does the title of an essay need to be capitalized

• Pangram Solver
• Anagram Solver
• Rhyming Dictionary
• AI Title Generator
• Poem Title Generator
• Book Title Generator
• YouTube Title Generator
• Essay Title Generator
• Title Rewriter
• Title Capitalization
• Sentence & Paragraph Rewriter
• Essay Writer
• Book Title Wizard
• Random Movie Generator
• Fortune Cookie Generator
• Random European Country Generator
• Random Country Generator
• Empty and Invisible Character Generator – Blank ( ) Texts
• Random State Generator
• Prompts Generator
• Text Repeater (Add Text, Repeat, & Share)
• Speech Generator
• Character Name Generator
• Name Generators
• Pokemon Name Generator
• Character Backstory Generator
• Song Generator
• Poem Generator
• Word Search Puzzles
• Ideation Articles
• Random Topic Generator
• Writing Prompt Generator
• Random Essay Title Generator
• Writing Articles
• Online Word Counter
• Online Grammar Checker
• Headline Analyzer
• Best Book Writing Software and Book Writing Apps
• 150 Best Resources for Writers
• Productivity
• English Language
• Grammar Tips
• Headline Analyzer Tool

Title Capitalization Rules

• For WordPress
• Publishing Articles
• Email Marketing
• Book Articles
• How to Get A Book Published
• Best Literary Agencies
• How To Self Publish a Book

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.

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

What Is a Hero’s Journey?

Antagonist vs Villain: What’s the Difference?

26 Best Writing Tools of 2024

11 Best Plagiarism Tools 2024

Best Tablets for Writers 2024: A Buying Guide

Grammarly vs. ProWritingAid Review: Which One Is Better? [2024 Review + 20% Discount]

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Accessibility

Forgot your password?

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.

Back to login

Fix These Common Headline Mistakes

FREE EMAIL BONUS

Learn how to spot the 5 most common mistakes and fix them before you publish.

5 Secrets to Writing Great Titles

Proven techniques for attention grabbing headlines & titles 

CHEAT SHEET FOR

How to Write Great Headlines

Begin your writing journey with us.

Subject Guides

• Starting Your Research
• In-Text Citations (APA)
• Formatting the Reference Page (APA)
• Citing Books (APA)
• Citing Articles (APA)
• Citing Websites (APA)
• Citing Videos (APA)
• In-Text Citations (MLA)
• Capitalization and Styling for Titles (MLA)
• Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA)
• Citing Books (MLA)
• Citing Articles (MLA)
• Citing Websites (MLA)
• Citing Videos (MLA)
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Library Hours

Capitalization of Titles in MLA

Capitalizing titles.

When you are writing the title of a work in an MLA-formatted paper, the rules can appear confusing. However, they are simple once you get used to working with them. If the title on the cover and title page do not match, use the one from the title page. You will probably capitalize most of the words in the title.

Here is what you capitalize:

• The first and last word of the title
• Verbs and adverbs
• Nouns and pronouns
• Subordinating conjunctions (for example,  as ,  because ,  if )

Here is what you don't capitalize:

• a, an, and, but, nor, the, so, to, yet
• prepositions (words like  as, between,  or  in )

If you are not sure what part of speech a word is, online dictionaries such as  Merriam-Webster  will tell you.

Note : There are two exception to the capitalization rules. First, capitalize any word if it's the last word in the title. For example, you would write the book title  Island Between  with  between  capitalized even though it's a preposition. The second exception is that you capitalize anything that follows a colon. Here is an example:  Citations: A Study of Good Practices . Normally, you wouldn't capitalize  a , but in this case you would.

Capitalizing Quotes

According to MLA style, how you capitalize words in quotes depends upon the context.

Quotes in Text

Whenever you quote a text, you may need to change the capitalization used in the quote. If your sentence before the quote uses a word like  says ,  states ,  writes , etc., you will want to capitalize the first word you quote. If you do change a lower case word to upper case, put the capitalized letter in brackets. This tells your reader that you changed the text a little. Here is an example:

Original sentence: Cats are affectionate, and dogs are playful.

