into the Woods

Example: Something in the Way 

2) Always capitalize what are called the "important words": nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions. Let's look at an example:

Example: All Quiet on the Western Front

The first word and last word are capitalized ("All" and "Front") as well as the two adjectives ("Quiet" and "Western"). The words "on" and "the" are not capitalized in this title, which leads us to the third rule...

3) Do NOT capitalize prepositions, articles, and coordinating conjunctions.

Example: The Fire in the Sky and a Rainfall

Keep in mind that while articles (a, an, the) are not capitalized in a title, the first word and last word always are. Therefore, the first word of this title ("The") is an article, but it must be capitalized since it is the first word.

However, the second "the" in this title is not capitalized since it is an article and is not the first or last word of the title. This is also why the words "in," "and," and "a" are not capitalized: Respectively, they are a preposition, a coordinating conjunction, and an article that are not the first or last word. 

Here are a few more examples of various titles. Consider why certain words are capitalized while others are not.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Rise and Fall of the Halo Series

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

A Doll's House

All Because of Love

Call Me by Your Name

Catch Me if You Can

If you need further assistance with understanding which words to capitalize in your essay title, watch the attached video.

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Does an Essay Need a Title: Should Essay Title Be Capitalized?

If you ask students and established writers alike whether essays need a title. The opinion is divided. Some say yes, an essay requires a title, while others disagree. However, many agree a title is an important aspect, but those who feel otherwise are not wrong in their perspective.

So, does an essay need a title, and is it important at all? We dig deep into this topic to provide you with the most objective answer, plus other tiny but crucial aspects of a title.

Let’s jump in and find out, shall we?

Does an Essay Need a Title

Generally, an essay requires a title because it helps your readers understand what your piece is about. Otherwise, without a title, it may not gain enough readership or clicks as you may desire.

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Further, many researchers argue that a title is better because it draws readers’ attention and helps them choose which articles appeal to their needs. An essay without a title will be hard to gain attention. Therefore, having a title for your content will be more beneficial for you in regards to spreading your message.

Also see: How Do You Write A Title For A Comparison Essay?  

On the other hand, some essays may not need a title, but it does not mean having one is a mistake. If you’re writing a personal essay and want to get into the meat of your argument right away, then a title may not make much sense. But if you’re writing an academic or persuasive essay, then yes.

Therefore, essay titles are often used for research papers, other academic writing assignments, and informal writing such as personal journals and blog posts. This means that when writing an essay, you may want to consider using an intriguing or humorous title that will make people curious about what you have written.

How Do You Title an Essay

Titling an essay can be challenging, especially if you are a first-timer. However, these tips will make your work easier.

Start With a General Idea

Before you brainstorm potential titles, you should start with specific ideas about what you want to say in your essay. Think about what aspects of the topic interest you and how you would like to present them to readers.

Also, include general ideas about how those aspects relate to each other or how they might fit into the larger context of society or culture.

Brainstorm Potential Titles

Once you have some ideas on paper, start brainstorming potential titles for your essay based on those ideas. Write down all the titles that come to mind without worrying about whether they’re good or bad.

Write them down as fast as possible so that you don’t forget any possibilities later on down the road when it comes time for editing and revising

Title Your Essay With Impact

A good title should have an impact. It should grab readers’ attention and make them want to read your essay just based on its title alone. It should also be catchy enough so that people will remember it and want to read more about it later on.

Does it summarize the main idea of your paper?

Your title should briefly summarize what your paper is about so that readers who see it can get a sense of what they’re going to read without having to read the whole thing. This will make them more likely to click on your essay and read it to the end.

Further, remember when titling an essay, your reader needs to know what they’re getting into before they read your paper. The title should be descriptive enough that anyone can tell what it’s about without reading it. If someone can’t tell what your article is about by reading its title, chances are they won’t read it.

Should Essay Title Be Capitalized?

There is no single rule on whether to capitalize an essay title. However, in most cases, most writing styles agree on most title capitalization rules.

