AcademicStyle

Title case converter

Type or paste a title and get it capitalised by APA, MLA, Chicago or AP rules, or in sentence case. Select any word to see the rule that decided it.

The Effects of Sleep on Memory Consolidation: A Review of Evidence From Over Two Decades of Research

Thefirst wordEffectsword of four letters or moreofshort preposition (≤3 letters)Sleepword of four letters or moreonshort preposition (≤3 letters)Memoryword of four letters or moreConsolidationword of four letters or moreAfirst word after a colonReviewword of four letters or moreofshort preposition (≤3 letters)Evidenceword of four letters or moreFromword of four letters or moreOverword of four letters or moreTwomajor wordDecadesword of four letters or moreofshort preposition (≤3 letters)Researchlast word

All styles at once

APAThe Effects of Sleep on Memory Consolidation: A Review of Evidence From Over Two Decades of Research
MLAThe Effects of Sleep on Memory Consolidation: A Review of Evidence from over Two Decades of Research
ChicagoThe Effects of Sleep on Memory Consolidation: A Review of Evidence from over Two Decades of Research
APThe Effects of Sleep on Memory Consolidation: A Review of Evidence From Over Two Decades of Research
Sentence caseThe effects of sleep on memory consolidation: A review of evidence from over two decades of research

The capitalisation rules, side by side

Word typeAPA 7MLA 9Chicago 17AP
First and last wordCapitaliseCapitaliseCapitaliseCapitalise
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronounsCapitaliseCapitaliseCapitaliseCapitalise
Articles (a, an, the)lowercaselowercaselowercaselowercase
Short prepositions (of, in, to, on)lowercaselowercaselowercaselowercase
Long prepositions (with, from, between)Capitalise (4+ letters)lowercaselowercaseCapitalise (4+ letters)
Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or)lowercaselowercaselowercaselowercase
First word after a colonCapitaliseCapitaliseCapitaliseCapitalise

The disagreement is almost entirely about prepositions. APA’s rule is mechanical (four letters or more gets a capital), so “Sleep With Purpose” and “Memory Between Sessions” are correct APA titles. MLA and Chicago treat prepositions as a grammatical class and lowercase them all, giving “Sleep with Purpose” and “Memory between Sessions”.

In APA papers you need both forms: title case for the paper title and headings (see APA headings), sentence case for titles of works in the reference list, which the citation checker verifies.

Questions

What is the difference between APA and MLA title case?

APA capitalises every word of four letters or more, including prepositions such as “With”, “From” and “Between”, and lowercases only short (three letters or fewer) conjunctions, articles and prepositions. MLA lowercases all prepositions regardless of length, so “between” and “through” stay lowercase.

Does AP Style use title case for headlines?

AP uses sentence case for headlines (only the first word and proper nouns capitalised). For titles of books, films and other compositions, AP capitalises principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters. The AP option here applies that composition-title rule.

When should I use sentence case instead?

APA 7 uses sentence case for article, book and web page titles in the reference list, and for table and figure notes. Many journals also use sentence case for article headings. Title case is for the paper’s title, headings, and journal names.

Does it handle acronyms and proper nouns?

Words already in all capitals (for example APA, DNA, COVID) and mixed-case words such as iPhone are kept as typed. In sentence case, capitalised words in the middle of the title are kept, so proper nouns survive; check them before submitting.

Is the word after a colon capitalised?

Yes, in APA, MLA and Chicago title case, and in APA sentence case: the first word of a subtitle after a colon is always capitalised.