chapter titles in essays

How to Write Chapter Titles in an Essay

Shannon cathie.

Almost everyone has memorized a few writing convention rules over the years. Capitalize the first word in a sentence. Capitalize proper nouns such the name of a person, city or country. Some rules, such as how to write chapter titles in an essay, don't receive top priority in our memory banks. Whether or not you look up the rules for writing chapter titles, getting them correct matters for an essay.

Find the correct chapters titles in your book. Use the book's table of contents, or turn to each chapter's beginning to find chapter titles easily.

Copy the chapter titles into your essay. Include all punctuation marks, such as exclamation points and question marks, if they appear as part of a chapter's title.

Capitalize the first word, last word and all important words in each chapter title. Important words to capitalize include all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Capitalize articles--a, an, the--only if they appear as the first or last word in a chapter title.

Place double quotation marks around each entire chapter title. A correctly formatted chapter title would appear as: "A Mid-November Day on the Mountain."

Reference the book author's name and full book title. Either in the body of your essay or in an attached bibliography, give full credit to the author.

• American Psychological Association (APA) style uses a different format for chapter titles. It capitalizes only the first word and proper nouns. All other words, such as verbs, adjectives and adverbs, appear in lowercase. APA style also does not use quotation marks around chapter titles.
• Some books use chapter numbers instead of chapter titles. In these cases, referencing the chapters by number is acceptable.
• If a book uses both chapter titles and numbers, write out the chapter titles for clarity.
• This chapter title format works for both the Chicago Manual of Style and the Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook.
• 1 Loyola Notre Dame Library: MLA Citation Style Sheet
• 2 Purdue Online Writing Lab: Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition
• 3 Cornell University Library: Citation Management--APA Citation Style

About the Author

Shannon Cathie has been writing for children, teens and adults since 2004. Her work has appeared in "Highlights for Children," "Ask!" magazine, "The Christian Science Monitor" newspaper, "Writing for Dollars" and "Northwest Baby and Child." She is also the author of several children's books about the human body. Cathie holds elementary licensure and a Bachelor of Arts in biology from the University of Colorado.

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

You may be good at creating interesting characters, forging addictive plot lines, and building an emotional narrative arc, but have you given thought to how you’ll be titling your chapters? Although your manuscript contains the story , chapter titles can serve as a vehicle of suspense and storytelling as well.

Table of Contents: • How long should a chapter be? • Factors to consider when determining chapter length • Balance pacing and storytelling with chapter length • How to generate chapter title ideas • Aim for brevity • Give readers an incentive • Paint a picture with imagery • How to decide on chapter titles • Proofreading and revising your book

How long should a chapter be?

There are no rules determining how long a chapter should be or attaining an average chapter length. However, a book chapter should successfully communicate a single objective to the reader, whether that’s a new scene, a character, an event, or a creative theme. It wholly depends on the genre of your book, the structure of your story, and what you are trying to illustrate to your reader.

Factors to consider when determining chapter length

There may be more considerations to factor into your equation, but pace and flow are important elements when determining chapter length.

The length of your chapters helps dictate the pace of your narrative. Longer chapters may delve deeply into character development , details about the setting, and progress complicated plotlines, giving a slower pace to your storytelling and the world you’ve built .

Shorter chapters can create a sense of urgency and quick progression. This can better highlight action or build suspense . In this way, the length of your chapters help set the pace at which your story develops.

You wouldn’t leave a sentence unfinished or disjointed, and the same goes for your book’s chapters . Each chapter leads to the next and can connect scenes in the same way sentences connect paragraphs. This flow is another key element in dictating how your chapters should be written to create a captivating reading experience. Your chapters serve as a pathway from the beginning to the end of your book, and your reader should understand and have clarity as to what each chapter is communicating.

Balance pacing and storytelling with chapter length

You wouldn’t tell a story all in one breath; no one would understand you. You also wouldn’t create one, long run-on sentence to tell a tale; it would be incredibly difficult to read. This is why balancing storytelling with pacing  and a diverse chapter structure are crucial for your readers to know where to pause as they navigate your book.

Play with sentence and paragraph lengths. Mixing shorter and longer sentences creates a natural ebb and flow. Shorter sentences can create a snappy, staccato feeling and generate momentum during action scenes, while longer sentences can set atmosphere and evoke introspection.

How to generate chapter title ideas

If you’re writing fiction — a fantasy novel, for instance — allow what happens in the new chapter to serve as a title. It can be a featured character’s name, a snippet of dialogue, or a theme you can use to foreshadow developments in the overall trajectory of your novel. Just remember that your chapter titles are part of your vehicle in storytelling. They should guide the reader, provide clues of what is coming next, and pique a reader’s interest in the next phase of your tale.

