Title Capitaliser
Paste a heading or a list of headings, choose a style, and get the right capitals. Small words stay lower case, and the first and last words are always capitalised.
Worked examples
APA style
the lord of the rings: the return of the king
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The first word after the colon gets a capital.
Chicago style
walking with dogs through the park
Walking with Dogs through the Park
with and through are prepositions, so they stay small.
Sentence case
The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Only the first word keeps its capital.
About Title Capitaliser
Title case does not mean a capital on every word, and different style guides disagree about which words stay small. This tool applies the main rules for you. In APA and AP style, words of four letters or more are capitalised and short articles, conjunctions and prepositions such as a, the, and, of and in stay in lower case. In Chicago and MLA style, all prepositions stay in lower case, however long, so through and between are small.
In every title style the first word, the last word and the first word after a colon get a capital, and each part of a hyphenated word is capitalised. Sentence case gives a capital only to the first word of each sentence and to the word I, which many UK publishers and style guides prefer for headings. Capitalise every word is also there for simple needs. Each line is treated as its own title. Words with capitals inside, such as iPhone, and words already in capitals, such as NASA, are left alone unless the whole line is in capitals.
How to use Title Capitaliser
- Paste a title or a list of titles, one on each line.
- Choose the style you need.
- Decide whether to leave words already in capitals alone.
- Copy the result and check proper names, which a tool cannot know.
Common uses
- Preparing headings for an essay, a report or a reference list
- Fixing the capitals of titles pasted in all capitals or all lower case
- Matching a publisher's heading style
- Tidying a list of book, film or song titles
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between APA and Chicago?
APA lowers only words of three letters or fewer that are articles, conjunctions or prepositions. Chicago lowers all prepositions, even long ones such as through. Both capitalise the first and last word.
Why is the last word always capitalised?
Style guides ask for it, so a title ending in a small word, such as What Are You Waiting For, keeps the capital.
Does sentence case keep names?
Words with capitals inside are kept, and so are all-capital words, but a name typed in small letters becomes small, so check names in the result.
Can I rely on this for every publication?
It follows the common rules, but some publications have their own variations, so check the guide for yours.