Title case isn't one thing.
A title-case headline looks different in The New York Times than in an APA paper. Each style guide has its own rules. We've implemented all eight from the source manuals.
Associated Press — Newsrooms and journalism.
Chicago Manual of Style — Book publishing, humanities, business writing.
American Psychological Association — Behavioral and social-science papers.
Modern Language Association — Humanities, literature, language studies.
The New York Times — Newspaper headlines and standing heads.
Wikipedia Manual of Style — titles of works cited in articles (not Wikipedia's own page titles, which use sentence case).
The Bluebook — Legal citation, case names, law reviews.
AMA Manual of Style — Medical and scientific publication.
Which style should I use?
If your work has a specified style guide, use that one.
If you're choosing for yourself: AP for journalism and most professional writing, Chicago for books and long-form non-fiction, APA for social science papers, MLA for humanities and literature.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct way to capitalize a book title?
It depends which style guide applies — publishers typically use Chicago, which capitalizes all major words and lowercases prepositions regardless of length. Academic writing may call for APA or MLA instead. Check each guide's page above for the specific rule.
How do I use an automatic title case converter?
Paste your text into the converter on the homepage, pick the style guide pill that matches your context (AP, Chicago, APA, MLA, NY Times, Wikipedia, Bluebook, or AMA), and the output updates instantly.
Should prepositions like "with" or "from" be capitalized in titles?
It depends on the style and the word's length. AP and NY Times lowercase prepositions of three letters or fewer; Chicago and MLA lowercase prepositions of any length; Bluebook and Wikipedia's title-case rule use a four-letter cutoff; APA and AMA capitalize prepositions of four-plus (APA) or four-plus (AMA) letters even though those are shorter cutoffs than the others. "With" (4 letters) and "from" (4 letters) are capitalized under most styles except Chicago and MLA.
Are conjunctions capitalized in professional article headlines?
Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so) are lowercased in every style guide on this site. Subordinating conjunctions (because, although, while) are typically capitalized, since they function as major words.
Do you capitalize articles like "the" and "a" mid-title?
No — articles (a, an, the) are lowercased in the middle of a title under every style guide covered here, unless the article is the first or last word of the title.
How long can a word be before it must be capitalized in title case?
There's no single answer — it's the specific style guide's cutoff for prepositions that matters. AP and NY Times: 3 letters or fewer stay lowercase. Chicago and MLA: no cutoff, all prepositions lowercase. Bluebook, Wikipedia (titles-of-works rule): 4 letters or fewer. APA and AMA: 3 letters or fewer (AMA) or the word is capitalized if 4-plus letters regardless of part of speech (APA's distinctive rule).
How do style guides handle hyphenated words in a header?
Most styles capitalize the first element and treat the second element based on whether it's a major word — "Self-Reliance" capitalizes both parts, but "Twenty-first" lowercases the suffix-like second part. Rules vary in the details; see each style's page for specifics.
Why do title converters give different results for the same sentence?
"Title case" isn't one rule — it's at least eight different rule sets, each with its own preposition-length cutoff, subordinating-conjunction treatment, and hyphenation handling. A converter that doesn't let you pick a specific style guide is applying one arbitrary rule set to everything.
How do you format subheadings within an academic research paper?
Follow whatever style guide your discipline or journal specifies — APA papers typically use title case for the paper's own title but often sentence case for lower-level headings; Chicago and MLA papers usually apply their title-case rule consistently across headings and subheadings. Check your target journal or institution's specific formatting guidelines, since house style commonly adds rules beyond the base style guide.