How to Capitalize Titles (4 Common Styles)

Whether you are proofreading for a client or writing something yourself, you need to know how to capitalize titles correctly. However, this process is not always as straightforward as it may sound. The rules about capitalizing titles vary between style guides, and there are a few different but equally correct methods to choose from.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to capitalize titles by focusing on the four common styles of title capitalization:

• Title case, which capitalizes the first letter of certain words
• Sentence case, in which you capitalize titles as though they’re sentences
• Initial case, where you capitalize the first letter of every word
• All caps, where you capitalize the entire title

After that, we’ll take a look at the capitalization rules for titles recommended by four frequently used style guides: the American Psychological Association (APA), The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines, and The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style).

What Is Title Case Capitalization?

In title case capitalization (sometimes known as headline style), the first letter of the most important words is capitalized. The precise definition of this varies slightly between style guides, but it always involves capitalizing the first letter of:

• The first word in the title or subtitle
• Nouns and noun phrases
• Pronouns
• Verbs and typically all words in phrasal verbs
• Adverbs and adjectives

Some style guides also require the capitalization of:

• All parts of hyphenated terms (regardless of word type)
• Words over a certain length (e.g., four or five letters)
• The last word in the title (no matter the type)

This is one of the many reasons why it is essential to pay close attention to the relevant style guide!

To show how these rules work in action, here are some examples of titles written using title case capitalization, plus the breakdown of each:

A Short Guide to Writing Titles in English

[First word], Adjective, Noun, preposition, Verb, Noun, preposition, Noun

Understanding How Grammar and Punctuation Work in Real Life

Verb, Adverb, Noun, conjunction, Noun, Verb, preposition, Adjective, Noun

Why Cats Are Afraid of the Cucumber: A Study of Feline Nerves

Adverb, Noun, Verb, Adjective, preposition, article, Noun: [First word of subtitle], Noun, preposition, Adjective, Noun

How to Be Sure This Is Right

Adverb, preposition, Verb, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective

Note that the length of a term is not necessarily a guide for capitalization, and even short words may need to be capitalized. For instance, How is only three letters long, but it takes a capital letter because it’s an adverb. Very short words such as Are, Be, and Is are easy to overlook, but they are capitalized because they are verbs. By contrast, short prepositions, conjunctions, and articles such as to, and, in, of, and the are written lowercase.

So, whether a word is capitalized depends on its grammatical role, not its length. 

For some words, you may need to think about how the word is being used before deciding on its capitalization. For example, This in How to Be Sure This Is Right is capitalized because it is used as a pronoun. In other situations, this word can be used as a determiner, meaning it would not be capitalized. For example:

Do Not Read the End of this Book

Verb, Adverb, Verb, article, Noun, preposition, determiner, Noun 

What Is Sentence Case Capitalization?

Sentence case capitalization (also known as sentence style) treats titles like sentences. This means capitalizing only the following:

• The first word in a title or subtitle
• All the letters in acronyms or initialisms
• The first letter in proper nouns

In other words, you capitalize a word only if you would usually capitalize it in a regular sentence.

Here’s how that looks in practice:

A short guide to writing titles in English

Understanding how grammar and punctuation work in real life

Why cats are afraid of the cucumber: A study of feline nerves

As you can see, only a very few words require capitalization in these examples: A, Understanding, Why, and A because they are the first words of the titles and the subtitle and then English because it is a proper noun. All other words, including verbs, adjectives, and nouns, remain lowercase.

What Is Initial Case Capitalization?

Initial case capitalization involves capitalizing the first letter of every word in titles and subtitles, regardless of the word type. For example:

A Short Guide To Writing Titles In English

Understanding How Grammar And Punctuation Work In Real Life

Why Cats Are Afraid Of The Cucumber: A Study Of Feline Nerves

This style is fairly rare in formal writing, but some people prefer it for its simplicity and consistency, plus the visual impact. It’s occasionally seen in business communications, company branding, and online content where uniformity is preferred.

What Is All Caps?

Another way of writing titles is to capitalize every letter in every word. This is known as all caps. For instance:

A SHORT GUIDE TO WRITING TITLES IN ENGLISH

UNDERSTANDING HOW GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION WORK IN REAL LIFE

WHY CATS ARE AFRAID OF THE CUCUMBER: A STUDY OF FELINE NERVE

Some people also combine the all caps style with the use of small caps letters. This involves still capitalizing every letter of every word, but using a smaller font size for those letters that would typically be in lowercase so they appear as scaled-down capitals.

The all caps style is very striking, so it is particularly common in marketing copy. However, you will also find it in the titles of certain books, journal articles, and elsewhere.

Style Guide Rules for Title Case Capitalization

Most style guides and sheets will advise on how to capitalize titles, so make sure to check whether your client is using one. While most guides will follow one of the styles outlined above, there are some important variations worth noting.

How to Capitalize a Title in APA Style

APA uses both title case and sentence case capitalization, depending on where the title appears:

• Title case is used for the names of works given in the main body of the document
• Sentence case is used for names of works given in reference lists

This means that the same title may appear in two different styles within the same text: capitalized in the main body of an essay but lowercase in the references. 

When applying title case in APA style, the usual words are capitalized, but all words of four or more letters – including conjunctions and prepositions – take capital letters too. Take a look at these examples of the same titles as they would be written in the main essay and in the reference list:

Title case (main text):

Murder Most Horrid: A Study of Crime Rates in America

At the Tipping Point: How Children Are About to Change

Kindness in Healthcare: Exploring the Relationship Between Staff and Patients

Sentence case (reference list):

Murder most horrid: A study of crime rates in America

At the tipping point: How children are about to change

Kindness in healthcare: Exploring the relationship between staff and patients

Note that the words About and Between are capitalized in APA style. Even though they are prepositions, they are more than four letters long.

How to Capitalize a Title in Chicago Style

Titles formatted according to CMOS (also referred to as Chicago style) rules also use title case capitalization, but with its own guidelines. It requires the capitalization of:

• The first and last word of the title, regardless of word type
• All nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
• All conjunctions of four or more letters (so only excluding and, but, for, or, and nor)

Here is how this style looks in practice: 

An In-Depth Study of Utensils and Their Efficacy When Eating Pizza

What Comes After the Moon: How Humans Prepare for Mars

From Page to Screen: Adapting Novels Because People Demand Films

As you can see, the conjunctions When, After, and Because are long enough to be capitalized in Chicago style.

How to Capitalize a Title in MLA Style

MLA style uses a title case system, but it also recommends capitalizing any word of four or more letters, including conjunctions and prepositions. For example: 

How Children Learn Through Everyday Play

Ears in the Water: Can Dolphins Understand Us?

Lighting the Fire Within: Inspiration in the Classroom

The words Through and Within are both prepositions, so they are not always capitalized in titles, but they meet the requirements for MLA style title case.

How to Capitalize a Title in AP Style

The AP Stylebook advises using title case for titles and adds a few extra requirements to the usual list. AP style requires the capitalization of:

• All nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
• All parts of phrasal verbs, including the infinitive To
• All words of four or more letters, regardless of type

Here are some examples:

Why We Still Believe in Fairy Tales

Turn Up the Music: A Journey Through Sound

How To Use Your Feet: The Definitive Guide to Tap Dancing

Again, it is important to be aware of how a word is used when deciding whether to capitalize it. In the last example, the first To is capitalized because it is a part of the infinitive verb To Use; however, the second to is used as a preposition and left lowercase.

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