Words to Capitalize in Titles and Headings

Summary

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.

Examples

• Title case: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
• Title case: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Capitalize lower-level headings using sentence case, in which only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized (the words that you would normally capitalize in a sentence).

Examples

• Sentence case: The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
• Sentence case: The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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

Capitalization styles

Headings and titles of books, movies, TV shows, articles, and other works can be capitalized using either title case (also called headline style or up style) or sentence case (sentence style or down style).

Titles of books, movies, and other works; names of periodicals and magazines; chapter headings; and titles of articles and blog posts are usually capitalized using title case. Sentence-case capitalization 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.

In this article, we discuss the general rules of title-case capitalization and then review any additional rules and exceptions prescribed by the major style manuals.

Title case: General rules

Here are the general rules for capitalizing headlines and titles of books, movies, reports, articles, and other works:

1. Capitalize the first word and last word of a title.
2. 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).
3. Always lowercase the word to.
4. Capitalize the first element of a hyphenated term. Capitalize any subsequent elements only if they are major words.
5. Capitalize the first word of a subheading following a colon.
6. Break a rule if you need to—for example, if a preposition is emphasized in a title, capitalize it.

Title case rules explained

Capitalize all major words—all words except articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions.

Capitalize the first and last words of a title, no matter what they are.

Always lowercase the word to.

In a hyphenated term, capitalize the first element, but capitalize the following elements only if they are major words.

Capitalize the first word of a subtitle or subheading following a colon.

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

Be and is in a title

Capitalize verbs, including the be verb in all its forms: be, is, are, was, were.

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

That in a title

The word that is always a major word and should be capitalized. (In most titles, it is used as a relative pronoun.)

It and me in a title

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

No and not in a title

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

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.

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.

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).

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

MLA style

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Differences in AP, APA, Chicago, MLA rules

In title case, the first word, proper nouns, and major words of a title or heading are capitalized. Style manuals differ in their guidelines on what qualifies as a “major” word. 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.

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.

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.

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.)

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