Some of the commonly used headline styles

The most important thing is consistency, not style. Understanding different headline capitalization patterns can help you develop your own style guide that will guide your headline writing and maintain consistency throughout all of your material.

Some of the commonly used headline style

1. AP Style :

The majority of journalists and news media organizations prefer to write in AP Style. The Associated Press Stylebook is the definitive manual for news writing styles, format, punctuation, word choice, and every other element of media writing. It is revised yearly. AP Style is intended to guarantee uniform, consistent writing and ease of comprehension across channels.

The fundamentals of AP style headline writing-

1. According to AP Style, only the first word of your headline and any proper nouns or abbreviations should be capitalized; all other words should be lowercase (for example, "The people making North Dakota's future bright").

2. For all numbers, use numerals (for instance, "3 ways to write headlines" rather than "Three ways to write headlines").

3. For headline quotation marks, use single quotes (for instance, "Why Joe said 'no'").

2. Wikipedia Manual of Style :

The style guide used for all Wikipedia articles is the Wikipedia Manual of Style. It was developed to make sure that the language, style, and formatting used by all volunteer Wikipedia editors are the same across the board.

The user-generated content on Wikipedia is consistent and does not require the involvement of the content oversight board because the site as a whole rigorously abides by these criteria. This is a perfect illustration of how well a quality style guide can be used across a variety of content types.

Fundamentals of Wikipedia's Manual of Style for Headlines-

For headings and article names, the Wikipedia Manual of Style recommends using sentence case. Typically, this entails capitalizing only the headline's initial word and proper nouns, leaving all other terms in lowercase.

Example of an article title from the Wikipedia Manual of Style: "Article titles, sections, and headings"

3. Academic writing style (MLA, APA) :

Although it is not necessary to discuss certain academic writing styles for our purposes, I will nonetheless do so in order to make this a comprehensive guide.

The American Psychological Association's standard format, known as APA, is mostly applied to social science research papers.

The fundamentals of APA style headline writing-

For in-text titles, all heading levels, paper headlines, periodical titles, figure titles, and table titles, APA Style advises using title case. By separating the most significant words so they stand out to readers as they scan the content, it serves as a good strong separator between paragraphs and serves as a beacon for them.

4. Chicago Manual Style :

Research papers in business, history, and the fine arts typically follow the Chicago Manual of Style. A key element of Chicago style is the inclusion of footnotes, which direct readers to the paper's bibliography.

Basic Chicago Manual of Style Guidelines for Headlines -

The Chicago Manual of Style adheres to title case guidelines when it comes to titles of works, including books. Capitalize the title's final word as well as all nouns, pronouns, and conjunctions. Prepositions usually have lowercase letters.

5. MLA Style:

MLA stands for the Modern Language Association. This style is designed to guide student research papers and is one of the most commonly used styles in academia. It mainly concerns itself with writing mechanics, like quotation, punctuation, and citation of sources.