One of the rules is that you should capitalize the first word of your title and any proper nouns. Further, articles in the title are not capitalized. However, for conjunctions, each style guide has different rules.

For example, the AP style dictates conjunctions with three or fewer should be in lowercase. On the other hand, Chicago says all conjunction be in lowercase except yet and so.

Additionally, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives should be capitalized. For prepositions, AP requires all above four letters to be capitalized, unlike other styles which say all prepositions be in lowercase

Should Essay Titles Be Italicized?

Generally, essay titles are not italicized, and the rule of thumb is for the title to be similar to the rest of the body.

However, it is also a matter of personal preference. Some people use italics to set off the essay title from the rest of their paper, while others don’t. Still, others use quotation marks instead.

Further, italicized titles are used for books, movies, newspapers and magazines, plays, and musical compositions. This is because italics are used for titles of works that have been published or released. Therefore, if you’re writing an essay or article, however, you don’t need to use italics.

Can You Write an Essay Without a Title

In most cases, you can write an essay without a title, especially if you are an experienced writer.

Therefore, if you can write an essay without a title, then you have mastered the art of writing. But if you’re an average writer, you will struggle to develop something catchy and unique.

In most cases, students do not often write an essay without a title, but in some instances, it is necessary. Students can write an essay without a title if they want to give their work as a class assignment or if they are writing for themselves and have no intention of publishing their work.

Still, you can use your creativity when writing an essay without a title. A creative mind could bring out new ideas and make your article unique. So try using your imagination while writing an essay without a title.

Nevertheless, it is never too late to learn how to write an essay without a title. This means that if you are one of those writers who has never done this before, then start today and see how easy it is.

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  • What Is Title Case? | Explanation & Worksheet

What Is Title Case? | Explanation & Worksheet

Published on September 3, 2023 by Kassiani Nikolopoulou .

Title case is a capitalization style or convention used for writing the titles of published works.

A capitalization style defines which words or letters should be written in uppercase and which ones should be written in lowercase. In title case, the first letter of each word in the title should be capitalized except for certain small words like “a,” “the,” and “of.”

Title case is used for capitalizing the words in a title, subtitle, or heading. It’s commonly used in newspaper headlines, as well as the titles of books, movies, and video games. Due to this, title case is also known as “headline style.”

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Table of contents

What to capitalize in title case, title case vs. sentence case, title case converter, worksheet: title case, frequently asked questions about title case.

With title case, you always capitalize the first word and (usually) the last word of a title. How you render the rest of the words depends on whether they are considered major or minor words.

The following parts of speech are considered minor words and are typically not capitalized :

  • Prepositions with fewer than four letters (“in,” “for,” “of”)
  • Articles (“the”, “ a or an ”)
  • Coordinating conjunctions (“and,” “but,” “or”)

All other words are considered major words and are capitalized :

  • Nouns (“pen,” “flower,” “ocean”)
  • Pronouns (“I,” “her,” “these”)
  • Verbs (“forget,” “build,” “do”)
  • Adverbs (“now,” “slowly,” “here”)
  • Adjectives (“adorable,” “fresh,” “sarcastic”)

Lord of the Flies is one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read.

In Enter the Dragon , Bruce Lee plays a Shaolin monk recruited by British intelligence.

However, minor words are capitalized when they are the first word of the title.

  • A Clockwork Orange was directed by Stanley Kubrick.
  • T he Count of Monte Cristo tells the story of a young man who is wrongfully imprisoned.
  • T o Kill a Mockingbird has been banned in some schools.

It is important to keep in mind that different style guides, like APA Style , MLA , or Chicago Style , have slightly different rules regarding capitalization. More specifically, they differ in how they render:

Prepositions

Coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions.

  • The last word in a title

Some style guides like MLA use lowercase for all prepositions, regardless of their length. Others, like APA and AP, only use lowercase for prepositions up to three letters.

