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Rules for Capitalization in Titles

of Articles

If you have a look at the title of this article you will see that some
letters are capitalized and some are not. Although the capitalization of
titles can sometimes depend on the particular style of a writer or
publication, there are some general rules to remember.

Capitalization Rules for Titles


The rules for capitalizing titles can vary according to a particular style
guide, such as Associated Press Stylebook (AP), Chicago Manual of
Style, and MLA style. They all have different rules for how to capitalize
titles. So which one should you choose?
Well, it all depends if a certain style is required by your teacher,
course, or subject/field. For example, MLA style is commonly used in
the liberal arts or humanities, while AP style is popularly used in
journalism. One suggestion is to choose one style, or check the style
required by your teacher, and stick to it.

General Rule: Title Case


As discussed there are some exceptions to the rule; however, here is
one general rule that you can apply for capitalizing titles. Capitalize
the first, last and any important words in a title, which is known
as Title Case or Headline Style.

In Titles: Do Capitalize
Generally, these parts of speech are capitalized in titles.

Nouns (man, bus, book)


Adjectives (angry, lovely, small)
Verbs (run, eat, sleep)
Adverbs (slowly, quickly, quietly)
Pronouns (he, she, it)
Subordinating conjunctions (as, because, that)

In Titles: Do Not Capitalize


As you have probably noticed "short" words, those with less than five
letters, are generally lowercase in titles, unless they are the first or
last words in a title.
Generally, we do not capitalize:
Articles: a, an, the
Coordinating Conjunctions: and, but, or, for, nor, etc.
Prepositions (fewer than five letters): on, at, to, from, by, etc.
When in doubt and you do not have a reference guide in front of you,
here is one general rule to remember recommended by The U.S.
Government Printing Office Style Manual:

"Capitalize all words in titles of publications and documents, except a,


an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, it, or, and nor."

More Title Capitalization Rules


I. Sentence Case
Some writers and publications choose to use sentence case for titles.
Basically the title is written as if it is a sentence, with only the first
letter capitalized (however, proper nouns within the title are
capitalized).
For example:

Budget wedding invitations


Top 10 things to do in Paris
Best technology blogs

II. Advanced Rules


Here are some advanced rules for title capitalization:

Hyphenated compound words (High-Quality Web Services, FirstRate U.S. Lawyers, ) and open compounds (salad dressing, science
fiction)
The first word following a colon (Feminine Poetry: Ten Women
Writers from Around the Word)
Prepositions that belong to a phrasal verb (How to Back Up a
Computer)

Final Note
If you are writing titles (or headings) for a school paper, it is
recommended to choose one style for capitalizing titles and be
consistent throughout.
Further, no matter your personal preference make sure that you write
the exact titles of books, newspapers, journals, etc. as they are
written on the original document (even if they do not follow common
capitalization rules).

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