10

Are there any guidelines for when you should capitalize titles/headings or not? Should you always do this in English?

I am referring to

A Capitalized Heading

vs

A capitalized heading

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
6

The title of a book, play, movie, etc. should be capitalized as in your first example. Exceptions would be where the author, for artistic or other reasons, has specifically eschewed capitalization.

A heading or subheading, as in a section of an article, is different. In most cases the preference is to capitalize as in your second example--the editors I know and work with pretty uniformly object to anything but an initial capital letter in heads and subheads.

Improve this answer
4
  • I am writing a techical report. I guess that could qualify as an "article".
    – Johan
    Dec 10, 2010 at 13:48
  • The key, I think, is whether you're talking about the name of the report or the name of a subsection of it. The name of the report should be title case (first example) unless you have a darn good reason not to do that. The subsection headings WITHIN the report should only have sentence-style capitalization (second example).
    – bikeboy389
    Dec 10, 2010 at 13:56
  • I was referring to the headings within the report. It did not occur to me that the title itself could be different.
    – Johan
    Dec 10, 2010 at 14:39
  • 1
    Is it true that "title case" is used in the US but not Britain?
    – GEdgar
    Aug 6, 2011 at 1:13
3

This is really a question of style. A title is a title, but some titles are more important than others. For example, in a book the chapter titles are often title-case. If this is a document for your work, check for a style guide recommended by your workplace. If you are submitting it to a publisher such as a magazine, ask them. If there are no guidelines in place, I'd suggest deciding how important the headings are (as important as chapter titles in a novel?) and pick a consistent pattern.

Improve this answer
2

If there is a style guide your organization subscribes to, look in that. Otherwise, do what you think is right.

Examples of style guides:

Improve this answer
2
  • +1 whatever your readers (i.e., the group of people to or for whom you are writing) are accustomed to.
    – msanford
    Dec 10, 2010 at 17:47
  • Would be good to have a summary of what those three style guides above have to say about usage of title case
    – Simon East
    Feb 27, 2019 at 3:39

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.