Free tool
Sentence case converter for titles
CSE references write article, chapter, and book titles in sentence case. Paste titles in Title Case and convert them to sentence case in one step, with acronyms, proper nouns, and species names handled.
Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against the B.1.617.2 variant
Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from retail chicken in North America
Coral reefs: a natural history
Acronyms (DNA, CRISPR), words with numbers (COVID-19), and common proper nouns are kept. Always check names of people and places.
About this sentence case converter
Titles copied from journal websites, databases, and PDFs usually arrive in Title Case, with every major word capitalized. Reference styles such as CSE expect sentence case instead. This free converter changes title case to sentence case for as many titles as you like, one per line, and lets you copy the results with italics intact. Unlike a general-purpose case converter, it is built for scientific titles: acronyms like DNA, CRISPR, and COVID-19 stay in capitals, common proper nouns and place names keep their capital letter, and genus and species names can be italicized automatically.
Title case vs sentence case
In title case, most words start with a capital letter. In sentence case, a title is capitalized the way you would write an ordinary sentence:
- Title case:
Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia Coli From Retail Chicken - Sentence case:
Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli from retail chicken
CSE title capitalization rules
Capitalize only the first word of the title, proper nouns and adjectives (East Asian, Mendelian), and acronyms (DNA, COVID-19). The first word after a colon is not capitalized: Coral reefs: a natural history.
Genus names are capitalized and italicized; species epithets are lowercase and italicized: Salmo salar, E. coli. Higher taxa such as families and orders are capitalized but not italicized (Rosaceae, Lepidoptera).
Journal titles are the exception: they keep their capitals and are abbreviated instead. Use the journal abbreviation finder for those.
Check names before you copy
No automatic tool can recognize every proper noun, so read each converted title once before you use it. Names of people, places, organizations, and less common genera may need their capital letter restored. If you build your references in the CSE citation generator, titles are converted to sentence case for you as each source is added.
FAQ
Sentence case questions
What is sentence case?
Sentence case capitalizes a title the way you would capitalize an ordinary sentence: only the first word, proper nouns, and acronyms start with a capital letter. For example: “Coral reefs of the Pacific: a natural history”.
What is the difference between sentence case and title case?
In title case, most words are capitalized: “Antibiotic Resistance in Retail Chicken”. In sentence case, only the first word and proper nouns are: “Antibiotic resistance in retail chicken”. Journal websites and databases often show titles in title case, so they need converting for reference lists that use sentence case.
Does CSE style use sentence case for titles?
Yes, for the titles of articles, chapters, books, reports, and web pages. Journal titles are the exception: they keep their capital letters and are abbreviated, e.g. N Engl J Med.
Do you capitalize the first word after a colon in CSE?
No. In CSE references the first word after a colon stays lowercase unless it is a proper noun or acronym: “Coral reefs: a natural history”. This differs from APA, which capitalizes the first word of a subtitle.
How do I convert title case to sentence case?
Paste your titles into the converter above, one per line, and copy the results. It lowercases everything except the first word, acronyms, and common proper nouns, and can italicize species names. Read each title once afterwards to restore any names it did not recognize.
Should species names be italicized in reference titles?
Yes. Genus and species names are italicized wherever they appear, including in titles: Escherichia coli, Salmo salar. The genus is capitalized and the species epithet is lowercase. Higher groups such as families and orders are capitalized but not italicized.
Can a sentence case converter recognize every proper noun?
No tool can do this reliably, because a word like “Brown” or “Rose” can be a name or an ordinary word. This converter keeps acronyms, common place names, and adjectives such as Mendelian, but you should check names of people, places, and organizations by eye.