Most people who wish to learn the English language well do not know much about writing it right. While at first glance, it seems to be a very simple and easy language, it is necessary to know it is pretty complicated and often causes students sleepless nights as no matter how hard they try, they are unable to do things the right way and impress the teachers with quality of their paper. As a student or as a professional who has been striving to improve communications, you must understand the rules of written English and work hard to know how things work.
According to a coursework writing service, the rules for capitalization of headings are one such problem that is faced by many students and professional writers. All they know is that they should capitalize proper nouns and the first word of every sentence. But there are times when it is also necessary to capitalize the first word of a quote. In most cases, you do not capitalize after a colon, but there are exceptions. All this can create a lot of confusion and leave you thinking about what to do and if you are heading in the right direction.
If you are also confused about the rules of capitalization in headings and sub-headings, it is important to learn when to use capitals or non-capitals in Headings and Sub-headings in your content pieces to bring consistency in the style ad structure of your content. This article is a guide for all those who are trying hard to learn more about the English language and work on enhancing the quality of their content by knowing more about the rules for capitalization of headings in their content.
Two Primary Capitalization Rules for Titles:
In most cases, it has been observed that the style guides and the writers choose one of the two overall rules for giving capitalizing headings of their content. They are;
- Title case
- Sentence case
Title Case:
In this case, you can capitalize the words in titles other than the articles, conjunctions, and prepositions that are four words or less. When using the title cases, the writer should capitalize the title case. It is the rule that is being used to capitalize the title and main subheadings in most of the content you will see online and even in some books. The exact way you use title case capitalization depends on the style guide you are using. Some examples of this rule of capitalization of heading are:
- What Is a German Shepherd?
- 7 Ways You Can Alter the Course of History
- Giant Rodents and Where You Can Find Them
In the above-mentioned examples, you will notice that only the main words in the title have been capitalized while the articles, conjunctions, and prepositions are in small caps, emphasizing the main words.
Sentence Case:
In this case, you will only capitalize only the first word in the title and any proper nouns. You typically do not use any ending punctuation unless the title or header is a question. Examples of sentence case are:
- What are the biggest dog breeds?
- Ways to reach your goals without stressing out
- What you need to know about the American presidents
Casual Content Style:
When it comes to writing in general, many people use their version of title cases. Certain words are considered more important and thus, they are capitalized while the rest of the words will follow either the title or the sentence case rule. These rules provide the most basic guidance that is required by students who are learning English or professionals who are trying to work on their communication skills when they are writing content.
The design and the type of content that is being produced are two major factors that affect the application of capitalization rules. For example, there are some websites where all lowercase letters in headlines and sub-headlines work perfectly for their content. Their design and subject matter support that style. But that style may not be the best choice for another website’s design and subject matter so it is necessary to check things out before applying the capitalization rules in content.
Learners must check out both the general style guide as well as focus on any instructions the teacher or mentor has provided in this regard. There are times when students find things tough because APA, Chicago, MLA, and AP all have their distinctive marks when it comes to details and the teacher might ask students to only capitalize the first letter of every word or even capitalize the title, breaking away from both these rules.
