thesis headings capitalization

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• Capitalization

Title Case: Capitalization of Titles, Headings, and Headlines

Capitalize the first, last, and all major words in a book title, headline, or first-level heading. Major words are all words except articles ( a , an , the ), prepositions ( on , in , of , etc.), coordinating conjunctions ( and , or , but , etc.), and the word to . This capitalization style is called title case .

• Title case: T he C urious I ncident of the D og in the N ight- T ime
• Title case: T he S trange C ase of D r. J ekyll and M r. H yde

Capitalize lower-level headings using sentence case , in which you capitalize only the words you would normally capitalize in a sentence.

• Sentence case: T he curious incident of the dog in the night-time
• Sentence case: T he strange case of D r. J ekyll and M r. H yde

Style guides like the AP Stylebook , Chicago Manual of Style , APA Publication Manual , and MLA Handbook prescribe additional rules, discussed in this article.

Title case is also called headline style or up style: you see it used in headings and titles of books, movies, TV shows, articles, and other works. Sentence case, also called sentence style or down style, is used for second-level headings and lower. News headlines have traditionally been capitalized using title case, although these days, sentence case is often used, especially online.

Title case: General rules

Here are the general rules for capitalizing titles and headings:

• Capitalize the first word and last word of a title.
• Capitalize all major words, which are all words except articles ( a , an , the ), prepositions (e.g., on , in , of , at ), and coordinating conjunctions ( and , or , but , and nor ; also for , yet , and so when used as conjunctions).
• Always lowercase the word to .
• Capitalize the first element of a hyphenated term. Capitalize any subsequent elements only if they are major words.
• Capitalize the first word of a subheading that appears after a colon.
• Break a rule if you need to—for example, if a preposition is emphasized in a title, capitalize it.

Major words are all words except articles , prepositions , and coordinating conjunctions .

• L ove in the T ime of C holera
• T hree M en in a B oat
• P ride and P rejudice
• R equiem for a D ream
• C atch M e I f Y ou C an
• The P ortrait of a L ady
• The W ay W e L ive N ow
• The G irl W ho P layed with F ire
• M en without W omen
• The G round beneath H er F eet
• E verything I s I lluminated

The first and last words of a title are always capitalized, no matter what they are.

• A Clockwork Orange
• T he Mill on the Floss
• I n Search of Lost Time
• T hrough a Glass Darkly
• F rom Blood and Ash
• B ut What If There’s No Chimney?
• A nd Then There Were None
• Something to Answer F or
• Something to Believe I n
• All We Dream O f
• Where We Come F rom

It may not always be clear at first glance whether a word should be capitalized. Check what function it serves in the title.

• Capitalize over as an adverb , but lowercase it as a preposition. Adverb: The Soup Boiled O ver Preposition: The Light o ver London

The word to is lowercased, regardless of what function it serves in the sentence (unless it is the first or last word).

• Train t o Busan
• Zero t o One: Notes on Startups, or How t o Build the Future
• A Good Man Is Hard t o Find

In a hyphenated term, the first prefix or word is always capitalized, but the following words are capitalized only if they are major words.

• The M an- E ater of Malgudi Eater is a noun and should be capitalized.
• The Academy’s O ut- o f- U niform Procedure Lowercase of , which is a preposition, but capitalize uniform , a noun.
• The S tep- b y- S tep Guide to Finding Fairies
• The T hirty- N ine Steps
• The A nti- I nflammatory Diet Cookbook
• Originals: How N on- C onformists Move the World
• The F ire- B reathing Dragon

Any subtitle or subheading that follows a colon is always capitalized.

• Computer: A History of the Information Machine
• The Lord of the Rings: T he Return of the King
• The View from the Cheap Seats: S elected Nonfiction
• A Memoir: O f Mermaids and Waterfalls

Break a rule if you must. If a word is emphasized in a title, capitalize it, even if it is not a major word.

• How to Be the Go- T o Person in Your Organization
• A Run- I n with Religion and Other True Stories

Capitalize all the words that make up a phrasal verb , even a word that is a preposition.

• What to Do When You R un I nto Someone You Don’t Like
• How to S et U p Your Spaceship’s AI
• Don’t P ut O ff Being Happy

Be and is in a title

Verbs are major words and should be capitalized, including the be verb in all its forms: be , is , are , was , were .

• There Will B e Blood
• Tender I s the Night
• Where the Wild Things A re
• Then She W as Gone
• Their Eyes W ere Watching God

Also capitalize the have and do verbs in all their forms: have , has , had , do , does , did .

• The Heart H as Its Reasons
• Owls D o Cry
• What Katy Did
• Inequality: What Can Be Done ?

That in a title

The word that is always a major word and should be capitalized.

