Wikipedia Title Capitalization™

Wikipedia Title Capitalization Rules & Guidelines

Wikipedia title capitalization follows the Wikipedia Manual of Style (MOS:CT), which emphasizes sentence case formatting. Understanding Wikipedia title capitalization is essential for creating and editing Wikipedia articles and maintaining consistency across the world's largest encyclopedia.

Wikipedia Title Capitalization Rules (MOS:CT)

• Use sentence case
  Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns, like a regular sentence.
• Capitalize the first word
  Always capitalize the first word of any article title
• Capitalize proper nouns
  Names of people, places, organizations, specific events, and branded terms
• Lowercase common nouns
  General words that are not proper nouns remain lowercase
• Lowercase verbs and adjectives
  Action words and descriptive words are not capitalized
• Follow language-specific rules
  Non-English terms follow their native capitalization conventions

Wikipedia Title Capitalization Examples

• ✓ "The history of artificial intelligence and machine learning"
• ✓ "Climate change effects on Arctic wildlife"
• ✓ "List of presidents of the United States"
• ✓ "COVID-19 pandemic in Europe"
• ✓ "World War II impact on global economics"

Wikipedia Proper Noun Guidelines

What counts as proper nouns in Wikipedia:

• People: "Albert Einstein," "Marie Curie," "William Shakespeare"
• Places: "New York City," "Pacific Ocean," "Mount Everest"
• Organizations: "United Nations," "Harvard University," "Google"
• Events: "World War II," "French Revolution," "Olympic Games"
• Works: "Romeo and Juliet," "The Great Gatsby," "Mona Lisa"

Common Wikipedia Title Capitalization Mistakes

• ❌ Using title case: "The History Of Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning"
• ✓ Correct: "The history of artificial intelligence and machine learning"
• ❌ Not capitalizing proper nouns: "world war ii impact on global economics"
• ✓ Correct: "World War II impact on global economics"
• ❌ Capitalizing common nouns: "List of Presidents of the United States"
• ✓ Correct: "List of presidents of the United States"

When to Use Wikipedia Title Capitalization

Wikipedia title capitalization is used for:

• Wikipedia article titles and headings
• Wiki-style documentation and knowledge bases
• Educational content and reference materials
• Collaborative writing projects
• Online encyclopedias and databases
• Academic wikis and research platforms

Wikipedia Article Types and Titles

• Biographical articles: "First Last" (proper noun capitalization)
• Geographic articles: Use official place names with proper capitalization
• Historical events: Follow established naming conventions
• Scientific topics: Use standard scientific nomenclature
• Lists and categories: "List of..." or "Category:..." with sentence case

Wikipedia vs Other Style Guides

• Wikipedia vs APA: Both use sentence case, but Wikipedia has specific proper noun rules
• Wikipedia vs AP: Wikipedia uses sentence case; AP uses title case with 4+ letter rule
• Wikipedia vs Chicago: Wikipedia uses sentence case; Chicago typically uses title case
• Wikipedia vs MLA: Wikipedia uses sentence case; MLA uses title case

Wikipedia Editorial Guidelines

• Neutral point of view (NPOV): Titles should be neutral and unbiased
• Verifiability: Content should be verifiable through reliable sources
• No original research: Avoid original conclusions or analysis
• Consensus building: Major changes should have community consensus

Wikipedia Disambiguation and Redirects

• Disambiguation pages: Use parentheses for clarification when needed
• Redirect pages: Alternative titles redirect to the main article
• Consistent naming: Follow established patterns for similar articles
• International variations: Consider global English usage patterns

Quick Wikipedia Title Capitalization Tips

• Think "sentence case" - capitalize like writing a sentence
• Only proper nouns get capital letters (besides the first word)
• When in doubt, check existing similar Wikipedia articles
• Follow the principle of least surprise for readers
• Use our free Wikipedia title capitalization tool above for instant wiki formatting

Need perfect Wikipedia title capitalization?
Use our free Wikipedia title capitalization tool to instantly format your titles according to Wikipedia Manual of Style (MOS:CT) guidelines.

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