Chicago and MLA Title Case Converter
Capitalize titles the Chicago Manual of Style and MLA way. Articles, prepositions and coordinating conjunctions stay lowercase, whatever their length.
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Keep proper nouns (built-in list on)
After Capitalized, Title and Sentence case, names such as London, NASA or iPhone and the word I get their capitals back instead of being lowercased.
Up to 200 words, saved in this browser only. Everyday words such as “may” and “march” are not in the built-in list, so add them here if you want them kept.
Case types with examples
Starting text: The Lord of the Rings
Chicago / MLA Title Case
Chicago and MLA: every article, preposition and coordinating conjunction stays lowercase, whatever its length.
The Lord of the Rings
AP Title Case
AP style: capitalize words of four letters or more; short articles, conjunctions and prepositions stay lowercase.
The Lord of the Rings
APA Title Case
APA style: capitalize words of four letters or more, and keep short conjunctions, articles and prepositions lowercase.
The Lord of the Rings
Title Case
Headline style: small words like "of" and "the" stay lowercase unless first or last.
The Lord of the Rings
Sentence case
Only the first letter of each sentence is a capital.
The lord of the rings
Chicago and MLA title case rules
The Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA Handbook agree on the main idea: capitalize the first and last word, and capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet) and prepositions, whatever their length. So "from", "with", "between" and "through" stay lowercase in the middle of a title, which is the main difference from AP and APA.
What this converter does
It lowercases the text, then capitalizes everything except those articles, conjunctions and prepositions. The first and last word, the first word after a colon, question mark or dash, and each part of a hyphenated word are always capitalized. Because MLA and Chicago give the same result for ordinary titles, one button covers both. Proper nouns can be restored with the panel under the buttons.
- Gone with the Wind
- A Tale from the West
- The Art of War
Known limits
Prepositions that act as adverbs, such as "up" in "Look Up" or "out" in "Check Out", should be capitalized under the guides, but a tool that does not read the sentence leaves them lowercase. Check phrasal verbs, "to" in infinitives, and any title in which a word is also a noun. For the exact rules, consult the current edition of the guide you are following.
How to use the Chicago / MLA Title Case tool
- Paste or type your title into the box.
- Click Chicago / MLA Title Case.
- Check proper nouns and words after a colon, then click the copy icon.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Chicago title case rules?
Chicago capitalizes nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and some conjunctions. It keeps articles, prepositions (of any length) and coordinating conjunctions lowercase, except at the start or end of the title and after a colon.
How does MLA differ from Chicago?
For ordinary titles they give the same result: both keep every preposition lowercase. The small differences (such as MLA handling of "to" in infinitives) are rare.
Why is "from" lowercase here but capitalized in AP?
AP capitalizes any word of four letters or more. Chicago and MLA look at the part of speech, not the length, so prepositions such as from, with and between stay lowercase.