Like a billboard, a title is an advertisement for your essay or research paper. It is the initial face of an essay, and if readers do not find it appealing, they will not read it. Alternatively, they might read it but not with as much vigor as they would if, the academic writing piece had an appealing title. Therefore, you must draft it correctly and accurately. However, figuring out how to write a great essay title can be daunting, especially when you do not know where to begin. Coming up with a good essay title involves first knowing what makes a good headline. With this understanding, you will be on your way to constructing the perfect title.
In this article, we will define what makes a good title, highlight the qualities of a good headline, and discuss how to title an essay. We will also discuss the tips that can help you write a good title and things to avoid.
A title is a string of words or a name/label that you select to describe your writing in an essay, research paper, article, or any piece of writing. It is necessary for every academic paper that you write. However, for papers like a lab report, a title is not necessary.
A title briefly describes the theme or main topic of an essay. A good essay title is catchy, informative, concise, and relevant to the content of the essay. It should also give the readers an idea of what to expect when they read your essay.
When written well, an essay title enthuses the readers to read your essay by capturing their attention. The titles that stand out in all academic papers and essays make them impressive, sometimes attracting good grades. The rationale is that you cannot ace the title and fail to address all the requirements in the essay or paper.
A title is placed on the title page before the first line or as guided by a specific formatting style.
A good essay title is of great importance because of the following reasons:
Therefore, naming your essay is as essential as the paper itself. A well-formulated title helps you to show your writing prowess. It demonstrates the maturity of your creativity, critical thinking, and writing skills.
A poor title will put off readers, while a good one makes it successful. Here are the top seven qualities you should consider when considering how to title an essay.
Eye-catching
This is perhaps the most apparent quality of an essay heading. A good title should grab your reader's attention from the beginning and get them to read the essay. For it to be eye-catching, it must be interesting, unique, and engaging. It must have enough details to arouse curiosity among readers.
Factual and Relevant
A good title must be based on facts, particularly for an academic essay. Remember that you are trying to tell the truth and not entertain readers. Therefore, it has to reflect what you will talk about in the body of the paper (main idea). You can use keywords to capture the idea of the essay. In addition, it must be specific, so do not be broad.
The title should be relevant to the concepts discussed in the essay. You cannot write a title about climate change or homelessness when your essay discusses the war in Ukraine. Ensure you focus on a title addressing your selected topic, theme, or question. It should align well with the essay prompt.
Descriptive and Provocative
When writing an essay title, you want it to reflect the aim and tone of your paper. For instance, if writing about a health topic, you do not want it to sound humorous but serious. While doing this, ensure that you are unique. Avoid the trap of looking like everyone else. A unique title sets you apart from everyone else in your classroom.
Appropriate to the Audience
To whom are you writing the essay? The more personal a title is, the more likely it is to generate responses from readers. Therefore, you need to define who your audience is. As such, your essay title needs to be accurate. It should appeal to the needs and expectations of your audience. Avoid misleading and sensational titles. Ensure that it resonates with the perceived interests of the readers.
Must Be Neutral
It is counterproductive to choose a title that is based on your opinion. Keep in mind that readers do not have to believe you, so confronting them with your opinion right in the title is ineffective. You need to provide a snippet of your field of investigation (theme) in the correct context. This is why titles do not usually appear as full sentences because that would show a judgment.
Should Be Short
A good title must be short and concise. Avoid words, phrases, and jargons that are meaningless. A strong title is between 5-15 words long. If it is longer than that, it will seem unfocused and distract the readers from the main idea of the essay. Among the words within the title, ensure that you have:
These are the three components of a great essay title or any other title for an academic paper or a formal writing task. A good essay title is written in active voice rather than passive voice. It should be clear and concise because longer headlines confuse readers.
Example: The Rise of Social Media Bullying among Teenage High School Students
Comprehensive
A good title should cover the entire topic of your paper. It should contain all the relevant terms and aspects of your paper. This includes the topic and the problem under investigation.
A perfect title trimmed to the best length and well-worded demonstrates your skills for laconic writing. However, do not stress too much about how to title an essay. The following list will help you come up with the right and effective headline for your essay, research paper, or any academic writing tasks assigned to you.
Coming up with a title that captures the theme of your essay is challenging, which is why it is important to write the essay first. At this point, you will have gotten the primary message of your essay. In addition, you will identify how long your title will be based on the content of your essay.
Take note that a title will depend on the type of essay you are writing. For instance, a narrative essay title should not provide too much information about your position in the paper. For an argumentative essay, it should clearly state which idea you would support.
The best way to develop a title after writing your essay is to summarize the whole paper in a single sentence. Do this by focusing on a single idea and ignoring other details.