There are seven coordinating conjunctions in English. They can be remembered using the mnemonic device FANBOYS : f or, a nd, n or, b ut, o r, y et, s o.

Most major style guides use lowercase for all seven coordinating conjunctions. One exception is Chicago style, which uses lowercase for all except “yet” and “so.”

In APA, “as” and “if” are written in lowercase, while in Chicago “as” is written in lowercase and “if” is capitalized. AMA and MLA capitalize both.

AMA/MLA : Grab On to Me Tightly A s I f I Knew the Way

In some styles, the last word is always capitalized, regardless of whether it is a major or minor word. Other style guides have no such rule and the last word is in lowercase.

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Title case and sentence case are two common capitalization styles that differ in how they capitalize words.

  • In title case , the initial letter of every major word is in uppercase, while minor words are in lowercase. Title case is most frequently used for headings and titles of books, movies, and other works of art.
  • In sentence case only the first word of a sentence is capitalized, along with any proper nouns (names of people, places, etc.).The rest of the words in the sentence are in lowercase, regardless of their grammatical role. This style is mostly used in standard writing, but it is also commonly used in headlines, headings, and subheadings.

While sentence case is consistent across styles, some style guides differ in their rules for using title case.

If you are in doubt about whether your headline is capitalized correctly, there are a few free online tools you can use to help you check your work, including:

Titlecaseconverter.com

This converter allows you to choose one or multiple style guides for your output text (including AP, APA, and Chicago). It can also highlight and explain changes. Once you have entered your text, you simply click the “convert” button.

Convertcase.net

To use this online converter, you can either type or copy-paste your text on the left, and it will be automatically transformed into title case on the right. You can download the output as a .txt file or select “copy to clipboard.”

Titlecase.com

This is a simple converter that transforms your text into title case as well as AP-style title case. Similar to the others, it allows you to type or copy-paste your text, and once you press “convert” the output appears below.

With the worksheet below, you can test your understanding of how title case works. Fill in one of the two options in each sentence.

  • Practice questions
  • Answers and explanations
  • One of Boticelli’s most famous works is____________[the Birth Of Venus/The Birth of Venus]
  • I borrowed _________[Of Mice and Men/of Mice and Men] a while ago, but never managed to finish the first chapter.
  • I love your___________ [Lord of the Rings notebook/Lord of the Rings Notebook].
  • “The” is capitalized because it is the first word of the title. 
  • “Birth” is capitalized because it is a major word (noun).
  • “Of” is not capitalized because it is a preposition. 
  • “Venus” is capitalized because it is major word (proper noun)
  • “Of” is capitalized because it is the first word of the title despite being a preposition.
  • “Mice” is capitalized because it is a noun.
  • “And” is not capitalized because it is a coordinating conjunction.
  • “Men” is capitalized because it is the last word of the title.
  • Here, “Lord of the Rings” is the title and also a compound adjective (like “error-free,” “kind-hearted,” etc.) modifying the noun (“notebook”). For this reason, we need to stop applying title case when we are finished writing the title (“Lord of the Rings”).

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Capitalization is the practice of using uppercase or capital letters in writing to indicate the beginning of a sentence or to emphasize certain words or types of words within a sentence.

For example, capitalizing place names, family names, and days of the week are all standard in English. Different capitalization styles, like title case and sentence case , apply different rules when it comes to which letters to capitalize.

Which words you capitalize depends on the capitalization style you use. Title case and sentence case are two common capitalization styles that follow different rules:

  • In title case , the initial letter of every major word (such as a verb ) is capitalized, while minor words (such as coordinating conjunctions ) are typically in lowercase. Title case is most frequently used for headings and the titles of published works.
  • In sentence case , only the first word of a sentence is capitalized, along with any proper nouns (names of specific people, places, etc.).