If you’re writing a nonfiction work that covers history, politics, or recipes, your titles might be more straightforward, though you may still have room for creativity to help stoke interest. Either way, here are three things to consider when crafting chapter titles.

1. Aim for brevity

Short titles will create intrigue for your readers. As a writer, you want the title to sum up the central idea or point of the chapter. Many writers use working titles for the chapters as they write, and then come up with the final chapter title once the writing is complete. Others may title the chapter and use that as a guide for the content within. However you work, choose a brief title that captures the theme expressed in the chapter. For example:

• The Robbery
• “We need to talk to Tommy”

Each of these examples is short while delivering an idea of what’s coming next. Raise your reader’s expectations and satisfy them as the story builds.

2. Give readers an incentive

Readers are often thinking ahead as they read to what might be coming next. Or, as they wrap up a chapter and are ready to put the book down for the moment, they may read the next chapter title for a clue as to where things are headed for the main character. If you’re writing a fiction novel, use your chapters to satisfy your reader’s curiosity with a clue as to where your story is going.

3. Paint a picture with imagery

Colors, locations, dialect, slang — all these can be used to create atmosphere with your chapter titles. Your prose is not the only place where you can use descriptive imagery and texture. Include sensory language to enhance the way readers experience your writing. Create an immersive experience with words that enrich your reader’s connection to your work.

How to decide on chapter titles

Your work has a central focus, theme, and objective. When you label your chapters, they can serve your story by building suspense, providing foreshadowing , or pointing to important moments in the story arc . Each chapter should progress the story and communicate your themes to your readers.

Titling chapters is ultimately another tool for storytelling and entertaining your readers. Treat them as another opportunity to build your story world and voice.

Proofreading and revising your book

Beta readers can also help you land on the best title for your chapters, and once you’ve completed your manuscript, make sure to have a professional editor comb through your manuscript to make sure it’s in the best possible shape for publication. BookBaby offers expert editing services , and our publishing specialists are just a phone call away. Call us at 1-877-961-6878 or visit us at www.bookbaby.com .

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• APA Style - 7th edition
• Specific Rules for Authors & Titles

APA Style - 7th edition: Specific Rules for Authors & Titles

• Basic Information

Rules for Writing Author and Editor Information

Rules for writing titles.

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There are certain things to keep in mind when writing the author's name according to APA style. Authors may be individual people, multiple people, groups (institutions or organizations), or a combination of people and groups. 

• You must include all the authors up to 20 for individual items. For example, if you are using an article that has 19 authors you must list them all out on your reference page. 
• Use initials for the first and middle names of authors. Use one space between initials.
• All names are inverted (last name, first initial).
• Do not hyphenate a name unless it is hyphenated on the item.
• Separate the author's names with a comma and use the ampersand symbol "&"  before the last author listed.
• Spell out the name of any organization that is listed as an author.
• If there is no author listed, the item title moves in front of the publication date and is used.

An item that you use may have an editor instead of an author or in the case of audiovisual materials a writer or director.

• For editors follow the same rules above and put the abbreviation (Ed.) or (Eds.) behind the name(s). 
• For audiovisual materials follow the same rules as above and put the specialized role (Writer) (Director) behind the name. 

Zhang, Y. H.  (one author)

Arnec, A., & Lavbic, D. (two authors)​

Kent State University (organization as author)

Barr, M. J. (Ed.). (1 editor)

Powell, R. R., & Westbrook, L. (Eds.). (2 editors)

here are certain things to keep in mind when writing a title according to APA style.

• Book titles are italicized and written using sentence case (only the first word of a title, subtitle, or proper noun are capitalized).
• Book chapter titles are written using sentence case and are not italicized.
• Journal titles are italicized and written using title case (all the important words are capitalized).
• Article titles are written using sentence case and are not italicized.
• Webpages and websites are italicized and written using sentence case.

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (book title, American Psychological Association is a proper noun so it is capitalized)

Student perspective of plagiarism (book chapter title)

Internet plagiarism in higher education: Tendencies, trigging factors and reasons among teacher candidates (article title, Tendencies is the first word of a sub-title so it is capitalized)

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education (journal title)

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Generate accurate APA citations for free

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• APA Style 7th edition
• APA headings and subheadings

APA Headings and Subheadings | With Sample Paper

Published on November 7, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on October 24, 2022.

