What is title case?
Title case (also called headline case) is a capitalization convention in which the important words of a heading are capitalized while the minor words — short articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor) and short prepositions (at, by, in, of, on, to) — are written in lowercase. The very first and very last word of a title are always capitalized regardless of part of speech. Title case is the standard for book titles, article headlines, essay titles and email subject lines across the English-speaking web.
The five title case styles, compared
The hard part of title case is that the major style guides disagree about which "minor" words to lowercase. Our converter implements the five most-requested rule sets:
| Style | Used for | Lowercase rule for prepositions |
|---|---|---|
| APA | Psychology, science, education | Lowercase prepositions of 3 letters or fewer; capitalize 4+ (e.g. With, From). |
| Chicago | Books, publishing, humanities | Lowercase all prepositions regardless of length. |
| AP | Journalism, news headlines | Lowercase conjunctions and prepositions of 3 letters or fewer. |
| MLA | Literature, language arts | Lowercase all prepositions and articles (like Chicago). |
| AMA | Medical and scientific journals | Lowercase conjunctions and prepositions of 3 letters or fewer. |
Which words to capitalize, and which to lowercase
Every major style guide agrees on the core of title case — the disagreements are only at the edges. Use this as your quick reference:
Always capitalized (the "major" words):
- Nouns — Dog, Freedom, Science
- Pronouns — He, She, They, It (and always capitalize I)
- Verbs — including short ones like Is, Are, Be, Do
- Adjectives — Bright, Green, Endless
- Adverbs — Quickly, Very, Almost
- Subordinating conjunctions — Because, Although, If, While
- The first and last word of the title, no matter its part of speech
Lowercased (the "minor" words), unless first or last:
- Articles — a, an, the
- Coordinating conjunctions — and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
- Short prepositions — at, by, in, of, on, to, up, off (styles differ on longer ones)
The same title in all five styles
To see how the rules diverge, here is one title — a guide to writing about the mind — converted in each style:
| Style | Result |
|---|---|
| APA | A Guide to Writing About the Mind |
| Chicago | A Guide to Writing about the Mind |
| AP | A Guide to Writing About the Mind |
| MLA | A Guide to Writing about the Mind |
| AMA | A Guide to Writing About the Mind |
The only difference here is the four-letter preposition About: APA, AP and AMA capitalize it (four letters or more), while Chicago and MLA keep every preposition lowercase. Small distinctions like this are exactly why an automatic converter saves time.
Tricky cases the converter handles
- Hyphenated words — both parts of a major hyphenated word are usually capitalized (Long-Term, Self-Esteem).
- After a colon — the first word of a subtitle is always capitalized (Design: A Practical Guide).
- "To" in an infinitive — still lowercase in title case (How to Win), even though it is doing verb-like work.
- Short verbs — Is, Be, Are stay capitalized because they are verbs, not minor words.
- First and last word — capitalized even if they are normally minor (The Book I Was Waiting For).
How to use this title case converter
- Pick the style you need from the buttons above (APA is selected by default).
- Type or paste your title into the box. The result updates instantly as you type.
- Click Copy result to put the converted title on your clipboard.
Everything happens locally in your browser — your text is never uploaded to a server, so it is safe to paste unpublished titles, headlines and manuscript chapter names.
All free text tools
Frequently asked questions
- Should I capitalize "and" in a title?
- No. "And" is a coordinating conjunction, so it stays lowercase in every major style — unless it happens to be the first or last word of the title.
- Do I capitalize "is" in a title?
- Yes. "Is" is a verb (a form of "to be"), and verbs are always capitalized in title case even though the word is short.
- Should prepositions like "with" or "between" be capitalized?
- It depends on the style. In APA they are capitalized because they have four or more letters; in Chicago and MLA all prepositions stay lowercase.
- What about the first word after a colon?
- The first word of a subtitle (after a colon) is always capitalized. This converter handles that automatically.
- Is the converter really free?
- Yes — no account, no download, no limits. It is a pure front-end tool.
- Which title case style should I use?
- Match the style guide your work follows: APA for psychology and social sciences, Chicago for books and general publishing, MLA for literature and the humanities, AP for journalism and news, AMA for medical writing. When in doubt, APA and Chicago are the most common defaults.
- What is the difference between title case and sentence case?
- Title case capitalizes the major words of a heading; sentence case capitalizes only the first word (and proper nouns), like an ordinary sentence. Use our sentence case converter for the latter.
- Do I capitalize short words like "on" or "in"?
- Usually no — short prepositions stay lowercase unless they are the first or last word. APA and AP capitalize prepositions only when they reach four letters or more.
- Does it keep ALL-CAPS or brand names intact?
- The converter applies standard title case rules to your text. For deliberately styled words (acronyms, brand names like iPhone), retype them after converting.