However, these rules may vary. Follow the advice outlined in your style guide.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Nikolopoulou, K. (2023, September 03). What Is Title Case? | Explanation & Worksheet. Scribbr. Retrieved March 25, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-writing/title-case/

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When to Capitalize Job Titles in Writing

When to Capitalize Job Titles in Writing

4-minute read

  • 19th July 2021

Should it be “President Biden” or “president Biden”? Is the “social worker” coming to the meeting, or should it be “Social Worker”? To learn when to capitalize job titles in business writing (or any other document), read our guide below.

When Capitalization is Key

Typically, job titles that come before names are capitalized (unless there is punctuation separating the title from the name). In these cases, the job title functions as part of a proper noun formed by the title and name:

President Biden has won the election. 

Head of Sales Mark Smith will be interviewing for the position. 

But beware of commas! As you can see, the job title below is not capitalized as we’re using it generically, not as a proper name:

The graphic designer , Sohaila Hussein, is very good at her job. 

We’ll look at this and other exceptions again later in the post.

Capitalization in Other Contexts

Other situations in which you may need to capitalize job titles include:

  • To show respect to a person in a high-status role or position, especially if you are using their job title to stand in for their name.

The Queen will be opening this leisure center. 

Have you written to the President yet? 

  • In emails or letter signature lines.

Yours faithfully, Sarah Brown, Assistant Principal

Melanie Ferrer, Speech and Language Therapist

  • In headings, such as section headings in a resume.

May 2019–July 2020 , Customer Services Assistant

  • In the vocative case (i.e., when using a job title to address someone directly).

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Is it serious, Doctor ?

  • If a job title appears in the proper name for a building or department.

Office of the Vice Chancellor

Finally, if you’re an employee, make sure to check your organization’s style guide (if they have one) for specific details on capitalizing titles within the company. For example, some companies prefer to capitalize job roles as a matter of respect. And if your boss prefers to see their title capitalized in official documents, it is usually wise to follow their example even if it means bending the standard rules!

When Capitalization is Not Correct

When job titles are used descriptively or generically within a sentence, they are not usually capitalized. This applies to formal writing, job descriptions, cover letters and resumes, and pretty much any other form of writing you can imagine. For example:

Our chief editor , Simon Crystal, has an office on the second floor.

Mrs. Osborne, our assistant chef , makes the most delicious lasagna.

The receptionists at this company leave a lot to be desired.

During my time as a sales manager , I was responsible for 15 employees.

I would make an excellent staff nurse as I have great interpersonal skills.

In other words, when a job description is used in a sentence and does not stand in for (or form part of) a proper name, your default should be to use lowercase letters at the start of each word. However, as above, you may want to check your employer’s style guide for advice on capitalizing specific job titles.

Summary: To Capitalize or Not to Capitalize?

In summary, the rules for capitalizing job titles are:

  • Job titles are normally capitalized when they stand in for (or are part of) a proper name, especially when the title precedes a person’s name.
  • Job titles are also commonly capitalized to show respect for high-status individuals, when using a title to address someone directly, or when they appear in headings and signature lines. 
  • When used generically or descriptively, job titles are not usually capitalized.

We hope this post has clarified how to capitalize job titles in writing. But if you’d like an expert to help you perfect your writing, why not try our proofreading service ?

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Nickelodeon and Disney Stars Find a Second Act on Podcasts

The cast of the Nickelodeon series “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” are among the stars of 2000s teen sitcoms who are using podcasts to connect with their Gen Z and millennial fan bases.

A man in a light blue polo shirt and dark pants leans against a table in a podcast studio, with chairs and three microphones visible behind him.

By Rebecca Carballo

For three years starting when he was just 12 years old, Devon Werkheiser dispensed advice for bearing the indignities of middle school as the title character in the Nickelodeon series “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide. ” Two decades later, he said, people still recognize him as Ned Bigby.

“There was a time when I wanted to transcend ‘Ned’s,’” Werkheiser said, “but maybe it’s the answer in getting me where I want to go.”