Example one: Smith says "Cats are affectionate."

Example two: Smith says "[D]ogs are affectionate."

If your sentence uses a word that isn't  says ,  writes , etc., you will want to make the first word of the quote lower case, unless it is a proper noun like someone's name. Here is an example:

Example one: Smith's research determined that "[c]ats are affectionate."

Example two: Smith noted that "dogs are affectionate."

Block Quotes

The first word of block quotes are always capitalized, and brackets used if you have to change the first word from lower case to capitalized.

Styling Titles in MLA

How to style a title in mla.

When using the MLA citation method, there are two different ways to style titles you write in your text. They will be either italicized or in quotation marks. As a general rule, complete works (like a book, play, or movie) would be italicized, but works that appear inside another work (such as a short story that appears in an anthology of stories, or an article from a scholarly journal) will be put in quotation marks. Here is an example:

Smith's short story "The Happy Dog" first appeared in his book of collected stories  Dog and Cat Tales .

There are exceptions, however. If a work would normally be italicized, but appears inside another work, it stays italicized. For example, a publisher may print a collection of short novels or plays inside one large book. Because novels and plays are normally italicized, they stay italicized even though they're part of a larger work.

Here is a brief list of what is italicized, and what is put in quotation marks:

• << Previous: In-Text Citations (MLA)
• Next: Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA) >>
• Last Updated: Aug 26, 2024 3:44 PM
• URL: https://midland.libguides.com/subject-guides/all-guides

Formatting Titles

by Purdue Global Academic Success Center and Writing Center · Published October 2, 2020 · Updated November 5, 2020

Let’s face it: For whatever reason, formatting titles can be confusing, especially if you think about all the titles that need proper formatting–the title placed on the title page of a paper, the title of a journal article mentioned in the body of a paper, the title of a newspaper or a website on the list of references. There are titles of books and titles of chapters in those books; titles of blogs and titles of blog entries. Some titles are italicized and some are put in quotation marks. Titles on the list of references require formatting–some titles use title case, some sentence case; some titles are italicized and some are not. And then there are those situations where titles are used in in-text citations–some titles are truncated and italicized; some are put in quotation marks–you get the idea. 

First off, I am not going to address how to format titles when citing in the paper or listing on the list of references—those are formatting guidelines for another time. I am going to focus on titles on the title page, the first page of the paper, and within a paper. Here is what you need to keep straight:

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;
• capitalize the first letter of all verbs;
• capitalize all words of four or more letters;
• capitalize the first letter of all other words except a, an, the, short conjunctions such as “for, and, but,” and prepositions of fewer than four letters (words like “up, in, off”);
• capitalize the first letter of a word following a colon or dash;
• capitalize the first letter of a subtitle. 

When a title appears on the title page of an APA Style 7th edition student paper, that title should be centered, bolded, and in title case—no need to use all caps, no need to italicize or underline, and no need to use quotation marks or place a period at the end. 

Simply type out the title using title case and bold it–that’s it.

On the first page of the essay, center and repeat the title, bold it, and use title case. Again, do not use any special formatting. Do not use a bigger font size or style. Do not underline or italicize and so forth. Just use title case, bold, and center the title on the first page of the essay.

Easy enough, right?

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 have quotation marks around it. If the title is for a book, journal, newspaper, or some other whole work, then the title is italicized.

Let’s say you have an article titled “The New Coffee Culture” that appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture . Let’s also say that for whatever reason, you name both titles in the body of your paper. The article “The New Coffee Culture” appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture , so the article is content that appears in a greater whole, right? 

Both titles would be in title case. The article “The New Coffee Culture” would have quotation marks around it, and the title of the journal, Studies in Popular Culture , would be italicized. 

I hope this blogcast clarifies exactly what you need to do when formatting titles in typical usage situations in APA style. 

Until next week–

Kurtis Clements

Share this:

• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Next story  APA Style Formatting in PowerPoint
• Previous story  Bias-Free Language

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Home / Guides / Capitalization

Capitalization

Capitalization rules depend on what academic citation or paper-formatting style you are using. Most academic style manuals use two main capitalization styles: sentence-style capitalization and title-style capitalization (also called “headline-style”). However, style manuals differ on when to use the two capitalization styles.

