Title Formatting

APA uses two forms of capitalization for work titles (the title of a book, article, webpage, etc.): title case (ex. Have a Great Session!) and sentence case (ex. Have a great session!). 

In title case, major words are capitalized (majority of words) and most minor words are lowercase (conjunctions and prepositions that are three letters or fewer). Below is a list on what is considered a “minor word” in APA style: 

• short conjunctions (such as “and,” “as,” “but,” “for,” “if,” “nor,” “or,” “so,” “yet”)
• articles (such as “a,” “an,” “the”)
• short prepositions (such as “as,” “at,” “by,” “for,” “in,” “of,” “off,” “on,” “per,” “to,” “up,” “via”)

The uses for title case are as follows: 

• Titles of articles, books, reports, and other works appearing in text (ex. “In the article ‘A Movable Object:’ Props and Possibility in Writing Consultations”)
• Titles of tests or measures, including subscales (ex. Myers-Brigg Type Indicator)
• All headings within the paper
• The paper’s title
• Any named subsections (ex. Results, Discussion, Conclusion)
• Titles of journals, websites, and magazines (ex. Chicago Tribune)
• Table and figure titles 

Meanwhile, sentence case is primarily used in the References section. In sentence case, the majority of words are lowercase, with the exception of: 

• The first word of a title or heading
• The first word of a subtitle 
• The first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation in a heading
• Nouns followed by numerals or letters
• Proper nouns (ex. the names of racial or ethnic groups)

Even if in the paper itself, a work is referred to in title case, the references page must have the work title written in sentence case (ex.  “A movable object”: Props and possibility in writing consultations). 
For more explanation, distinction, and differences between title case and sentence case, visit the APA Style pages on Title case capitalization and Sentence case capitalization.