• Companies T hat Fleece Their Customers
• The House T hat Jack Built

It and me in a title

Capitalize all pronouns , including it , my , me , we , our, you , he , his , she , her , they , them , and who .

• How I t All Began
• Some of M y Favorite Things
• The Best W e Can Do
• The General in H is Labyrinth
• The Woman W ho Did

No and not in a title

Capitalize the words no and not (a determiner and an adverb) whenever these words appear in titles.

• Beasts of N o Nation
• Oranges Are N ot the Only Fruit

AP and APA style

The APA Publication Manual (used in academic editing, especially the social sciences) and the AP Stylebook (preferred in journalism, media, and corporate communication) both specify one major exception to the general rules :

Capitalize all words of four letters or more, even if they are prepositions.

• One Flew O ver the Cuckoo’s Nest
• The Girl Who Played W ith Fire
• Men W ithout Women
• The Ground B eneath Her Feet
• So Far F rom God
• Once U pon a Time in the West
• Much Ado A bout Nothing
• The Light B etween Oceans
• The Cat Who Walks T hrough Walls
• A Woman U nder the Influence
• Three Billboards O utside Ebbing, Missouri
• The World U ntil Yesterday
• The Man i n the Brown Suit
• The Wizard o f Oz
• A Home f or Lunatics
• The Woman o n the Beach

Thus, in APA and AP style, words four letters or longer are always capitalized, regardless of function. Note that the other general rules apply as usual. Capitalize any major words, even if they are three letters or shorter: be , has , had , do , did , me , who , my , etc.

• We Should All B e Feminists
• If I H ad Your Face
• Marley and M e
• The Man W ho Sold H is Ferrari

Another exception is that all conjunctions three letters or shorter are lowercased. Thus, in APA and AP style, lowercase not only the seven coordinating conjunctions ( and , or , but , nor , for , yet , so ) but also subordinating conjunctions up to three letters long (which pretty much boils down to the word if ).

• Pride a nd Prejudice
• I’d Tell You I Love You, b ut Then I’d Have to Kill You
• Catch Me i f You Can

Also, do lowercase articles and any prepositions up to three letters long: a , an , the , for , in , of , to , etc.

• The Bridge o n t he River Kwai
• Stranger i n a Strange Land
• The Catcher i n t he Rye
• A House f or Mr. Biswas

Finally, in AP Style, the first and last words are capitalized as usual, regardless of length.

• A n American Tragedy
• T he Invisible Man
• A s I Lay Dying
• O f Human Bondage
• O n the Waterfront
• F or the Green Planet
• These Times We Live I n

However, in APA style, the last word is capitalized only if it is a major word or longer than three letters.

• Something to Answer f or
• These Times We Live i n In APA style, lowercase prepositions, unless they are four letters or longer.

Chicago style

According to the Chicago Manual of Style , the conjunctions to be lowercased are and , or , nor , but , and for . All others are capitalized. Thus, the words yet and so are capitalized regardless of function. The word if is also always capitalized.

• Sense a nd Sensibility
• The Hobbit, o r There a nd Back Again
• Though We Be Dead, Y et Our Day Will Come
• Even I f We Break

In a hyphenated phrase, if the first element is merely a prefix that could not stand by itself (e.g., anti- , pre- , non- ), don’t capitalize the second part.

• The A nti- i nflammatory Diet Cookbook
• The Thirty- N ine Steps The word thirty can stand by itself, so capitalize nine as well.

Remember to capitalize not just the first but also the last word of a title or heading, even if it is not a major word.

• The Things We Believe I n Capitalize the last word, even a preposition.
• Only One Way T hrough
• It’s You I’m Dreaming O f

The MLA Handbook (used in academic writing for the humanities) specifies no exceptions to the general rules .

• T hese T imes W e L ive I n
• A H eartbreaking W ork of S taggering G enius
• T he M oon I s a H arsh M istress

Differences in AP, APA, Chicago, MLA rules

As you can see, style manuals differ in their guidelines on what qualifies as a “major” word worthy of capitalization in title case. Here’s a quick summary of the key differences between the popular styles.

In both AP and APA styles, capitalize prepositions four letters or longer. In Chicago and MLA , lowercase all prepositions, regardless of length.

• APA, AP: The Girl F rom Mars Chicago, MLA: The Girl f rom Mars
• APA, AP, Chicago, MLA: The Woman i n Red

Lowercase not just coordinating but also subordinating conjunctions shorter than four letters in AP and APA styles; capitalize all subordinating conjunctions in Chicago and MLA.

• APA, AP: Isolate i f You Are Sick Chicago, MLA: Isolate I f You Are Sick

Capitalize the words yet and so in Chicago style. In the other styles, lowercase them when they are used as conjunctions, but capitalize when they are adverbs.

