APA Title Case Rules: Complete Guide for 2026 | TitleCasePro

APA title case is the capitalization standard defined by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition. It is used for paper titles, article headings, and references in psychology, social sciences, education, nursing, and business research.

The defining rule: APA lowercases all prepositions regardless of their length — which sets it apart from Chicago (capitalizes longer prepositions) and AP style (capitalizes words of four or more letters).

APA Title Case Rules

The APA 7th Edition Publication Manual specifies these rules:

1. Capitalize the first word of the title and the first word of any subtitle (the word after a colon or em dash).
2. Capitalize the last word of the title.
3. Capitalize all major words — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns.
4. Lowercase articles: a, an, the.
5. Lowercase coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.
6. Lowercase all prepositions regardless of length — at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, as, about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, during, except, inside, into, near, off, outside, over, past, since, through, throughout, toward, under, until, upon, via, with, within, without.

⚠️ The critical difference from other styles: Rule 6 means that about, between, through, and without all stay lowercase in APA, even though they are long words. In Chicago style, those same words would be capitalized.

APA Title Case Examples

Simple title

	Title
❌ Wrong	The effects of social media on mental health
✅ Correct	The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health

Title with prepositions

	Title	Note
❌ Wrong	A Guide To Writing About The World	”To” and “About” are prepositions — must be lowercase
✅ Correct	A Guide to Writing about the World	Both prepositions lowercase

Title with a subtitle

The Psychology of Learning: New Approaches to Educational Theory — “New” is capitalized because it is the first word after the colon (start of subtitle).

Title with “is” and “are”

Why Mindfulness Is Important for Students — Is is capitalized because it is a verb (linking verb), not a preposition.

Hyphenated compound

Self-Regulated Learning and Its Effects on Performance — Both Self and Regulated are capitalized per APA’s rule for hyphenated compounds.

APA Title Case vs. APA Sentence Case

APA uses two different capitalization styles in different contexts. This is one of the most commonly confused aspects of APA formatting.

APA title case is used for:

• The title of a paper on the title page and in the body
• Level 1 and Level 2 headings within the paper
• Titles of books, journals, and reports mentioned in running text

APA sentence case is used for:

• Journal article titles in the reference list
• Book chapter titles in the reference list

So the same article title is title case when you mention it in your text, but sentence case when it appears in your References section.

In-text: Smith and Jones (2024) argue in The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive Performance that…

Reference list: Smith, J., & Jones, A. (2024). The effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 12(3), 45–62.

Frequently Confused APA Words

Word	Common mistake	Correct APA treatment
to (infinitive)	Capitalizing as in How To Write	Lowercase — it’s a preposition
is, are, was	Lowercasing as in Why Sleep is Important	Capitalize — they are verbs
up (phrasal verb)	Capitalizing Look Up	Lowercase — APA treats it as a preposition
with, without	Capitalizing because they’re “long”	Lowercase — APA lowercases all prepositions

⚠️ The most common APA mistake: Capitalizing “to” in infinitive phrases. “How To Write a Paper” is wrong in APA. The correct form is “How to Write a Paper.”

How APA Compares to Other Styles

Rule	APA	Chicago	AP	MLA
Prepositions ≤ 4 letters	lowercase	lowercase	lowercase	lowercase
Prepositions 5+ letters (about, between)	lowercase	Capitalize	Capitalize	lowercase
Articles (a, an, the)	lowercase	lowercase	lowercase	lowercase
Coordinating conjunctions	lowercase	lowercase	lowercase	lowercase
Verbs (is, are, be)	Capitalize	Capitalize	Capitalize	Capitalize

The most visible difference on a real title:

• APA: A Guide to Writing about the Environment
• Chicago: A Guide to Writing About the Environment

See both side by side using the style comparison tool, or use the APA capitalizer for word-by-word explanations.

Where APA Title Case Is Required

APA style is standard in:

• Psychology journals and conference papers
• Education and educational psychology research
• Social sciences: sociology, political science, economics
• Nursing and health sciences research
• Business research published in APA-formatted journals
• Dissertations and theses at many US universities

Tip: If your institution, journal, or assignment requires APA style, use the APA title capitalizer to ensure every heading follows the 7th Edition rules exactly — it shows you why each word was capitalized or left lowercase.