Now 33, he’s made peace with his past and is still giving tips to his peers, only he is using a more modern medium. In “Ned’s Declassified Podcast Survival Guide,” he and his former “Ned’s” castmates Lindsey Shaw and Daniel Curtis Lee dish about the show, which aired from 2004 to 2007, and open up about past personal and career struggles.

The three are among a cohort of former child stars, many from Nickelodeon and Disney Channel shows from the 2000s, who have started podcasts as a way of connecting with a nostalgic Gen Z and millennial fan base. In doing so, they are embracing roles that they played as children and teenagers — characters that some had spent years trying to move beyond, with mixed success.

“Part of the truth is, if any of our careers were maybe further along, maybe we wouldn’t be doing podcasts,” Werkheiser said in an interview. “There are comments that speak to that, as if we don’t know.”

Since the “Ned’s” podcast debuted in February 2023, several exchanges have caused a stir among its 717,000 TikTok followers. Shaw, who played Moze on the show, spoke about her past struggles with substance abuse . Werkheiser gave an emotional account of his time on the set of the troubled Alec Baldwin western “Rust.” And he and Shaw punctured the innocent image of their old show with an awkward exchange about their fumbling offscreen sexual encounters.

Werkheiser was approached about starting a “Ned’s” rewatch podcast by Brendan Rooney. Rooney founded the PodCo podcast network last year with his wife, Christy Carlson Romano, a former child star who played Ren Stevens, the overachieving older sister in the Disney Channel series “Even Stevens.”

In addition to the “Ned’s” podcast, the company also produces “Wizards of Waverly Pod,” hosted by former stars of the Disney Channel show “Wizards of Waverly Place,” about three sibling wizards in training. Romano, who also voiced the title character in the Disney Channel animated series “Kim Possible,” hosts two podcasts of her own, including one with Anneliese van der Pol, a former star of the Disney Channel sitcom “That’s So Raven.”

The audience for podcasts continues to grow, with 42 percent of Americans 12 and older reporting last year that they had listened to one in the previous month, according to a report by Edison Research . Making money isn’t simple, in part because the market is so saturated that there isn’t enough advertising revenue to go around, said Ethan Cramer-Flood, a principal forecasting writer at Insider Intelligence, a market research firm.

PodCo, which was founded last year, expects to turn a profit by the second quarter of 2024, Romano said. The company plans to introduce several new podcasts this year, including “Pretty Little Pod” featuring Shaw and Tammin Sursok, who appeared together in the ABC Family series “Pretty Little Liars.”

Romano said it was never her plan to capitalize on nostalgia. Rather, she said, she ended up greenlighting shows featuring former stars of Disney and Nickelodeon teen sitcoms because they were people she knew and could trust.

She hopes the podcasts are places these stars can feel heard, she said.

“We’ve been a silent, niche population of people that were conditioned to be compliant and never truly understood our autonomy,” Romano said. “I want to show them that they can be empowered by having these podcasts.”

The hosts haven’t been afraid to get personal.

Jennifer Stone, who played Harper Finkle on “Wizards of Waverly Place,” recalled feeling left out on set at times in an emotional exchange on “Waverly Pod” with her co-host and former co-star David DeLuise. Alyson Stoner, who was a host of the Disney Channel series “Mike’s Super Short Show” and was in the film “Cheaper by the Dozen,” has discussed being stalked and other pressures of child stardom on her podcast, “Dear Hollywood,” which is not a PodCo franchise.

As they adjust to the new platform, the hosts have occasionally landed themselves in trouble. The “Ned’s Declassified” stars appeared in a TikTok live video on March 18 in which they appeared to mock Drake Bell, a former star of the Nickelodeon series “Drake & Josh” who shared his account of being sexually abused by his dialogue coach in “ Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV ,” a new Investigation Discovery documentary series.

There was a swift backlash , including a rebuke from Bell. Within days, the “Ned’s” hosts apologized, saying they had not seen the series when they were asked to comment on it, and that they did not have a grasp of the gravity of the allegations.