• Chicago: Broke Y et Happy APA, AP, MLA: Broke y et Happy
• Chicago, APA, AP, MLA: Am I Normal Y et?

Capitalize the last word of the title in AP, Chicago, and MLA styles even if it is not a major word; in APA, capitalize the last word only if it is a major word. (But remember that the APA Publication Manual considers all words four letters or longer major words.)

• Chicago, MLA, AP: Something to Answer F or APA: Something to Answer f or
• Chicago, MLA, APA, AP: The Places We Come F rom

In all four styles, capitalize the first word (whatever it may be), and lowercase articles.

• APA, AP, Chicago, MLA: T he Girl Who Found a Dragon Egg

Sentence case

In sentence case, a title is written as a sentence would be: the first word and all proper nouns are capitalized. This capitalization style is generally used for headings that are second level or lower. These days, it is also increasingly being used for online news headlines.

• C lear light of day
• W e need to talk about K evin
• T he quiet A merican

The first word of a subtitle or subheading that follows a colon is also capitalized.

• Traveling with ghosts: A memoir
• Understanding comics: T he invisible art

If a title begins with a numeral, lowercase the next word.

• 27 b ooks to read before you die
• P ractice guidelines for the pickling of pineapples: 2019 u pdate

Professional and social titles that precede a name are capitalized as well.

• The island of D octor Moreau
• The strange life of P resident Farley
• The story of F ather Femy and his music

For more on which words to capitalize in a sentence, see this article on the rules of capitalization .

Share this article

In title case, all major words are capitalized.

In sentence case, only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.

The word it , which is a pronoun, is capitalized in title case.

The words we (a pronoun) and be (a verb) are capitalized in title case.

The word a , which is an article, is lowercased unless it is the first word of the title.

The words let (a verb) and me (a pronoun) are capitalized in title case.

The first word of a subtitle following a colon is capitalized in both title case and sentence case.

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Capitalization Of Titles And Headings — The 3 Methods

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When crafting your dissertation , capitalizing chapter and section headings can be approached in three distinct ways: only the first word is capitalized, all words of significance are capitalized, or a blend of the two methods. The choice of method greatly impacts the presentation and readability of academic writing . This article is designed to guide you through these three capitalization strategies.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 Capitalization of Titles – In a Nutshell
• 2 Definition: Capitalization of titles and headings
• 3 Capitalization of titles and headings: The methods
• 4 Capitalization titles and headings: Proper nouns
• 5 Consistency is important
• 6 Why consistency is important

Capitalization of Titles – In a Nutshell

Depending on the style of capitalization of titles, you may capitalize all significant words or only the first word. If you choose the first option, then you should capitalize every word except the following:

• Articles – an, a, the, etc.
• Prepositions – of, in, on, etc.
• Coordinating conjunctions – but, or, and, etc.
• The word “to.”

Also, ensure you understand what the Style Guides, like APA style , MLA and Chicago style , s ay about capitalization before writing your paper.

Definition: Capitalization of titles and headings

The three main methods of capitalizing headings include sentence case, title case, and a combination of both sentence and title case.  All three have specific guidelines you should follow when using them.

It is essential to look out for any inconsistencies while using the different styles of capitalization of titles for your academic writing. Hence, always remain consistent to ensure your audience can easily follow through with your content. You must also understand that all proper nouns appearing in any headings should be capitalized.

Capitalization of titles and headings: The methods

Here is an in-depth look at the capitalization of titles methods you can use:

Method 1 – Title case

When using the title Case, you capitalize every significant word. This capitalization of titles style helps you understand what a powerful word is and what is not.

Generally, significant words are pronouns , nouns, adjectives , adverbs, and verbs; therefore, do not capitalize any prepositions , articles , or conjunctions .

Here is a table that gives examples of this method of capitalization of titles:

Method 2 – Sentence case

If you choose to use the sentence case, you only capitalize the first words. The table below shows examples of this capitalization of titles method:

Method 3 – Capitalization varies by methods

You can combine the two methods above in this capitalization of titles method. Here, you choose when to use a title case and when to format it with the sentence case. For example, you can use method 1 for chapter headings and 2 for lower-level headings and titles.

The table below shows examples of this method of capitalization of titles:

Capitalization titles and headings: Proper nouns

However, theories, models or schools of thought are not proper nouns, so you should not capitalize them in any of the styles of capitalization of titles. It would help if you only capitalized the scholar’s name when necessary.

Wrong: The Realist School

Correct: the realist school

Despite the capitalization of titles style, ensure you follow the grammar rules for using proper nouns. These constitute the name of organizations, people, and places and are always capitalized in headings, regardless of the writing style. For example, when writing the names of a country, like England, you must capitalize it regardless of your writing style.

