Last updated: March 2026
Title Case Rules — What Gets Capitalized?
Title case looks simple — capitalize the first letter of each word, right? Not quite. Proper title case keeps certain small words lowercase, and the rules vary by style guide. Getting it right matters for professional writing, academic papers, and published content.
The core rule is straightforward: capitalize major words, lowercase minor words. Major words include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns. Minor words include articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor), and short prepositions (in, on, at, to, by, of, up, as).
There are important exceptions. The first and last words are always capitalized, even if they're minor words. "To Kill a Mockingbird" capitalizes "To" because it's first. "Something to Write Home About" capitalizes "About" because it's last.
Style guides disagree on some specifics. AP style lowercases prepositions of three letters or fewer. Chicago style lowercases prepositions regardless of length (including "between" and "through"). APA capitalizes words of four or more letters, so "With" and "From" are capitalized in APA but not necessarily in AP.
For most everyday use — blog titles, email subjects, presentation headings — our converter applies the common-sense rules that work across style guides. First word capitalized, minor words lowered, everything else capitalized. It handles the vast majority of cases correctly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Title Case?
Title Case capitalizes the first letter of each major word. Minor words like 'a', 'an', 'the', 'and', 'but', 'or', 'in', 'on', 'at', 'to', 'by', and 'of' stay lowercase unless they're the first word.
Which style guide does this follow?
Our converter follows general title case conventions that align with most style guides (AP, Chicago, APA). The first word is always capitalized, and minor words (articles, conjunctions, short prepositions) are lowercase.
Should I use Title Case for headings?
It depends on your style guide. AP style uses Title Case for headlines. APA uses Title Case for reference titles. Some modern style guides prefer sentence case for headings. Choose based on your publication's standards.
How are hyphenated words handled?
Each part of a hyphenated word is treated as a separate word. In 'well-known', both 'Well' and 'Known' would be capitalized: 'Well-Known'.
Does it handle acronyms?
The converter lowercases all text first, then applies title case rules. This means acronyms like 'NASA' become 'Nasa'. If you need to preserve acronyms, you may need to manually fix them after conversion.