“Now we’ve watched it, and I get it,” Werkheiser said in the March 22 episode . “If I had just watched, especially, that third episode and then watched us joking like that, I would be like: ‘Are they sociopaths? Is there something wrong with them?’”

The hosts have also used their shows as a forum to talk about what they’re doing now. Werkheiser, who has spoken about having trouble finding work as an actor after “Ned’s,” described his elation at being cast as a cowboy in “Rust” turning to anguish, after a revolver that Baldwin, the film’s star, was handling discharged a live round, killing the cinematographer .

After the film’s safety protocols were called into question, Werkheiser spoke about it in a March 2023 episode .

“Every set has some chaos; every set is cutting corners and cutting budgets,” he said. “I can only speak for my experience. But in my experience, it was no different than any other set I’d ever been on.”

For Werkheiser, the podcast came about when he needed it, he said. In 2021, he spent countless hours on a pitch for a “Ned’s” reboot, a survival guide for young adults, only for the studio to pass on it in a brief email. His career was floundering, and he “spiraled into deep depression,” he said.

About a year later, Rooney approached him about starting a podcast. Werkheiser quickly embraced the medium, which he said gives him more freedom than he would have on a scripted show. He also relished the chance to reconnect with Shaw and Lee.

“It feels like we’re back on set a little bit,” he said. “Some parts of our childish selves come out, so it does feel like we picked up where we left off.”

Rebecca Carballo is a reporter based in New York. More about Rebecca Carballo

The State of Podcasting

Over the last few years, the industry has been one of the hottest corners in media..

Christian Duguay’s podcast, “Valley Heat,” purports to be about the neighbors in the Rancho Equestrian District of Burbank, Calif. One thing is for sure: It’s masterfully absurd .

The success of Alex Cooper’s podcast, “Call Her Daddy,” has birthed a new media company. Can this millennial solve the riddle of what Gen Z wants ?

A host of media companies are all aiming to capitalize on interest in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump  with true-crime podcasts.

Two “grown dirtbags,” as they put it, are behind the podcast “Throwing Fits,” which is loosely centered on men’s fashion  in a format similar to sports-talk shows.

When two true crime podcasters took on the case of a woman murdered in 1975, her sister felt hope. She couldn’t predict the emotional distress their work brought , instead.

Whether you are looking for feel-good listens , fashion takes  or career tips , we can help you find your next favorite podcast.

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  1. Common Title Capitalization Rules

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  2. 7th Edition APA Style: How to Use APA Headings in Your Paper

    capitalize title of an essay

  3. When to Use Capital Letters in Titles 2024

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  4. How to Capitalize Titles: Rules and Guidelines > Kindlepreneur

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  5. What to Capitalize in a Title?

    capitalize title of an essay

  6. Title Capitalization: Useful Rules and Examples • 7ESL

    capitalize title of an essay

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COMMENTS

  1. Title Capitalization Tool

    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).

  2. MLA Titles

    Punctuation in MLA titles. Use the same punctuation as appears in the source title. However, if there is a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon and a space, even if different (or no) punctuation is used in the source. Example of a work with a subtitle. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.

  3. Title Case: Words to Capitalize in Titles, Headings, and Headlines

    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).

  4. A Simple Guide to Capitalization in Titles

    Generally, though, title case follows these rules: Capitalize the first word. Capitalize all proper nouns. Capitalize pronouns. Capitalize all principal words and longer words (usually four letters or more). Keep short articles, prepositions, and conjunctions lowercase. Here are a couple of examples of title case:

  5. Title Capitalization Rules

    Title case capitalization is the most commonly used title capitalization style used in titles. Sentence case capitalization is commonly used for sub-headings when writing long-form content as well as in many journalism headlines. ... Automatically capitalize your email subjects, essay, headline, and article titles. RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM ...

