Title Capitalization › MLA title case
MLA Title Case Converter
Type or paste a title: it is capitalized in MLA style (MLA Handbook, 9th edition) as you type. Press Enter to copy it.
MLA title capitalization rules
- Capitalize the first and last words of the title and of the subtitle.
- Capitalize all principal words — nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions (although, because, if, unless, when, while) — including principal words after a hyphen (Twenty-First-Century).
- In the middle of a title, lowercase articles (a, an, the), prepositions of any length (against, between, in, of, to, with), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet) and the to of an infinitive (How to Read a Poem).
- Put a colon between a title and its subtitle, and capitalize the first word of the subtitle.
So: How to Read a Poem: A Guide for Students.
Titles in your essay and your works-cited list
- The title of your own essay is in title case and centered, with no italics, bold, underlining or quotation marks.
- Longer, self-contained works — books, films, journals, websites, albums — are italicized: A Room of One’s Own.
- Shorter works inside a larger one — articles, essays, poems, short stories, songs, web pages — go in quotation marks: “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
- MLA keeps title case in the works-cited list as well. APA switches to sentence case there.
MLA title case examples
| You type | MLA title case |
|---|---|
| a room of one's own | A Room of One's Own |
| the use of irony in modern short fiction | The Use of Irony in Modern Short Fiction |
| love and loss in the poems of emily dickinson | Love and Loss in the Poems of Emily Dickinson |
| writing about women from the renaissance to the present | Writing about Women from the Renaissance to the Present |
| an essay on criticism | An Essay on Criticism |
What the converter handles, and what to check
It capitalizes a preposition that belongs to a verb (Growing Up in the Suburbs) and yet used as an adverb (Not Yet Home), and keeps a real preposition lowercase (Walking up the Stairs). Check by hand:
- A title inside your title keeps its own capitals and its italics or quotation marks: Symbolism in The Great Gatsby. The converter cannot know it is a title, so check its first word.
- After a prefix such as anti- or pre-, the converter lowercases the next part as Chicago does (Anti-inflammatory Drugs). MLA capitalizes principal words after a hyphen, so check these for MLA.
MLA title case FAQ
Does MLA use title case?
Yes — for the titles of works in your essay and in the works-cited list, and for the title of your own essay.
Are prepositions capitalized in MLA titles?
No. MLA lowercases prepositions of any length — about, between, through, with — unless one is the first or last word of the title or subtitle.
Is “is” capitalized in an MLA title?
Yes. Is is a verb, and verbs are principal words, however short.
Do you capitalize the first word after a colon in MLA?
Yes. The first word of a subtitle is capitalized: How to Read a Poem: A Guide for Students.
Should my essay title be italicized or in quotation marks?
No. The title of your own essay is in title case with no italics, bold, underlining or quotation marks. Only the title of another work inside it keeps its italics or quotation marks.
What is the difference between MLA and APA capitalization?
Two things. APA capitalizes every word of four letters or more (With, About) while MLA keeps prepositions lowercase, and APA uses sentence case for titles in its reference list while MLA keeps title case in works cited.