Consistency is important

If you are wondering which option you should use for the capitalization of titles, we recommend using the title or sentence case for your headings. Both, title and sentence cases, are easier to follow and would not require you to make many choices of the words you should capitalize and those you should not. Additionally, using many capital letters may make it difficult to read the texts and follow through, especially when your headings are longer.

You should also remember the specific requirements for writing headings for the APA, MLA , and Chicago styles. This will ensure you use the method of capitalization of titles as required.

Why consistency is important

Whatever option you choose for capitalization of titles and headings, remember that consistency throughout your document matters. This applies to your main chapter headings and the supporting materials, including appendices , acknowledgements, abstracts, figures and tables, reference lists, or table of contents.

To remove any inconsistency that might result from your preferred capitalization of titles style, carefully analyze your take on the contents. You can use Microsoft Word to automatically generate your list and see all your headings in a list. Looking through headings together without any distractions will pinpoint any anomalies. Also, ensure that other components of your dissertation format and layout are consistent and relate to your headings.

What words should you capitalize when writing a thesis title?

Because a thesis statement is an argument or claims you write to defend your research, do not capitalize it. Only capitalize the words you should capitalize according to the English Grammar.

What can you capitalize on an MLA paper?

All the first words of titles and subtitles are capitalized in MLA format. For example, The Future Fair: A Fair for Everybody.

What is the difference in capitalization of titles and headings between APA, MLA, and Chicago?

In Chicago and MLA, all prepositions appear lowercase, regardless of length. However, in APA style, capitalize all four letters and longer words, even if they are prepositions.

How do you capitalize headings in the AP Stylebook?

Most people use the AP Stylebook to write media, journalism, and corporate communication content. In this capitalization of titles method, capitalize all words of four and more letters, even when they are prepositions.

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Capitalization

APA Style is a “down” style, meaning that words are lowercase unless there is specific guidance to capitalize them. For example, capitalize the first word of a sentence, unless the sentence begins with the name of a person whose name starts with a lowercase letter.

The Publication Manual contains guidance on how to capitalize words beginning a sentence; proper nouns and trade names; job titles and positions; diseases, disorders, therapies, theories, and related terms; titles of works and headings within works; titles of tests and measures; nouns followed by numerals or letters; names of conditions or groups in an experiment; and names of study factors, variables, and effects. Only a subset of the guidance is presented on the website to answers users’ most common questions.

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What to Capitalize in a Title: APA Title Capitalization Rules

Which words do you capitalize in a title?

Have you ever been confused about which words to capitalize in the title of your manuscript ? You have probably seen titles where only the first word is capitalized (so-called “sentence case”), titles where all words seem to be capitalized (“title case”), and also titles that look like combinations of the two. And you might have wondered where there is any general rule to all this. 

The answer is that, no, there is not really one general capitalization rule, but there are several style-dependent capitalization guidelines you can rely on, and the journal you plan to submit to will tell you (in their author instructions ) which one they want you to apply to your manuscript before submission. Just like you format your manuscript and reference list following APA or MLA formatting rules, you apply the respective style guide to capitalize your title, headings, and subheadings . In this article, we will first explain the general rules on what types of words to capitalize (e.g., nouns, articles, and conjunctions) and then look at the APA and MLA style guides in particular and their specific variations of those rules.

Research Paper Title Capitalization Rules

According to most style guides, all proper nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in titles of books and articles are to be capitalized. Some elements of titles are, however, never capitalized, such as articles (except articles at the beginning of a title), and some, such as conjunctions, can or cannot be capitalized, depending on the specific style guide variation. In the following, we will outline the general rules for all the different words in your title so that you can orient yourself easily to the different style guides and adapt your title quickly when necessary. 

Capitalizing Nouns and Pronouns in Titles

Nouns (including formal names of people, organizations, and places) and pronouns are easy to format, as all style guides agree that they should always be capitalized using title case capitalization. 

Capitalizing Articles in Titles

The rules for articles are also simple, as all major style guides agree that articles should be lowercase in titles—unless they represent the first and/or last word in the title:

In the latter example, the first “the” is capitalized because it is the first word of the title, while the second “the” is lowercase as articles usually are. Note that the same rule regarding article capitalization applies to subtitles as well.

Capitalizing Conjunctions in Titles

Conjunctions are a slightly more complicated case, as style guides differ on whether to capitalize them or on which conjunctions to capitalize. According to some guides,  conjunctions of three letters or fewer are to be written in lowercase while longer ones should be capitalized. Other style guides, however, state to write all conjunctions in lowercase, or make exceptions for specific conjunctions such as “yet”, “so”, and “as”. It is therefore always necessary to look up the specific rules of the target journal before submitting a manuscript—and have a look at our sections on APA and MLA style below. The following examples are, however, fairly universal:

Capitalizing Prepositions in Titles

Capitalization rules for prepositions are equally ambiguous and depend on the specific style guide you follow. Prepositions of four letters or more are often capitalized, while according to some style guides, all prepositions are written in lowercase, no matter their length. Sometimes, for example, when following the Chicago Manual of Style , capitalization depends on how a preposition is used in a title and whether it does indeed function as a preposition. According to this rule, prepositions are capitalized when they are used “adverbially or adjectivally” in prepositional phrases (as in “How to Back Up a Computer”), but not when used otherwise.

