Heading and Subheading - Formatting Question

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  1. lobobrandon profile image78
    lobobrandonposted 8 years ago

    When submitting a hub for inclusion to a niche site, we're asked to make sure that we follow the APA guidelines, but there are some things that I'm still not clear about:

    The Title of the Hub:

    Does every word have to be capitalized? Yesterday when I got my new hub published it said some stuff was snipped, I looked at the changes and the only changes were in the title capitalization.

    1 - "How do Magnets work" was changed to "How Do Magnets Work". I agree with Work having a capital W. This was a personal oversight, but does "Do" need to be a capital D? If yes, would I also have to capitalize "A" if I have a hub title that says for example: "Writing Is A Fun Activity"?

    2 - What about the subtitles (the individual text capsule titles). Would it be "Writing is a Fun Activity" or "Writing is a fun activity" or "Writing Is A Fun Activity"

    1. SakinaNasir53 profile image94
      SakinaNasir53posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I have the same question too ditto. Then, I just make all the headings in APA style.

      1. lobobrandon profile image78
        lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

        And what is the APA style exactly? The link to the APA guidelines is not really helpful. Most of the papers I write for university are in APA style too, but there are different APA guidlines based on what you are writing (to the best of my knowledge). That's what's confusing me. I'd like some clarification on this from someone who knows exactly what HP needs. I don't want something so silly as this to be a reason for a reject.

        1. SakinaNasir53 profile image94
          SakinaNasir53posted 8 years agoin reply to this

          Well, I'm not exactly sure what the APA style is...but I capatilse words with 4 letters or more for the title and sub headings. I have had some of my hubs moved without any problem.

          1. lobobrandon profile image78
            lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            The ones moved because of traffic right? I have a few of mine on niche sites too and they don't all follow the same capitalization. And one of my hubs that I submitted in December was rejected and there was a post about it. No one knew of any reason why it could have been rejected and I got no reply from the team about it. Before I submit one of my recently edited hubs I want to know what style HP refers to. I looked at a few published hubs on the niche sites and I don't see any fixed style. I'm assuming most of them were the ones selected based on traffic and the rules were more lenient on those, just like mine that were picked.

            1. SakinaNasir53 profile image94
              SakinaNasir53posted 8 years agoin reply to this

              I haven't had much traffic on any of my hubs that were moved. They were low traffic hubs. Mostly 0 and maximum till 20 or 25 views per day. That too, only from my friends and family. Traffic increased after my hubs were moved.

              1. lobobrandon profile image78
                lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                Just looked at a few of your hubs and your headings are the way I would do it myself too.

                This one from my 2nd question in the original post: "Writing is a Fun Activity"

  2. theraggededge profile image87
    theraggededgeposted 8 years ago

    "Writing is a Fun Activity" is correct. I think. That's how I would do it.

    "How Do Magnets Work" is correct. "How Does a Magnet Work" is also correct.

    You need to capitalise important words like verbs and nouns but you can put 'a' and sometimes 'the' in lower case. "Do" and "Does" are verbs.

    This is the generally accepted way of titling an article. I noticed a while back that it became fashionable to write titles in lower case, apart from the first word. So I did. I have loads of hubs with titles that need editing and too afraid to touch them!

    1. lobobrandon profile image78
      lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Alright cool, so verbs & nouns are capitalized and articles are not. Thanks.

      Other than the time to do it, there's no reason to be worried as changing the case of letters is not going to harm you SEO wise if that's bothering you.

      1. Venkatachari M profile image84
        Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

        But, search engines always catch them in small cases whatever you may do to them. So, why put even the verbs in capitals? I think the titles should be appealing and that's why we put Nouns, Adjectives, and Qualifiers with a capital letter.

        1. lobobrandon profile image78
          lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          Search Engines show them the way they are. I just confirmed this. The capitals show as capitals.

          We are supposed to be writing for the people who read the articles and not search engines, so we should be doing the same thing all through the site, whatever it is we do. That's why I assume the most popular standard was used (APA), so as to standardize it.

          1. Venkatachari M profile image84
            Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Okay, then. But as already pointed by "theraggededge", I am also noticing many titles with smaller cases.

            1. lobobrandon profile image78
              lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

              Yes but not on the Niche websites. My Question was regarding submitting hubs to the Niche sites in particular. Also all new published hubs have a hub pro correction of the titles. smile

  3. psycheskinner profile image77
    psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

    It seems "do" is capitalized in Title Case--but I had to look it up. I always forget the verb rule.

  4. Robin profile image82
    Robinposted 8 years ago

    Thanks for asking the question!  We use Capitalize my title.  The only problem with it, is sometimes it doesn't capitalize four letter words that should be capitalized.  Other than that, it's great.  Also, a trick is to remember that "is" is always capitalized.  smile 

    Here are the main guidelines:

    1.  Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading;
    2.  Capitalize all “major” words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns) in the title/heading, including the second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., Self-Report not Self-report); and
    3.  Capitalize all words of four letters or more.

    1. sallybea profile image82
      sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Love this tool and Grammarly too.   I use them all the time.   Glad to know about the four letter words which sometimes need to be capitalised.

    2. lobobrandon profile image78
      lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Robin! Now if only this reply doesn't get lost in the forums and is available for all to see. Maybe instead of only linking to the APA guidelines in the 11 point checklist that we have, include the link to capitalizemytitle and your 3 points? I'm sure it's going to help many in the future. It leaves no room for error or misunderstanding.

      EDIT: Just noticed the three points on capitalizemytitle. That's the best short description of the AMA guidelines I've see around smile

    3. Venkatachari M profile image84
      Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      This is very useful and easy to remember a formula for capitalization of titles and sub-titles. Thanks, Robin, and all others on this thread.

    4. SakinaNasir53 profile image94
      SakinaNasir53posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Robin! This is very helpful. smile

  5. DzyMsLizzy profile image91
    DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years ago

    I was taught in school (and in journalism class) that all words in a title were to be capitalized with the exception of conjunctions and prepositions (with some exceptions among even those).

    The handiest rule of thumb for remembering this was: "Capitalize all words of four letters or more; and not words of three letters or fewer."

    The most notable exceptions being those which began the title phrase, e.g., "Of Mice and Men"

    ("APA" ???  Back in my day, it was "AP" style.  But, I'm dating myself.) 

    So--I now find myself a bit confused, as I, too, have had the HubPro bot capitalize a word or two in my titles which I had formerly thought should not be so.

 
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