Below are specific capitalization best practices for MLA format (9th ed.), APA 7 format , and Chicago/Turabian style.

Sentence-Style Capitalization

• the first letter of the first word of a sentence
• names and initials for people
• names for days and months
• proper nouns
• adjectives formed with proper nouns (e.g., Freudian psychoanalysis)
• the subject pronoun I
• titles that come directly before a person’s name (e.g., President Biden)

Sentence-Style Capitalization Examples:

In the text:

Professor Jones assigned two essays this month, one on the Civil War and one on Abraham Lincoln.

Use sentence-style capitalization for source titles in reference lists when following APA 7 style:

A consensus statement on trauma mental health: The New Haven competency conference process and major findings

Title-Style Capitalization or Headline-Style Capitalization

• the first word of the title
• the last word of the title
• other major words
• Articles, such as a , an , and the
• Conjunctions , such as for , and , not , but , or , or yet (FANBOYS)
• Prepositions , such as against , between , in , of , or to

Title-Style Capitalization Example:

Use title-style or headline-style capitalization for source titles in the text when following APA 7, MLA 9, or Chicago styles, and for source titles in the references in MLA 9 or Chicago:

A Consensus Statement on Trauma Mental Health: The New Haven Competency Conference Process and Major Findings

• For additional details and examples of how to style a title in MLA 9, see the guide for formatting a book title .
• the first letter of the first word following a colon if what follows the colon forms a complete sentence
• names of racial and ethnic groups (Asian, Black, White, Native American, etc.)
• titles that come directly before a person’s name (President Lincoln, Dr. Smith, etc.)
• trade names and brand names that begin with a capital letter
• university departments, academic institutions, official academic course titles
• disease and disorder names
• job titles or positions when the title follows a name or is used generically (e.g., “Abraham Lincoln was president”)
• therapy and treatment names
• theories, concepts, models, statistical procedures
• When writing a source title in the body of your essay in APA style, use title case.
• When writing a source title in the reference list in APA style, use sentence case.
• For additional details and examples of how to style a title in APA 7, see the guide for formatting a book title .
• a proper noun
• a quotation
• two or more complete sentences
• job titles or positions directly before a name (Nurse Smith, Director Miller, etc.)
• legislative and deliberative bodies’ full names (e.g., the United States Congress)
• titles that come directly before a person’s name
• When writing a source title in the body of your essay or in the references/bibliography in Chicago/Turabian style, use title case.
• For additional details and examples of how to style a title in Chicago/Turabian, see the guide for formatting a book title .

Citation Guides

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• Citation Examples
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Page Numbers
• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
• APA 7 Updates
• View APA Guide
• Bibliography
• Works Cited
• MLA 8 Updates
• View MLA Guide

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Citation Basics

Harvard Referencing

Plagiarism Basics

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

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.

New Service Alert !!!

We are now taking exams and courses

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.

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Language rules
• Capitalization Rules in English | Quick Guide & Examples

Capitalization Rules in English | Quick Guide & Examples

Published on April 19, 2019 by Amy Luo . Revised on September 4, 2023.

In English, a capital letter is used for the first word of a sentence and for all proper nouns (words that name a specific person, place, organization, or thing).

In some cases, capitalization is also required for the first word in a quotation and the first word after a colon .

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

Recognizing proper nouns, directions and regions, theories, models and disciplines, capitalization within quotations, capitalization after a colon, capitalizing titles.

A proper noun is the specific name of a person, place, organization, or thing. All proper nouns (as well as adjectives derived from them) should be capitalized.

Michelle Obama , the former first lady, was raised in Chicago and is a graduate of Harvard Law School .

A common noun , on the other hand, refers to a general, non-specific category or entity. Common nouns are not normally capitalized (unless they are the first word of a sentence or part of a title).

Monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy are forms of government classified according to which people have the authority to rule.

There are no proper nouns in the example above. Words like  democracy ,  government and  authority refer to general concepts and categories rather than specific names.

