Everything You Need to Know About Title Case and Writing

It’s easier than most people realize.

Title case is a type of APA capitalization style that is often used for headlines in papers, blogs, and magazine headlines. While most of the first letters in each word should be capitalized, it can get a little fuzzy when trying to decide on those in-between words that sometimes feel like they should be capital too.

Some words that generally should not be capitalized within the title are articles, prepositions, and conjunctions (or connecting words).

• Articles are words like a, an, the
• Prepositions are words used to link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other words.
• Coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS): for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

If an article, preposition, or conjunction are the very first or last word, they do get capitalized. Confusing, right?

There are many different capitalization styles like Chicago, MLA, APA, and AP.

But on Medium there is no one-size-fits-all. It’s really up to the writer + the editor of the pub you submit your work to.

Why is it that we don’t just capitalize every word? Wouldn’t that make life easier?

If you capitalize every word in your title or subtitle, it actually makes it harder to read. If everything is capitalized, how will we know where to place the emphasis? Plus, we are likely going to lose clarity with the reader. Of course, we want them to receive our words in the way we intended it for them in the first place, right?

Title Case means you capitalize (almost) every single first letter of the word.

When Should I Use Title Case?

Well, in terms of Medium, you should use Title Case in your title and within your body subtitles when sending a submission in to The Orange Journal.

I request all pieces maintain the same format of body subtitles in Title Case to maintain continuity throughout the pub.

When writing your subtitle immediately under the title, you use sentence case. Read more on that here.

Free Title Case Coverter Tool

We all get confused with formatting from time to time. It’s even harder as a writer submitting to many pubs because each publication might have fractionally different rules.

For really big pubs, formatting just might make or break your chances of getting accepted.

My favorite title case converter tool is titlecaseconverter.com

This is my tried and trusted Title Case converter website because you can choose the style you prefer and learn as you go. It has been a great help for me as I self-educate on the many different types of capitalization styles commonly used in the English language.

Main Takeaway

Please use Title Case in your body subtitles when you send a piece to The Orange Journal. I will refer you to this article, as I definitely know it can be super confusing.

I do hope this resource helps you out.

Happy Writing!

Best,

🆂🆄🆉🍊

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