Title Case Converter
Paste a title, heading or list of titles and press Title Case (APA) to capitalize each line by the APA 7 rules. Major words and every word of four letters or more get capitals; short articles, conjunctions and prepositions stay lower case. The page also converts to UPPERCASE, lowercase and Sentence case, and shows where Chicago 18, MLA 9 and AP differ.
Turkish is the only language that cases the letter i differently: İ lowers to i, and i raises to İ.
How to Use the Title Case Converter
- Paste your title. Put one title on each line. Every line is treated as its own title, so a pasted list of headings converts in one go.
- Press a mode button. Title Case (APA), UPPERCASE, lowercase, Sentence case or aLtErNaTiNg. The output does not update as you type, so press the button again after editing.
- Copy the output. Use Copy to Clipboard above the output box.
- Check the result against your style. The title case button follows APA 7. If your instructor asked for Chicago, MLA or AP, compare against the table below.
The Title Case Rules, Style by Style
Title case is not one rule. Each style guide draws the line between words that get a capital and words that do not in a slightly different place, and the differences show up in everyday words such as "with", "from" and "between". This is how the four major guides treat them, checked against APA Style's title case page, the Chicago Manual of Style's own Q&A, the MLA Style Center and the AP Stylebook's composition-titles entry.
| Word type | APA 7 | Chicago 18 | MLA 9 | AP (composition titles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Articles: a, an, the | Lower case | Lower case | Lower case | Lower case |
| Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor | Lower case | Lower case | Lower case | Lower case |
| Short prepositions: in, of, to, on | Lower case | Lower case | Lower case | Lower case |
| Four-letter prepositions: with, from, over | Capital | Lower case | Lower case | Capital |
| Longer prepositions: between, through | Capital | Capital | Lower case | Capital |
| First word of the title | Capital | Capital | Capital | Capital |
| Last word | Capital if a major word | Always capital | Always capital | Always capital |
Chicago changed in its 18th edition (2024): prepositions of more than four letters are now capitalized, where earlier editions lowercased every preposition whatever its length. MLA still lowercases prepositions in the middle of a title however long they are. AP uses this style only for the titles of books, films, songs and similar works; its news headlines are in sentence case.
Input
learning to write with confidence between drafts
This tool (APA 7)
Learning to Write With Confidence Between Drafts
Chicago 18
Learning to Write with Confidence Between Drafts
MLA 9
Learning to Write with Confidence between Drafts
AP
Learning to Write With Confidence Between Drafts
What the Converter Does and Does Not Do
The title case button lower-cases each line first and then capitalizes it, so pasted ALL CAPS titles come out right. These are the details worth knowing before you copy the result:
- Subtitles. The first word after a colon, a question mark, an exclamation mark or an em dash is capitalized even when it is a small word: "The Effects of Caffeine on Sleep: Is It Worth the Risk?". APA's title case rule names the colon, the em dash and end punctuation.
- Hyphenated words. The first part is always capitalized. Later parts are too, unless they are small words: "Self-Report" and "Peer-Reviewed", but "Face-to-Face".
- Linking verbs. "Is", "be" and "are" count as verbs, so they are capitalized. The lower-case list is only a, an, the, and, as, but, for, if, nor, or, so, yet, at, by, in, of, on, per, to and via, plus "up" and "off" when an article follows them ("Sailing up the River").
- Acronyms survive only in mixed-case lines. A word of two or more capitals is kept as typed ("The NASA Report on Sleep" is unchanged), but in a line that is entirely capitals nothing says which words are acronyms, so "THE NASA REPORT ON SLEEP" comes out as "The Nasa Report on Sleep". Names such as McDonald are also lost once lower-cased; restore them by hand.
- Phrasal verbs need a look. "Up" and "off" are capitalized unless an article follows, so "How to Grow Up" is right, but "Cut Off the Supply" comes out as "Cut off the Supply". Check these by hand.
- No last-word rule. The button follows APA, which names none. A title ending in a short preposition keeps it lower case, where Chicago and MLA would capitalize it.
Reference list titles are not title case
In an APA reference list the titles of articles, books and reports are written in sentence case, and only the journal name is in title case. To convert a title for a reference entry, use the Sentence Case Converter. Title case is for the headings and the paper's own title, and for titles quoted in the text.
Which Tool Do You Need?
| If you want… | Use |
|---|---|
| A heading or paper title capitalized by APA rules | This Title Case Converter |
| An APA reference-list title, or ALL CAPS text repaired | Sentence Case Converter |
| A quick upper, lower, camel or snake case change | Case Converter |
| Capitalization mistakes found in a draft | Capitalization Checker |
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is title case?
- Title case capitalizes the first letter of the major words in a title and leaves small words such as "and", "the", "in" and "of" in lower case unless they open the title or a subtitle. Which small words count varies by style guide: APA capitalizes every word of four letters or more, Chicago 18 lowercases prepositions of four letters or fewer, and MLA lowercases prepositions of any length.
- What is the difference between APA and MLA title case?
- APA capitalizes every word of four letters or more, so "With" and "Between" get capitals, and it lowercases only articles and conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or fewer. MLA lowercases articles, prepositions and coordinating conjunctions of any length in the middle of a title, and always capitalizes the last word. Both capitalize nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns.
- Should I capitalize the word after a colon?
- Yes, in APA title case: the first word of a subtitle is always capitalized, even a small word like "A" or "The". Chicago and MLA do the same for the first word of a subtitle. This is separate from running prose, where what follows a colon in a sentence is lower case unless it begins a full clause or is a proper noun.
- Are "is" and "be" capitalized in a title?
- Yes, in APA, Chicago, MLA and AP. They are verbs, and verbs are major words however short they are. The same goes for "it", "he" and "we", which are pronouns. This converter capitalizes all of them.
- Is Chicago title case different now?
- Yes. The 18th edition (2024) capitalizes prepositions of more than four letters, such as "Between" and "Through", where the 17th edition and earlier lowercased all prepositions. Prepositions of four letters or fewer, such as "with" and "from", stay lower case. This converter does not implement Chicago, so adjust those words by hand.
- Why did my acronym turn into lower case?
- Acronyms typed in capitals, such as NASA or DNA, are kept when the rest of the line is mixed case. A line pasted entirely in capitals is lower-cased first, which is what makes pasted ALL CAPS titles work, but then the converter cannot tell NASA from any other word. Retype acronyms and proper names such as DNA or McDonald after converting.
- Is my text uploaded or stored?
- No. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is sent anywhere and closing the tab clears the text.