Capitalizing Adjectives and Adverbs in Titles     

Rules for capitalizing adjectives and adverbs , like nouns, are unproblematic, as they are capitalized across style guides. 

Capitalizing Verbs in Titles      

Verbs are another easy case and are also always capitalized, according to all style guides. 

Title Case Rules by Style Guide

Apa title case rules   .

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used for scholarly articles in the behavioral and social sciences. The APA guidelines on when to capitalize a title include the following rules:

MLA Title Case Rules  

The Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook , used primarily to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities, promotes the following rules for when to capitalize a title or header:

Additional Rules for Title Capitalization 

As we have stressed several times throughout this article, it is crucial to always check the specific rules of the target journal and/or the rules of the style guide the target journal wants you to follow—note that these can sometimes conflict with each other, in which case the journal rules override the style guide. Apart from the two common style guides we explained here, APA and MLA , there are several others that have their own rules, such as the Chicago Manual of Style , the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style , or the Associated Press Stylebook , an American English grammar style and usage guide originally developed for AP writers but now used widely across journalistic fields. There is even a specific set of rules for the capitalization of titles of Wikipedia articles !

One capitalization rule that might not necessarily be mentioned in such style guides but is relevant for some academic/scientific fields is that when the Latin name of a species is mentioned, the second portion of the name must be written in lowercase, even when the rest of the title follows title case rules.

Another capitalization rule you might need when describing research experiments is that both elements of spelled-out numbers or simple fractions should be capitalized in title case:

Lastly, no matter your personal preference, make sure you always write the titles of books and articles exactly as they are written on the original document/in the original version, even if they do not seem to follow common capitalization rules.

Correct Capitalization in Your Title with Professional Editing    

If you are even more unsure now how to capitalize your title or find the author instructions of your target journal confusing (which can happen, since those sets of rules have often grown organically over a long period of time and, as a result, can lack consistency), then you might want to make use of professional English proofreading services , including paper editing services —your professional academic editor will figure such details out for you and make sure your manuscript is in the correct format before submission.

If you need more input on how to write and perfect the other parts of your manuscript, then head over to the Wordvice academic resources website where we have many more resources for you.

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• Schools & departments

Headings should be properly formatted and use sentence case.

In titles, headings and subheadings, use sentence case. That means you capitalise the first letter and any words that would use capitals in a normal sentence.

Avoid using all capital letters.

Headings should not use a full stop at the end.

There is no need to make heading text bold. Doing so may make the content underneath the headings difficult to read.  

Nest your headings correctly (Header 2)

You should always nest your headings correctly.

For example, most of the text of your page will be paragraph text, like this. The first heading of any page is always H2, because the title of the page is in H1. 

The same subject, continued with a sub-topic (Header 3)

After the H2 heading, your headings must be correctly nested. An H3 heading should be a sub-topic of whatever you’re discussing under the H2 paragraph.

Sub-topic of sub-topic (Header 4)

A sub-topic of a paragraph labelled H3 should be labelled in H4. 

Never use heading text to make paragraph text bold

Never use headings to make paragraph text bolder or more eye-catching.  For example:

Never use headings to make paragraph text bolder or more eye-catching.  

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Example: Headings

All theses/dissertations should have multiple levels (orders) of headings to organize the manuscript’s chapters. Headings help the reader navigate through the manuscript. As the orders progress, the content described within the section typically becomes more specific. Most style guides suggest a maximum of six orders, but most theses/dissertations have no more than four.

The style and position of each order of heading must be consistent across chapters to avoid confusion.

How are the headings formatted?

Different capitalization schemes are used to differentiate between orders: ALL CAPS, Title Case, and Sentence case specifically. Each ordered heading must be styled differently - be it through the capitalization scheme, style changes like centered, indented or left-aligned, boldface , italic , underlined , or (most commonly) a combination of the two. The font size must remain the same as the body text.

It is also required that the text used in each order of heading is listed (and matches word-for-word) in the Table of Contents (TOC).

1st-Order Headings (Chapter and Major Section Headings)

All 1st-order headings (also called chapter headings or major headings) must begin on a new page and be positioned 2" from the top edge of the page (1" below the 1" top margin).

Use the Enter key to space down 1" from the top margin. 

