Title Case Rules: How to Capitalize Titles Correctly
Title case looks simple — capitalize the important words — but the details are surprisingly tricky. Which prepositions get capitalized? Does 'the' always stay lowercase? What about 'is', 'are', and 'be'? What happens with hyphenated words? The rules differ between style guides, and the guide you follow depends on your context: AP Style for journalism, Chicago for books and academic publishing, APA for social science research, and MLA for humanities. Getting title case right is a mark of professionalism in published writing and content creation, and a free online case converter can handle the mechanics while you focus on the words themselves.
The Core Rules of Title Case
Despite variations across style guides, several title case rules are consistent across virtually all conventions: Always capitalize the first and last words of a title, regardless of what part of speech they are. Even prepositions, articles, and conjunctions get capitalized if they appear first or last: 'Up in the Air' (first word Up is capitalized), 'Something to Talk About' (last word About is capitalized). Always capitalize major words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns. These are the words that carry the primary meaning of a title. 'How to Build a Better Product' — Build, Better, and Product are all capitalized. 'Fast and Furious' — Fast and Furious are both adjectives and capitalized. Generally do not capitalize short prepositions: in, on, at, by, for, of, to, up. However, this depends on the length threshold used by the style guide — AP and Chicago differ here. Generally do not capitalize articles: a, an, the (unless they start or end the title). Generally do not capitalize coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so. Verbs are always capitalized, even short ones. 'Is', 'are', 'be', 'do', 'go' — all capitalized in title case. 'How to Be a Better Leader' — Be is capitalized because it is a verb.
Style Guide Differences: AP, Chicago, APA, and MLA
The major style guides agree on the core rules but differ on some key specifics, particularly around prepositions and the treatment of certain words. AP Style (Associated Press): Used by most newspapers, news websites, and magazines. AP capitalizes all words of four letters or more. This means short prepositions like 'with' (4 letters), 'from' (4 letters), 'into' (4 letters), and 'over' (4 letters) are capitalized in AP Style. Three-letter or shorter words follow the standard rules (do not capitalize articles, prepositions, and conjunctions). AP Style is widely used in digital publishing and journalism. Chicago Manual of Style: Used for books, academic papers, and many formal publications. Chicago capitalizes all major words but explicitly lists which words to lowercase: articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so), and prepositions (regardless of length). Under Chicago, 'with', 'from', and 'over' are lowercase, while AP would capitalize them. Chicago requires capitalizing the first word after a colon in a title. APA Style: Used in social sciences. APA uses sentence case for article titles within the body of a paper and reference list, which confuses many researchers who expect title case throughout. However, APA uses title case for journal names, book titles, and headings within documents. APA follows Chicago-like rules for which words to capitalize. MLA Style: Used in humanities. MLA recommends capitalizing the first and last words and all major words, with articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions lowercased unless they begin the title. MLA is similar to Chicago in its approach.
Tricky Title Case Situations
Several common situations create uncertainty about capitalization even for writers familiar with the general rules. Hyphenated words in titles: Most style guides capitalize the first element of a hyphenated compound and capitalize the second element if it is a major word. 'State-of-the-Art Technology' — State is capitalized (first word), Art is capitalized (noun), but of and the are lowercase. 'Self-Employed Professional' — Self is capitalized and Employed is capitalized (adjective). Chicago specifies this most clearly. Prepositions in phrasal verbs: When a preposition is part of a phrasal verb, it is typically capitalized because it acts as an adverb, not a preposition. 'How to Set Up Your Computer' — Up is part of the phrasal verb 'set up' and is capitalized. 'The Day I Gave In' — In is part of 'gave in' and is capitalized. Compare with prepositions that are not part of phrasal verbs: 'Traveling on a Budget' — on is a simple preposition and stays lowercase. Species, brand names, and proper nouns: These always retain their original capitalization regardless of the title case rules. iPhone stays iPhone (not Iphone). macOS stays macOS. E. coli stays E. coli in scientific writing. Brand-specified capitalizations like eBay or iPod are preserved. 'To' as part of an infinitive: Most style guides lowercase 'to' when it introduces an infinitive verb. 'How to Cook Perfect Rice' — 'to' is lowercase. But if 'to' is a preposition meaning 'toward', some guides capitalize it: 'A Journey to Remember' — Chicago would lowercase 'to' here; AP would also lowercase it since it is only two letters.
Using a Case Converter for Title Case
Online case converters apply a Title Case algorithm that follows generally accepted rules. Understanding what the tool does — and where it may need manual adjustment — makes the workflow more effective. The WikiPlus Case Converter's Title Case mode capitalizes the first letter of every word by default, which matches the most permissive interpretation of title case. For more nuanced style-guide-compliant title case, it also offers a smart Title Case option that lowercases common articles, conjunctions, and short prepositions in non-initial, non-final positions. Always review the output for proper nouns, brand names, and product names that have unconventional capitalization. If your title includes 'iPhone', a naive title case converter might output 'Iphone' — correct this manually. Similarly, programming language names like 'JavaScript', 'TypeScript', or 'Python' should retain their standard capitalization. The tool is particularly useful for content creation workflows where you are generating many titles at once — for a batch of blog posts, an article series, or a set of social media posts. Paste all the titles at once (one per line), convert to Title Case, review the output, and copy back to your CMS or spreadsheet. For SEO purposes, consistent title capitalization across your site contributes to a professional appearance in search results. Using a converter to standardize all your page titles to a single convention is a one-time investment that pays dividends in brand consistency.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Should blog post titles use Title Case or Sentence case?
- Both are acceptable, and the choice is primarily a brand voice decision. Title Case reads as more formal and article-like, which suits news publications, academic blogs, and business content. Sentence case reads as more conversational and approachable, which suits personal blogs, tech publications, and many consumer brands. Google and Apple both use Sentence case in their product documentation and UI. The most important principle is consistency — pick one and apply it uniformly across your site. Mixed conventions (some posts in Title Case, others in Sentence case) create a sense of inconsistency that undermines professionalism.
- Are conjunctions ever capitalized in title case?
- Yes, in two situations. First, coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so) are capitalized when they appear as the first or last word of a title. 'But Is It Art?' — But is capitalized because it starts the title. Second, subordinating conjunctions (because, although, unless, while, since, as) are generally capitalized in title case because they are considered major words, not minor function words. 'Why I Write Because I Must' — Because is capitalized under most style guides. Only the short coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) are lowercased in non-initial, non-final positions.
- Does title case apply to subtitles after a colon?
- Yes, under Chicago Manual of Style and most academic style guides, the first word after a colon in a title is always capitalized, even if it would normally be lowercase. 'Writing Well: a Guide for Students' should be 'Writing Well: A Guide for Students' in Chicago style. This rule applies to the main title-subtitle separator colon. AP Style similarly capitalizes after a colon in a title. Within a subtitle, the same title case rules apply as for the main title. Online case converters that apply Chicago-style title case handle this automatically.