MLA Style follows rules similar to Chicago for most words, lowercasing articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions. Generic title case leaves more room for interpretation.
Title case capitalizes every significant word in a title, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Short function words are lowercased unless they open or close the title.
Title case is the default format for book titles, film titles, and album names in American English. It signals that a phrase is a formal title rather than ordinary prose.
Open Title Case converterMLA Style capitalizes all principal words while lowercasing articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions unless they open or close a title. It follows the Modern Language Association Handbook.
MLA Style is required for papers in English literature, film studies, and other humanities disciplines at most universities. It is the most common format for undergraduate academic writing.
Open MLA Style converterTitle case is the default format for book titles, film titles, and album names in American English. It signals that a phrase is a formal title rather than ordinary prose.
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are always capitalized. Articles, coordinating conjunctions, and short prepositions are lowercased in the middle of a title.
MLA Style is required for papers in English literature, film studies, and other humanities disciplines at most universities. It is the most common format for undergraduate academic writing.
Verbs are always capitalized, including short ones like is and are. The rules closely resemble Chicago Style for most practical purposes.
Choose title case for informal or general-purpose writing where no specific style guide is required.
Choose MLA Style for papers, essays, and citations in humanities courses and journals that specify MLA format.
MLA and Chicago Style title case look nearly identical for most titles. The differences are more relevant to citation formatting than to the capitalization of individual headings.