How to Write Essay Titles

Titles in academic writing are meant to identify the main subject or topic(s) of an
essay or article. They also serve to attract readers attention and help organize
information.

The rules for capitalizing titles can vary according to a particular style guide, such as
MLA style or Associated Press Stylebook (AP). MLA style is commonly used in the
liberal arts or humanities, while AP style is popularly used in journalism. Check if
there is a particular style required in your department and use that consistently.

As a general rule, capitalize the first letter of the first and of the last word and
of any important word in a title.

Generally, these parts of speech are capitalized in titles:

Nouns (e.g. artist, book, time, work, theory, globalisation)

Adjectives (e.g. interesting, red, true, critical)

Verbs (e.g. to write, compare, analyze, build up)

Adverbs (e.g. well, quickly, clearly, gradually)

Pronouns (e.g. he, she, it, his, her)

Subordinating conjunctions (e.g. as, because, that, when)

Generally, the following parts of speech are not capitalized in titles (unless they are
the last word in the title which is rather unlikely):

Articles: a, an, the

Coordinating Conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or, for, nor)

Prepositions (which have fewer than five letters) (e.g. on, at, to, from, by).

The U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual recommends one general rule:
Capitalize all words in titles of publications and documents, except a,
an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, it, or, and nor.

Adapted from: Your Dictionary

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/capitalization/rules-for-capitalization-in-titles.html