Headings and subheadings provide structure to a document. They signal what each section is about and allow for easy navigation of the document.

APA headings have five possible levels. Each heading level is formatted differently.

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Table of contents

Additional guidelines for apa headings, how many heading levels should you use, when to use which apa heading level, section labels vs headings, sample paper with apa headings, using heading styles in word or google docs.

As well as the heading styles, there are some other guidelines to keep in mind:

• Double-space all text, including the headings.
• Use the same font for headings and body text (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt.).
• Don’t label headings with numbers or letters.
• Don’t add extra “enters” above or below headings.

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The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

Depending on the length and complexity of your paper, you may not use all five heading levels. In fact, shorter student papers may have no headings at all.

It’s also perfectly fine for some sections in your paper to go as deep as five levels, where others use only heading level 1.

Heading level 1 is used for main sections like “ Methods ”, “ Results ”, and “ Discussion ”. There is no “ Introduction ” heading at the beginning of your paper because the first paragraphs are understood to be introductory.

Heading level 2 is used for subsections under level 1. For example, under “Methods” (level 1) you may have subsections for “Sampling Method” and “Data Analysis” (level 2). This continues all the way down to heading level 5.

Always use at least two subheadings or none at all. If there is just one subheading, the top-level heading is sufficient.

In addition to regular headings, APA works with “section labels” for specific parts of the paper. They’re similar to headings but are formatted differently. Section labels are placed on a separate line at the top of a new page in bold and centered.

Use section labels for the following sections in an APA formatted paper :

• Author note
• Paper title
• Reference page

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Instead of formatting every heading individually, you can use the “Styles” feature in Word or Google Docs. This allows you to save the styling and apply it with just a click.

The first time you use APA Style, you need to update the default heading styles to reflect the APA heading guidelines. Click here for the instructions for Microsoft Word and Google Docs .

An added benefit of using the “Styles” feature is that you can automatically generate a table of contents .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2022, October 24). APA Headings and Subheadings | With Sample Paper. Scribbr. Retrieved June 18, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/apa-headings/

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• Writing Tips

Formatting Titles in Essays

2-minute read

• 8th May 2018

Handling your own headings is one thing, but how should you write the titles of other works? You need to mark them out somehow, and you have two standard options: italics or quote marks.

This is especially important in academic writing , as you’ll often have to discuss books and papers written by other people. Here, then, are some guidelines you should follow when formatting titles.

When to Use Italics

You can often spot a title from the capitalisation , but we still format titles to distinguish between different types of source. Titles of longer sources, for example, typically use italics:

Here, Kerrang! is italicised because it is the title of a magazine (i.e. a standalone work that is not one part of a larger whole). Other publications and productions that this applies to include:

• Academic journals
• Newspapers and magazines
• Websites and blogs
• Films and TV shows
• Radio programmes
• Plays and other stage shows
• Book-length poems
• Paintings and other works of art
• Music albums

The key here, then, is that italics are used for longer published works .

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When to Use Quote Marks

We use quote marks for the title of anything that doesn’t fit in the list above. Usually, this will be something that is part of a more substantial publication, such as an article from a magazine:

In this case, we see both the magazine title and an article title. Using italics on the former and quote marks on the latter makes it immediately obvious which is which. Other cases where quote marks are required include:

• Chapters from books
• Academic papers and journal articles
• Articles from newspapers and magazines
• Single pages from a website or posts from a blog
• Individual poems and short stories
• Single episodes of a TV series
• Single poems from a collection
• Songs and other short recordings

In this case, the key is that quote marks are used for shorter works . However, quote marks are also used for unpublished works regardless of length (e.g. a draft manuscript or a PhD dissertation).

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Formatting Titles

by Purdue Global Academic Success Center and Writing Center · Published October 2, 2020 · Updated November 5, 2020

Let’s face it: For whatever reason, formatting titles can be confusing, especially if you think about all the titles that need proper formatting–the title placed on the title page of a paper, the title of a journal article mentioned in the body of a paper, the title of a newspaper or a website on the list of references. There are titles of books and titles of chapters in those books; titles of blogs and titles of blog entries. Some titles are italicized and some are put in quotation marks. Titles on the list of references require formatting–some titles use title case, some sentence case; some titles are italicized and some are not. And then there are those situations where titles are used in in-text citations–some titles are truncated and italicized; some are put in quotation marks–you get the idea. 

