APA Title Capitalization
APA style capitalizes major words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Articles, short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions are lowercase unless they are the first or last word.
Word-by-word explanation
APA capitalization rules
- Capitalise all major words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)
- Lowercase: articles (a, an, the)
- Lowercase: coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet)
- Lowercase: prepositions (regardless of length)
- Always capitalise first and last word
- Always capitalise the word after a colon
Read the full APA title capitalization rules with examples.
When to Use APA Title Capitalization
APA title case is the standard for Psychology, Social Sciences, Education, Business writing. APA style capitalizes major words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Articles, short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions are lowercase unless they are the first or last word. When your work will be reviewed, published, or cited within these fields, using the correct capitalization style shows attention to detail and compliance with professional standards.
APA Title Case vs Other Styles
Title capitalization is not universal. The same title formatted in APA style will look different from APA, Chicago, MLA, or AP — and each difference is intentional. Use the style comparison tool to enter your title and see all nine styles side by side. If you need to convert a large list of titles, the batch capitalizer handles CSV and TXT imports for bulk workflows.
How the APA Capitalizer Works
Paste your title into the tool above. Select APA as the active style and the result appears immediately. Click "Explain" to see the rule applied to each word. Use the copy button or press ⌘↵ to copy the output. Everything runs in the browser — no account, no signup, no data sent to a server.
APA capitalization FAQ
APA lowercases articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), and prepositions of any length — unless they are the first or last word.
No. Unlike Chicago, APA lowercases all prepositions regardless of length — including longer ones like "between", "through", and "without".
The first word after a colon in a title is always capitalized in APA style, even if it would normally be lowercase.
No — APA uses title case for journal article titles in the text of your paper, but sentence case in the references list. TitleCasePro handles title case (for in-text usage).