Common nouns often become proper nouns when used to name a specific entity:

Times and events

Specific periods and named events in history are proper nouns and thus capitalized. Centuries, however, stay in lowercase.

• The Middle Ages were dismissed as backward by Renaissance thinkers.
• The Paleozoic Era began 541 million years ago.
• The Great Depression affected virtually every country in the world.
• Impressionism was a pivotal artistic development in the nineteenth century .

Days of the week (e.g., Wednesday ), months of the year (e.g., August ), and holidays and festivals (e.g., Christmas , Ramadan ) are capitalized. However, the four seasons are common nouns and therefore not capitalized unless they appear as part of a proper noun.

• I plan on visiting New York in the summer .
• I plan on attending the Summer Olympics next year.

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

North, east, south, and west are not capitalized when they refer to a direction or general area. This also applies to derivative adjectives and adverbs :

• I live five miles north of London.
• Warm, westerly winds passed through the city.
• The fire affected only the northern region of the forest.

However, capitalization is required for these words when they are part of a proper name or when they refer to a distinct region.

• The North Pole has a wider variety of animal life than the South Pole.
• The scope of the book is limited to the history of Western civilization.
• Cameroon’s East Region borders the Central African Republic.

Whether a geographical area is named as a distinct region can vary between countries.

• They took a road trip down the West Coast of the United States .
• We took a road trip up the west coast of Scotland .

If you’re unsure whether to capitalize the name of an area or region, check a dictionary or consult academic sources for common usage.

In academic writing, some types of nouns are often incorrectly capitalized. The table below shows academic terms that should not be capitalized. Note, though, that proper nouns within these terms are still capitalized as usual.

However, note that the names of existing tests, inventories and questionnaires should be capitalized.

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
• UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist

When the quote forms a complete sentence, capitalize the first word.

John asked, “Are these library books overdue?”

When the quote is a fragment incorporated into your own sentence, the first word is not capitalized.

She referred to him as “a plague sore.”

Don't submit your assignments before you do this

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students. Free citation check included.

Try for free

When a colon introduces a list or any phrase that is not a complete sentence, do not capitalize the first word (unless it is a proper noun).

She filled the picnic basket with a variety of snacks: cookies, bread, dips, and fruits.

When a colon introduces a complete sentence, capitalization rules vary between style guides. According to APA style , the first word after the colon should be capitalized.

She had been up all night studying: She was determined to get the top grade in the class.

But according to Chicago style , the first word following the colon should be capitalized only if there is more than one complete explanatory sentence following the colon.

She had been up all night studying: she was determined to get the top grade in the class.

She had been up all night studying: She was determined to get the top grade in the class. It would guarantee her the prestigious scholarship.

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
• Capitalize all nouns, verbs , adjectives , adverbs , pronouns , and subordinating conjunctions
• Use lowercase for articles (the, a, an), prepositions , and coordinating conjunctions

I prefer The Taming of the Shrew over Romeo and Juliet .

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the last in a trilogy.

Capitalizing headings in papers

When writing a paper or thesis, you have two options for capitalizing the headings of chapters and sections . You can use title case for all headings , as in the examples above.

3.1 Emerging Coffee Markets in North America

Alternatively, you can choose to use sentence case , which means you only capitalize the first word and proper nouns, as in a normal sentence.

3.1 Emerging coffee markets in North America

Some style guides have specific requirements for capitalizing headings (see, for example, how to format APA headings and subheadings ). Whichever approach you choose, make sure to be consistent: all headings at the same level should take the same capitalization style.

Sources in this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

Luo, A. (2023, September 04). Capitalization Rules in English | Quick Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 27, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/language-rules/capitalization-rules/

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015).  Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage  (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2016).  Garner’s modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Is this article helpful?

Other students also liked

Capitalization in titles and headings, apa headings and subheadings, when to use quotation marks ("") | rules & examples, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

What to Capitalize in a Title

#scribendiinc

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:

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.

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.

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.)

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) .

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.

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.

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.

Image source: choreograph/envato.elements.com

Make Your Writing Shine with Professional Proofreading

Try our academic proofreading service , or get a free sample, about the author.