  6. Title Capitalization Rules: Learn Which Words To Capitalize

    These are the three title capitalization rules you'll need to remember: Capitalize the first and last words of a title. Capitalize verbs, pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. Don't capitalize articles, coordinating conjunctions, or prepositions. Learn how to capitalize titles the right way, so you never have to Google it again.

  7. What to Capitalize in a Title

    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 ...

  8. Capitalization in Titles and Headings

    You may find it easier to instead focus on what usually isn't considered significant (and thus not capitalized, unless it happens to be the first word in a heading): articles (a, an, the), prepositions (examples: by, for, in), conjunctions (examples: and, or, because). Option 2: Only first words capitalized. Chapter 3 Literature review.

  9. What to Capitalize in a Title: APA Title Capitalization Rules

    Capitalize. - the first word of the title or heading (or any subtitle/subheading) - all nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns—note that this includes the second part of hyphenated words (e.g., Self-Reliance not Self-reliance) - all other words of four letters or more. Do NOT Capitalize.

  10. Capitalization Rules in English

    Capitalizing titles. The capitalization rules for the titles of books, articles, movies, art, and other works vary slightly between style guides. But in general, the following rules apply across major style guides, including APA, MLA, and Chicago. Capitalize the first word of the title and (if applicable) the subtitle; Capitalize the last word

  11. Formatting Titles

    Titles require special capitalization called title case. Title case requires one to. capitalize the first letter of the first and last words of a title; ... Titles that appear within an essay require special formatting in addition to title case. If the title is for an article—content that is part of a greater whole—then the title should ...

  12. Why does the MLA capitalize certain words in titles?

    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.

  13. Title case capitalization

    How to implement title case. In title case, capitalize the following words in a title or heading: the first word of the title or heading, even if it is a minor word such as "The" or "A". the first word of a subtitle. the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation in a heading. major words, including the second part of ...

  14. Mastering Title Capitalization: A Comprehensive Guide

    The title holds the highest significance in your academic paper. It helps to convey to your reader the main idea or theme behind your writing. Title capitalization is important because it helps to make your title stand out all the more. It reinforces the idea that it conveys and makes the reader interested in reading through your text.

  15. What words do I capitalize in my essay title?

    Regardless of the writing style you are using for a class, here are set rules for capitalizing words in your essay's title: 1) Always capitalize the first word and the last word in a title. Here are examples of titles that have their first words and last words capitalized. Example: Gone with the Wind . Example: Into the Woods

  16. Does an Essay Need a Title: Should Essay Title Be Capitalized?

    There is no single rule on whether to capitalize an essay title. However, in most cases, most writing styles agree on most title capitalization rules. One of the rules is that you should capitalize the first word of your title and any proper nouns. Further, articles in the title are not capitalized. However, for conjunctions, each style guide ...

  17. What Is Title Case?

    Published on September 3, 2023 by Kassiani Nikolopoulou . Title case is a capitalization style or convention used for writing the titles of published works. A capitalization style defines which words or letters should be written in uppercase and which ones should be written in lowercase. In title case, the first letter of each word in the title ...

  18. When to Capitalize People's Titles

    Our Rule 5 of Capitalization states, "Capitalize the titles of high-ranking government officials when used before their names. Do not capitalize the civil title if it is used instead of the name.". Therefore, do not capitalize "the governor's last term . . .". Summer says: March 5, 2013, at 8:35 pm.

  19. When to Capitalize Job Titles in Writing

    In summary, the rules for capitalizing job titles are: Job titles are normally capitalized when they stand in for (or are part of) a proper name, especially when the title precedes a person's name. Job titles are also commonly capitalized to show respect for high-status individuals, when using a title to address someone directly, or when they ...

  20. Nickelodeon and Disney Stars Find a Second Act on Podcasts

    March 27, 2024, 5:40 a.m. ET. For three years starting when he was just 12 years old, Devon Werkheiser dispensed advice for bearing the indignities of middle school as the title character in the ...