This information is only a summary of some of APA's capitalization rules. Consult the index of the APA Manual for complete information.
- For the title of your paper:
- capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of any subtitle, the last word, and all major words;
- capitalize the second part of hyphenated major words, for example, “Self-Report”;
- capitalize “be,” “is,” and “with”; and
- do not capitalize minor short words (that is, conjunctions of three letters or fewer, prepositions of three letters or fewer, and the articles “a,” “an,” and “the,” unless they are the first word of the title or the first word of any subtitle).
- For Level 1 Headings, follow the same rules as for the title of your paper, above.
- For Reference list citations to journal articles:
- capitalize only the first word, the first word of the subtitle, and any proper nouns of the title of the article; and
- capitalize the first word, the last word, and all other major words of the title of the journal.
- For Reference list citations to books, capitalize only the first word, the first word of the subtitle, and any proper nouns of the book title.
- For Reference list citations to websites, capitalize only the first word, the first word of any subtitle, and any proper nouns of the publication title; and capitalize all major words of website names.