TIP: If using Word, turn on the ruler function under "View". Then, with both the ruler and the formatting button on, line up the Level 1 heading with the 1" mark on the left, below the 1" margin. Having the spacing above the heading set to single-spaced does give you more control.

2nd- to 6th-Order Headings (Sub-Headings)

All other headings should follow continuously and should not begin on a new page  (unless the heading is orphaned at the bottom of the previous page - then you would push it to the top of the following page - 1" below the top edge of the page). The text will automatically wrap to the correct position when typing.

Some students choose to number their headings. If numbering the heading, you must still style each heading distinctly to differentiate it from other heading levels . It must be different in at least 1 way. Numbering must be consistent throughout all style levels and used consistently throughout the manuscript.

Examples Within the Narrative

Ex: ❌ INCORRECT ❌ 1.1 Introduction .................................. 1.1.1 Discussion of Research ..................................

✅ CORRECT ✅ 1.1 Introduction .................................. 1.1.1 Discussion of Research ..................................

1.1 Introduction .................................. 1.1.1 Discussion of Research ..................................

1.1 Introduction ..................................                   1.1.1 Discussion of Research ..................................

Ideas to change title level formats include any combination of the following, but not limited to:  Bold Italics Non-Bold/Italic  Centered Left-Aligned Indented In-Paragraph line + Bold or Italicized. 

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Capitalisation of "Section" and "Chapter" in a Ph.D. Thesis

I am submitting a Ph.D. thesis fairly soon and my supervisor has flagged my use of capitalisation in "Section" and "Chapter" as possibly incorrect. I have googled about a bit and I see mixed opinions.

So my question is, when writing a computer science Ph.D. thesis, what is the correct way to capitalise "Section", "Chapter", "Appendix", "Figure", "Table", ... ?

For example, what is the correct capitalisation for the following:

"In Chapter 3, it was shown that..."

"In the previous Section, a method was presented to..."

"The graph in Figure 3 shows..."

• 4 My flippant comment about this is to go with whatever your advisor tells you to do, assuming that s/he has given you an answer. ;) –  Irwin Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 23:42

3 Answers 3

This seems correct. "Chapter 3" is the name of the third chapter. Names are capitalised.

This seems wrong. "Section" is not referring to the previous section by name, therefore no capital.

Correct. Same as the first example.

So the rule (I use) is, if it is a proper name, then use a capital. This means, if it is of the form "Section $n$", where $n$ is a number, then it needs a capital.

• 4 Exactly. Section~3 (remember the ~!) is a proper noun, the same rule holds for all words like theorem, lemma, item, equation, section, table, algorithm, etc. The tilde makes sure that the line doesn't break between "Theorem" and "3" (it's a no-break space character). –  John Kemeny Commented Apr 17, 2013 at 20:03
• 6 (assuming the OP is using a TeX system) –  Federico Poloni Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 15:44
• 5 @Lii: Dave's answer follows standard English rules: proper nouns like "Section 3" are capitalized; common nouns like "the section" are not. This guidance is thus far from useless. –  aeismail Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 11:08
• 7 My source is "native English speaker". –  Dave Clarke Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 12:11
• 4 @GregKramida Why would that case be any different? I'd use the first version you propose. –  Dave Clarke Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 19:18

It is a question of style. The most accepted custom is that given by Dave: you capitalize logical divisions if you refer to them by number.

However, I've never believed that there is any real logic behind that rule, other than emphasis. Identifying things by a number doesn't make them proper nouns: as an example, you don't commonly capitalize “page” as “see Page 10”…

• 4 Interesting example with "page". I see a small distinction between pages and sections: sections are intentional divisions into conceptual units, while page boundaries are much less meaningful, so it's natural to conceive of a section as more of a "thing" than a page is. However, it's not clear-cut. –  Anonymous Mathematician Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 2:39

A search on Google Scholar reveals that both the forms

in chapter/section 3

in Chapter/Section 3

exist in published scientific articles.

For "chapter" the capitalised version seems to be a little more common. For "section" the capitalised version is much more common.

• 2 A lot of terrible/incorrect writing gets published and will be thrown up by Google. Doesn't mean it is correct! –  xadu Commented Dec 7, 2021 at 5:07
• @xadu: Note that this search was in Google Scholar, so it only includes published academic articles. That doesn't necessarily make the practice non-terrible, of course, but it does indicate the current usage. –  Lii Commented Dec 7, 2021 at 6:55
• 2 fair point about current usage. That said, Google Scholar does include material which has not been peer reviewed, such as arxiv postings etc. I'll argue that even published articles often have incorrect/inconsistent grammar. –  xadu Commented Dec 7, 2021 at 13:19

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How to Capitalize Hyphenated Words in Titles and Headings

By Erin Wright

The general guideline is to capitalize all the main words in hyphenated words in titles and headings.

Do We Go through a Drive-Thru or Drive-Through ?