Scribendi's in-house editors work with writers from all over the globe to perfect their writing. They know that no piece of writing is complete without a professional edit, and they love to see a good piece of writing transformed into a great one. Scribendi's in-house editors are unrivaled in both experience and education, having collectively edited millions of words and obtained nearly 20 degrees. They love consuming caffeinated beverages, reading books of various genres, and relaxing in quiet, dimly lit spaces.

Have You Read?

"The Complete Beginner's Guide to Academic Writing"

Related Posts

Hyphenation: Are You Confused?

The Rules of Capitalization

The Student's Guide to Grammar and Punctuation

Upload your file(s) so we can calculate your word count, or enter your word count manually.

We will also recommend a service based on the file(s) you upload.

English is not my first language. I need English editing and proofreading so that I sound like a native speaker.

I need to have my journal article, dissertation, or term paper edited and proofread, or I need help with an admissions essay or proposal.

I have a novel, manuscript, play, or ebook. I need editing, copy editing, proofreading, a critique of my work, or a query package.

I need editing and proofreading for my white papers, reports, manuals, press releases, marketing materials, and other business documents.

I need to have my essay, project, assignment, or term paper edited and proofread.

I want to sound professional and to get hired. I have a resume, letter, email, or personal document that I need to have edited and proofread.

 Prices include your personal % discount.

 Prices include % sales tax ( ).

TRY OUR FREE APP

Write your book in Reedsy Studio. Try the beloved writing app for free today.

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors.

Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Jun 27, 2024

Title Capitalization Rules: Learn Which Words To Capitalize

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Martin Cavannagh

Head of Content at Reedsy, Martin has spent over eight years helping writers turn their ambitions into reality. As a voice in the indie publishing space, he has written for a number of outlets and spoken at conferences, including the 2024 Writers Summit at the London Book Fair.

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 figuring out what to call your novel , 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.

FREE RESOURCE

Book Title Checklist

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, with no exceptions. Subtitles, written after a colon, are especially common in factual 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 sigh with 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

Many common parts of speech 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.”

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.

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 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.

Free course: How to self-edit like a pro

Rid your manuscript of the most common writing mistakes with this 10-day online course. Get started now.

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 words introduce a new part to the sentence 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.

🎯 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.

Perfect your book with a professional edit

The best developmental editors, copy editors, and proofreaders are on Reedsy. Sign up for free and meet them.

Learn how Reedsy can help you craft a beautiful book.

If you want to expand your knowledge of niche linguistic matters even further, head over to the world of punctuation with our post on using hyphens and dashes correctly. Just don’t forget your linguist geek hat.

Continue reading

Recommended posts from the Reedsy Blog

100+ Character Ideas (and How to Come Up With Your Own)

Character creation can be challenging. To help spark your creativity, here’s a list of 100+ character ideas, along with tips on how to come up with your own.

How to Introduce a Character: 8 Tips To Hook Readers In

Introducing characters is an art, and these eight tips and examples will help you master it.

450+ Powerful Adjectives to Describe a Person (With Examples)

Want a handy list to help you bring your characters to life? Discover words that describe physical attributes, dispositions, and emotions.

How to Plot a Novel Like a NYT Bestselling Author

Need to plot your novel? Follow these 7 steps from New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt.

How to Write an Autobiography: The Story of Your Life

Want to write your autobiography but aren’t sure where to start? This step-by-step guide will take you from opening lines to publishing it for everyone to read.

What is the Climax of a Story? Examples & Tips

The climax is perhaps a story's most crucial moment, but many writers struggle to stick the landing. Let's see what makes for a great story climax.

Join a community of over 1 million authors

Reedsy is more than just a blog. Become a member today to discover how we can help you publish a beautiful book.

Which famous author do you write like?

Take our 1 minute quiz to find out.

1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them.

Enter your email or get started with a social account:

Capitalization

APA Style is a “down” style, meaning that words are lowercase unless there is specific guidance to capitalize them. For example, capitalize the first word of a sentence, unless the sentence begins with the name of a person whose name starts with a lowercase letter.

