To convert text to Title Case, follow the following steps:
- Capitalize the first word
- Capitalize the last word
- Capitalize any words of 4 letters or more
- Capitalize verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives
- Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the…)
- Do not capitalize coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for…)
- Do not capitalize short prepositions (at, by, to, on…)
This can get a little complicated so we built our Title Case Converter to quickly and simply convert text to title case online for free.
There are 8 major style guides (AMA (American Medical Association), AP (Associated Press), APA (American Psychological Association), Bluebook, Chicago Manual of Style, MLA (Modern Language Association), New York Times, Wikipedia) which each have subtly different interpretations of Title Case rules.
Let’s dive into these rules in more detail.
Capitalize the First Word
All major style guides state that the first word should always be capitalized. Like in a regular sentence, it would just be plain wrong to not capitalize the first word.
Capitalize the Last Word
With the exception of AMA, APA, and Bluebook, which do not have a clear rule about it, all style guides recommend capitalizing the last word of the title, regardless of its length or if it is an article, preposition or conjuntion.
Without last word capitalization your title can read like it is trailing off. Whereas ending on a capitalized word makes the title feel more assertive.
For this reason TitleFormat Title Case Converter always capitalizes the last word.
Capitalize Any Words of 4 Letters or More
Some style guides, recommend lowercasing some 4 letter words such as from, with, or into (see the section on Short Prepositions below). However this can lead to the perception of inconsistency. Therefore TitleFormat Title Case Converter goes with the majority and capitalizes all words of 4 letters or more.
Capitalize Verbs, Nouns, Pronouns, Adverbs, and Adjectives
These key parts of speech should always be capitalized, even if they are short words (go, is, am).
Do Not Capitalize Articles
All style guides agree that articles such as a, an, the should always be lowercase.
Do Not Capitalize Coordinating Conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions are words that link parts of a sentence together. These include for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
Chicago and NY Times style guides recommend to capitalize yet and so, but for consistency, TitleFormat Title Case Converter keeps these words lowercase, along with the other coordinating conjunctions.
Do Not Capitalize Short Prepositions
In general, short prepositions should be lowercase, although there is some disagreement between style guides as to which words this should include, especially the four letter prepositions from, into, and with.
To maintain consistency with the generally accepted rule of capitalizing all words of 4 letters or more, TitleFormat capitalizes these four letter prepositions.
For clarity, the short prepositions that TitleFormat does not capitalize are:
- at
- by
- in
- of
- on
- to
- up
- but
- for
- off
- out
- via
Convert Your Text to Title Case Now
Now that you know all about how to convert text to title case, get started with our free online title case converter.