A Brief Overview of Adobe Acrobat’s Spell-Check Tool

This guideline is supported by three of our primary style guides : 1

The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) 2

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) 3

MLA Handbook from the Modern Language Association (MLA style) 4

However, there are several exceptions to this guideline. Let’s look at three of the most common exceptions you may run into in your own writing:

1. Hyphenated words with prefixes

2. Hyphenated words beginning with single letters

3. Hyphenated articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions

See the References section at the bottom of this post for information about these exceptions in relation to the style guides mentioned above.

Exception 1: Hyphenated Words with Prefixes in Titles and Headings

If the hyphenated word in your title or heading starts with a prefix that isn’t a standalone word (e.g., pre , non , de ), lowercase the second word. 5

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Style Guide Alert

The MLA Handbook  (MLA style) capitalizes the second word if the whole word is hyphenated in your dictionary. (MLA style recommends following Merriam-Webster .) 6

Exception 2: Hyphenated Words Beginning with Single Letters in Titles and Headings

If the hyphenated word in your title or heading starts with a single letter that isn’t a standalone word, lowercase the second word. 7

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Exception 3: Hyphenated Articles, Prepositions, and Coordinating Conjunctions in Titles and Headings

In headline-style capitalization, the following parts of speech are lowercased if they follow a hyphen in a compound:

• Articles (i.e., a , an , the )
• Prepositions (e.g., above , under , behind )*
• Coordinating conjunctions (i.e., for , and , or, but , so , yet , and nor ). 8

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* Note that in some cases, words that normally function as prepositions can instead function as adjectives or adverbs, such as the words thru and through in drive-thru and drive-through shown in the first example in this post. Adjectives and adverbs are capitalized in hyphenated compounds in headline-style capitalization.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) recommends lowercasing prepositions and coordinating conjunctions that are three letters or less when using headline-style capitalization. However, all prepositions and coordinating conjunctions over three letters should be capitalized.

Related Resources

Polish Your Headings with Parallel Structure

How to Create and Customize Headings in Microsoft Word

1. The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) isn’t included in this post because it doesn’t use headline-style capitalization. The Associated Press Stylebook 2022–2024 (New York: Associated Press, 2022), 135.

2. The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 8.161.

3. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 6.17.

4. MLA Handbook , 9th ed. (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2021), 1.5, 2.90.

Hyphenated Words with Prefixes

5. The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 8.161.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association doesn’t address hyphenated prefixes directly. However, one of its manuscript editors confirmed in a comment on the APA Style Blog that hyphenated words after prefixes should be lowercased in titles and headings. “ Title Case and Sentence Case Capitalization in APA Style ,” APA Style Blog, accessed June 20, 2020; See the comment from Chelsea Lee dated March 09, 2017 at 12:20 PM.

6. MLA Handbook , 9th ed. (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2021), 1.5, 2.1, 2.90.

Hyphenated Words Beginning with Single Letters

7. The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 8.161.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) doesn’t address words beginning with single letters directly. However, hyphenated single letters are commonly considered prefixes, so APA followers can safely assume that they should lowercase the word after a hyphenated single letter in titles and headings, as explained in note 5 above. In addition, the APA Style Blog lowercased the word book in e-book in one of its own titles. “ The Publication Manual Is Available as an E-book ,” APA Style Blog, accessed June 20, 2020.

The MLA Handbook (MLA style) doesn’t cover words beginning with single letters, so MLA followers should adapt the general recommendations for headline-style capitalization to work with hyphenated compounds.

Hyphenated Articles, Prepositions, and Coordinating Conjunctions

8. The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 8.161.

MLA Handbook , 9th ed. (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2021), 1.5, 2.90.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association), 6.17.

Updated July 08, 2022

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Which words to capitalize in Master thesis headings?

I'm writing my Master thesis in English and now I do not know about the headings. Do I have to write heading in upper or only lower case printing?

For example:

Processing and Distribution Server Indoor Navigation and Positioning App

Processing and distribution server Indoor navigation and positioning app

Which version is correct and can also be used in presentation slides?

• capitalization

• 1 See Writing & Academia –  Kris Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 11:23
• 1 There is no one can ask you for a certain format without providing a template or guidelines. If there is no such thing in your college, do whatever you like it. NO ONE can blame you –  Hawk Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 11:38

This is a matter of style. Read: these conventions can vary within fields and even subfields. So you are best advised to consult your peers, faculty members, or just your supervisor. Failing that, look at other papers in your particular field before deciding anything definitively. And if there is no clear pattern to make out, go with whichever variant strikes your fancy — just make sure to be consistent. Pick one style and stick to it throughout.

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Headline Capitalization

Article title and headline capitalization rules, major headline capitalization styles.