The Publication Manual contains guidance on how to capitalize words beginning a sentence; proper nouns and trade names; job titles and positions; diseases, disorders, therapies, theories, and related terms; titles of works and headings within works; titles of tests and measures; nouns followed by numerals or letters; names of conditions or groups in an experiment; and names of study factors, variables, and effects. Only a subset of the guidance is presented on the website to answers users’ most common questions.

Academic Writer ®

Master academic writing with APA’s essential teaching and learning resource

Course Adoption

Teaching APA Style? Become a course adopter of the 7th edition  Publication Manual

APA Dictionary of Psychology

Browse more than 25,000 authoritative entries across 90 subfields of psychology

Which Words in a Title Should Be Capitalized?

The Difference Between Sentence and Title Case

ThoughtCo/Richard Nordquist

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

There is no single set of rules for capitalizing words in a title of a book, article, essay, movie, song, poem, play, television program, or computer game. And, unfortunately, even style guides disagree, complicating matters.

However, here is a basic guide to the two most common methods, sentence case and title case , and the top differences between some of the main title capitalization styles. For most of us, it's a matter of selecting one convention and sticking to it.

First, which is which?

Sentence Case (Down Style) or Title Case (Up Style)

In sentence case, which is the simplest, titles are treated more like sentences: You capitalize the first word of the title and any proper nouns (not the same for subtitles).

In title case, on the other hand, which is the most prevalent in book titles and magazine and newspaper headlines, you capitalize the first and last words of the title and all nouns , pronouns , adjectives , verbs , adverbs , and subordinating conjunctions ( if , because , as , that , and so on). In other words, all the important words.

But this is where things start getting sticky. There are four main title capitalization styles: Chicago style (from the style manual published by the University of Chicago), APA style (from the American Psychological Association), AP style (from The Associated Press), and the MLA style (from the Modern Language Association).

In American mainstream publishing, Chicago and AP are the most widely used and referenced (APA and MLA are more used in scholarly articles). And when it comes to capitalization, it's the little words that they disagree on.

Little Words

According to "The Chicago Manual of Style," " articles ( a, an, the ), coordinating conjunctions ( and, but, or, for, nor ), and prepositions , regardless of length, are lowercased unless they are the first or last word of the title."

"The Associated Press Stylebook" is fussier. It calls for:

• Capitalizing the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of three or more letters
• Capitalizing an article— the, a, an —or words of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in a title

Other guides say that prepositions and conjunctions of fewer than five letters should be in lowercase—except at the beginning or end of a title. (For additional guidelines, see the glossary entry for title case .)

"Whichever preposition rule you adopt, you need to remember that many common prepositions [can also] function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs, and when they do, they should be capitalized in a title," says Amy Einsohn in her "Copyeditor's Handbook."

A Capital Answer

So, should you use sentence case or title case?

If your school, college, or business has a house style  guide, that decision has been made for you. If not, simply pick one or the other (flip a coin if you have to), and then try to be consistent.

A note on  hyphenated compound words in a headline: As a general rule, says the latest edition of "The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage" (that newspaper's style manual), "capitalize both parts of a hyphenated compound in a headline: Cease-Fire; Able-Bodied; Sit-In; Make-Believe; One-Fifth. When a hyphen is used with a prefix of two or three letters merely to separate doubled vowels or to clarify pronunciation , lowercase after the hyphen: Co-op; Re-entry; Pre-empt. But: Re-Sign; Co-Author. With a prefix of four letters or more, capitalize after the hyphen: Anti-Intellectual; Post-Mortem. In sums of money: $7 Million; $34 Billion."

One piece of advice on this subject comes from "The Chicago Manual of Style:" "Break a rule when it doesn't work."

And if you want a little help, there are sites online that will check your titles for you.

• Definition and Examples of Title Case and Headline Style
• All About Capitalization
• The Title in Composition
• Bibliography: Definition and Examples
• 140 Key Copyediting Terms and What They Mean
• Lowercase Letters Explained
• The Best Examples of Palindromes in the English Language
• Bicapitalization, From DreamWorks to YouTube
• Capital vs. Capitol: How to Choose the Right Word
• The Complimentary Close in a Letter or Email
• Proper Nouns in English Grammar
• Sniglet Definition and Examples
• What Is Newspeak?
• Using Sentence Case for Titles, Headings, and Headlines
• What Are Endnotes, Why Are They Needed, and How Are They Used?
• What Is Anastrophe in Rhetoric?

