The American Psychological Association Publication Manual governs formatting for research papers in psychology, education, and the social sciences. APA Style uses sentence case for most titles and headings, capitalizing only the first word and any proper nouns.
APA Style applies sentence case to titles of books, articles, and other works in reference lists and most in-text contexts. Only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon in a subtitle, and proper nouns receive capital letters.
This approach differs significantly from Chicago Style and AP Style, both of which capitalize all major words. APA's preference for sentence case reflects a tradition in scientific publishing of minimizing typographic emphasis in favor of clarity.
APA Style is required for papers submitted to most journals in psychology, education, sociology, and public health. It is also the standard for dissertations and theses in many social science departments at American and Canadian universities.
If you are writing a research paper and your institution or journal specifies APA format, sentence case applies to your works cited titles, most headings, and figure captions. The seventh edition of the APA Publication Manual is currently in use.
In APA sentence case, the first word of any title is capitalized regardless of what word it is. All other words remain lowercase unless they are proper nouns, such as country names, organization names, or brand names.
The first word after a colon in a title is also capitalized in APA Style. This means a subtitle always begins with a capital letter, even if the subtitle starts with an article or preposition.
The contrast between APA Style and Chicago Style is stark. Chicago capitalizes all major words in a title, while APA capitalizes only the first word and proper nouns.
The choice between the two depends entirely on your discipline and the publication you are targeting. Scientists and social scientists use APA, while humanists and book publishers use Chicago.