• Chicago Style

General Headline Style Rule: Title Case

• Capitalize the first word in the title
• Capitalize the last word in the title
• Capitalize the important words in the title
• Adjectives (beautiful, large, hopeful)
• Adverbs (forcefully, silently, hurriedly)
• Nouns (computer, table, manuscript)
• Pronouns (they, she, he)
• Subordinating conjunctions (as, so, that)
• Verbs (write, type, create)

Words in Headlines That Aren't Capitalized

• Articles (a, an, the)
• Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, for)
• Short (less than 5 letters) Prepositions (at, by, from)

Alternative Headline Capitalization: Sentence Case

• How to properly write article titles
• A review of a hike at Grand Canyon national park
• The best value meal when eating at Chipotle

Referencing Titles of Publications

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• APA Style 6th edition
• APA headings and subheadings (6th edition)

APA headings (6th edition) | How to use and format (example)

Published on November 7, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk .

A paper is usually divided into chapters and subsections. Each chapter or section has its own heading, and these headings provide structure to a document. As well as many other APA format requirements , there are specific guidelines for formatting headings to ensure that all papers are uniform and easy to read.

Table of contents

Apa heading formatting, apa headings example, using heading levels, aligning word’s heading styles to apa style, setting up in google docs.

The APA formatting guidelines for each heading style are outlined in the table below. APA recommends using 12pt. Times New Roman font for both the body text as the headings.

* Capitalize the first word of the title and all major words (including words that have four or more letters). Example: The Effects of Autism on Listening Skills. ** Capitalize the first word of the title and proper nouns (just as you would capitalize a sentence). An example: Teenagers with autism in the United States.

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The example shows the different heading levels according to APA style. Hover over the different headings to see the specific APA formatting guidelines. You can also download the APA heading Template to add the correctly formatted APA heading styles to Word.

Download APA Headings Template

The Effects of Smartphones on the Attention in Classrooms

This research aims to gain insight into the relationship between smartphones and students’ attention in classrooms. This chapter further discusses the research method, the sampling method and the data analysis procedure.

Research Method

In addition to an extensive literature review, 40 interviews were conducted for this study. The goal of conducting interviews was to find out how students looked at the use of smartphones in the classroom.

Sampling Method

A non-probability sample was used to gather participants for this research. The driving factors behind this decision were cost and convenience.

Procedure. Participants were given an introductory text prior to the survey. In this introductory text, the participants were informed that all answers would be processed anonymously.

Participant recruitment. Students who participated in this study were recruited through posts on the school’s Facebook page. As an incentive, students who participated were granted an exemption for writing an essay.

Participant assessment. Participants were selected based on their age and gender to acquire a representative sample of the population. Furthermore, students had to share additional demographic information.

Data Analysis

The interviews collected for this research were transcribed and then coded. Next, the coded interviews were analysed and compared. The statistical program SPSS was used to perform the analysis.

First Hypothesis

The first hypothesis was tested using a regression analysis that used attention in classrooms as the dependent variable and the use of smartphones as the independent variable. The results of this analysis showed that the attention of the student decreases when a smartphone is used.

Using the right heading levels not only helps readers navigate your paper, but also enables you to automatically generate an APA style table of contents in Word.

Use as many heading levels as you need. Some papers only have three heading levels, whereas others use all five. It’s also possible for one section (e.g. “methods”) to have more subheadings than other sections. When writing your paper or thesis, you will often use these heading levels:

Heading 1 : Use heading 1 for the main elements of your paper, such as the “methods,” “results,” “conclusion” and “discussion” sections.

Heading 2 : Use heading 2 for the subsections underneath heading 1. For example, under “methods,” include sections describing the “participant selection,” “experiment design’ and “procedure.”

Heading 3:  The heading 2 subsections (e.g. “procedure”) can be split up further into subsections such as “data collection” and “data processing.” Use heading 3 for these subsections.

Heading 4 and 5:  Depending on your paper, you can also use heading 4 and 5 for subsections that fall underneath heading 3 and 4, respectively.

Instead of formatting every heading individually, use Word’s built-in headings feature, which you can find in the toolbar at the top of your document. This is the easiest and fastest way to format all the headings in your paper.

By default, Word’s heading styles do not follow APA style. However, you can change the default settings by right-clicking on the heading style and selecting “modify.”

You can also download the Scribbr APA Heading Word template . When attaching this template to your Word document the correctly formatted APA headings are added and the heading formatting will automatically apply on all existing headings.

To attach the APA heading template to your Word document go ‘tools’ and ‘Templates and Add-ins’. Next, attach the downloaded template to the document and check the box ‘automatically update heading styles’.

This video will demonstrate how to format different APA heading levels in Google Docs.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2020, November 07). APA headings (6th edition) | How to use and format (example). Scribbr. Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/6th-edition/archived-headings/

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