First off, I am not going to address how to format titles when citing in the paper or listing on the list of references—those are formatting guidelines for another time. I am going to focus on titles on the title page, the first page of the paper, and within a paper. Here is what you need to keep straight:

Titles require special capitalization called title case. Title case requires one to

• capitalize the first letter of the first and last words of a title;
• capitalize the first letter of all verbs;
• capitalize all words of four or more letters;
• capitalize the first letter of all other words except a, an, the, short conjunctions such as “for, and, but,” and prepositions of fewer than four letters (words like “up, in, off”);
• capitalize the first letter of a word following a colon or dash;
• capitalize the first letter of a subtitle. 

When a title appears on the title page of an APA Style 7th edition student paper, that title should be centered, bolded, and in title case—no need to use all caps, no need to italicize or underline, and no need to use quotation marks or place a period at the end. 

Simply type out the title using title case and bold it–that’s it.

On the first page of the essay, center and repeat the title, bold it, and use title case. Again, do not use any special formatting. Do not use a bigger font size or style. Do not underline or italicize and so forth. Just use title case, bold, and center the title on the first page of the essay.

Easy enough, right?

Titles that appear within an essay require special formatting in addition to title case. If the title is for an article—content that is part of a greater whole—then the title should have quotation marks around it. If the title is for a book, journal, newspaper, or some other whole work, then the title is italicized.

Let’s say you have an article titled “The New Coffee Culture” that appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture . Let’s also say that for whatever reason, you name both titles in the body of your paper. The article “The New Coffee Culture” appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture , so the article is content that appears in a greater whole, right? 

Both titles would be in title case. The article “The New Coffee Culture” would have quotation marks around it, and the title of the journal, Studies in Popular Culture , would be italicized. 

I hope this blogcast clarifies exactly what you need to do when formatting titles in typical usage situations in APA style. 

Until next week–

Kurtis Clements

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MLA Style Guide, 8th & 9th Editions: Title of source

• Works Cited entries: What to Include
• Title of source
• Title of container
• Contributors
• Publication date
• Supplemental Elements
• Book with Personal Author(s)
• Book with Organization as Author
• Book with Editor(s)
• Parts of Books
• Government Publication
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Multivolume Works
• Newspaper Article
• Other Formats
• Websites, Social Media, and Email
• About In-text Citations
• In-text Examples
• How to Paraphrase and Quote
• Citing Poetry
• Formatting Your MLA Paper
• Formatting Your Works Cited List
• MLA Annotated Bibliography
• MLA 9th Edition Quick Guide
• Submit Your Paper for MLA Style Review

Title of source (Works Cited)

The title of source is the second core element in the Works Cited entry. In general, the title of a work is taken from the title page of the publication.

• Capitalize all principal words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.). Do not capitalize articles, prepositions, or conjunctions when they fall in the middle of a title.
• Separate a subtitle with a colon and a space.
• Italicize titles if the source is self-contained and independent. Titles of books, plays, films, periodicals, databases, and websites are italicized.
• Place titles in quotation marks if the source is part of a larger work. Articles, essays, chapters, poems, webpages, songs, and speeches are placed in quotation marks.
• Example of a journal article title which includes the title of a book: "Unbearable Weight of Authenticity: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and Theory of 'Touristic Reading'."
• Example of a journal article title which includes the title of a short story: "Individualism in O'Connor's 'A Good Man is Hard to Find'."

Danticat, Edwidge.  Brother, I'm Dying.   Knopf , 2007.  

Chapter title in a book or anthology : 

Howard, Rebecca Moore. “Avoiding Sentence Fragments.” Writing Matters: A Handbook for Writing and Research, 2nd ed., McGraw Hill, 2014, pp. 600-10.

Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers:

Houtman, Eveline. “Mind-Blowing: Fostering Self-Regulated Learning in Information Literacy Instruction.” Communications in Information Literacy, vol. 9, no. 1, 2015, pp. 6-18. www.comminfolit.org/index.php?journal=cil&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=v9i1p6&path%5B%5D=203​.

Meade, Rita.  "It's Not Too Late to Advocate."  S crewy Decimal,  1 June 2016, www.screwydecimal.com/2016/06/its-not-too-late-to-advocate.html.

Entire Website:

Meade, Rita. Screwy Decimal .   2010-16, www.screwydecimal.com/.

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Capitalization

Q. When an author refers to a chapter in the text, such as “You can read more about this in chapter 2,” the word “chapter” isn’t capped, I believe, since the title of the chapter isn’t itself “chapter 2” but something else. What about if the author refers to an appendix whose title is “Appendix A”? Thanks heaps.

A. Chicago prefers to lowercase the parts of a book, even if they’re titled generically, so in running text we would refer to “appendix A.”

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