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

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).

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

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 ?

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

5-minute read

Free Email Newsletter Template (2024)

Promoting a brand means sharing valuable insights to connect more deeply with your audience, and...

6-minute read

How to Write a Nonprofit Grant Proposal

If you’re seeking funding to support your charitable endeavors as a nonprofit organization, you’ll need...

9-minute read

How to Use Infographics to Boost Your Presentation

Is your content getting noticed? Capturing and maintaining an audience’s attention is a challenge when...

8-minute read

Why Interactive PDFs Are Better for Engagement

Are you looking to enhance engagement and captivate your audience through your professional documents? Interactive...

7-minute read

Seven Key Strategies for Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization is rapidly shaping the digital landscape, requiring content professionals to adapt their...

Five Creative Ways to Showcase Your Digital Portfolio

Are you a creative freelancer looking to make a lasting impression on potential clients or...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

When do I capitalize the first letter of a quotation?

Whether you capitalize the first letter of a quotation depends on how the quotation fits into your sentence. Capitalize the first letter of a quotation, regardless of the case used in the source, if it forms a clause or a self-contained unit of thought that is merely framed or presented by your sentence. Begin a quotation with a lowercase letter, regardless of the case used in the source, if you integrate the quoted material  syntactically  into your own sentence. Use brackets to indicate that you have changed the case of a letter.

A quotation that is merely framed or presented by your prose will often be introduced by a verb of saying or thinking—such as writes , argues , or recalls —or by an adverbial phrase of attribution. In such cases the quotation is always preceded by a comma.

Ona warns her mother, “[T]his will be an arduous trip, perilous” (Toews 197). For Gessen, “If anyone holds the tools of defining the elephant,” it is these students of suppressed disciplines (4). As Arendt reminds us, “The purpose of a trial is to render justice, and nothing else” (253).

A quoted principle or saying presented as such is likewise set apart from your own thought.

The phrase “It’s all Greek to me” is said to have originated in medieval Latin.

A quotation that is syntactically integrated into your sentence—and therefore begins with a lowercase letter—is easy to spot when the integration occurs midclause:

While Rose was a precocious talker, Marigold “thought she might just skip talking altogether, and wait for writing” (Glück 26). Myriam imagines herself an office with “shiny imported wooden floors below her feet, gardenias framing the floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the expanding Andes” (Delgado Lopera 125).

Quotations preceded by the relative pronoun that , by a conjunction, or by an adverbial clause that does not serve to attribute the quotation to its source or speaker also fall under this category, even if they are complete clauses.

Goffman notes that “[a] conflict between candor and seemliness will often be resolved in favor of the latter” (75). Rose does not share Marigold’s literary bent, but “she was not entirely lacking in metaphoric insight” (Glück 42).

The first word of a quotation following a colon retains the case used in the source.

Exile, Said suggests, can be liberating: “to be as marginal and undomesticated as someone who is in real exile is for an intellectual to be unusually responsive . . . to innovation and experiment rather than the authoritatively given status quo ” (63–64). Exile, Said suggests, can be liberating: “A condition of marginality . . . frees you from having to always proceed with caution, afraid to overturn the applecart” (63).

For guidance on punctuation with quotations, see section 6.48 of the MLA Handbook .

For more on alterations of quotations with brackets, see this post .

Works Cited

Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil . Penguin, 2006.

Delgado Lopera, Julián. Fiebre Tropical . Feminist Press, 2020.

Gessen, Masha. The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia . Riverhead Books, 2017.

Glück, Louise. Marigold and Rose . Picador, 2022.

Goffman, Erving. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity . Simon and Schuster, 1963.

Said, Edward. Representations of the Intellectual . Vintage, 1996. 

Toews, Miriam. Women Talking . Bloomsbury, 2020.