Are you finding it hard to begin writing your essay? Here is our helpful novice-to-pro essay writer's guide.
Think of what the essay is about. What are you trying to tell your readers? Are you informing them about a particular issue? Try to answer these questions briefly. For example,
Question- What is this essay about?
Answer- this essay is about the role of social media on the mental health of teenage girls.
Additionally, think of who your audience is and what their motivations are for reading the paper. Do they want to be entertained or educated as concisely as possible? Answering all these questions will help develop the right tone for the essay. Because this is a step you take when writing your thesis statement, it should be easier to complete.
After answering the key question about the essay, identify the right keywords. Do this by picking out the most critical parts of those answers and making them your keywords. Take note that you should only select the important terms. For instance, in the above example, the keywords are,
Role of social media, mental health teenage girls, social media, etc.
Keywords usually range between 3-8 words. These words should scream, "This is what you are looking for," to the reader. Remember that no matter how fun or engaging your title may be, it will not be successful if it does not capture what the reader wants. So having the right keywords will tell readers and even search engines that your essay answers the questions raised.
You can also use movie, song, poem, or creative piece titles as part of your essay title. You have to take note of the formatting requirements, such as italicization and capitalization.
If you have read different types of essays, you may have noticed that they vary in style and may be wondering which is correct. The different formats you will come across when writing academic essays are:
It is essential to follow the correct writing format as per the given guidelines. For instance, your heading should be on the title page for APA style. The title should be bolded and capitalized. The title does not have to be on a separate page for MLA style. The title should not have quotation marks or be underlined, italicized, or boldfaced.
How you capitalize your title depends on the formatting style. Each style has its own rules for formatting a title, and following them will keep your work consistent. Most of these styles require that you capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in titles. Conjunctions, prepositions, and articles should not be capitalized. Even though the rules may vary, the following remain standard no matter which style guide you use.
If you cannot figure out how to capitalize your headings, you can use capitalize my title to capitalize your title well.
Now that you have figured out the right keywords, the next step is to make them specific. Remember that you want to capture the main idea of the paper. When writing, remove unnecessary details that make it a complete sentence.
A good title is one that is properly punctuated. However, there are rules about punctuating your titles. First, you must write the source title the same way it is written rather than adding or removing the punctuation marks. For instance, if the title has a question mark, instead of removing it, leave it as it is.
However, if the title does not have a question mark, but you need to end the sentence with one, do not include it. Instead, italicize it or put the title in quotation marks. Do not put the question mark, but for commas and full stops, include them in the quotation marks.
Once you have written the title, review it for consistent formatting styles. Proper formatting ensures that clear communication ad tells readers that you are knowledgeable about your work. It also demonstrates your attention to detail. So before you submit your paper, ensure that you have used proper formatting.
In addition, check for grammar and spelling through online editing software like Grammarly. Reread the title as many times as you can so that you do not miss such errors.
Now that you have the right, information for writing an effective title take time to develop it. Use the following tips to write a compelling title.
If writing an academic paper, you should focus on being informative. Your title should be clear since the paper is for a general audience. However, if writing a less formal paper, you can make the title more dramatic. Nonetheless, you should avoid corny titles such as the following examples: "Into the mist," "To be or not to be.''
Asking a question in your title works well, especially when writing persuasive essays. This is because the goal is to convince readers about something. Therefore, by asking a question in your heading, you are forcing them to think about something. Consider the following example, why is suicide cases common among teenagers? This type of title not only alludes to readers as the focus of the essay but also encourages them to think about its responses.
Nevertheless, ensure that the question you pose reflects the tone of your essay. For instance, if you are writing a narrative essay, you could use a second-person point of view to improve the tone of the paper. Nevertheless, ensure you do not sound too casual in your writing.
Are you asking How I choose a title for my essay without being too cliché? If yes, then the answer is to rework it. Clichés will make your work seem boring. However, this does not mean you should totally avoid them. You can rework clichés to create something original that is appropriate for your essay. For instance, a clichés statement like this, "If at first, you don't succeed, try again," is not something that readers want to read. However, if you rework it like this, "If at first, you don't succeed, give up." Readers will be curious to know whether you are writing a serious academic paper or a satirical essay.
It is easy to make mistakes when constructing English essay titles, so do your best to avoid the following.
Stay Away from Clichés
Try to avoid titles and subtitles that sound like phrases you might hear in everyday conversation. These are too broad and subjective and will not do justice to your essay. When someone reads such a title, they may think that they already know what the essay is about, so whatever you are about to say will be obscured by the title.
Underlining the Title
Titles are generally bolded. Underlining your title will signify overemphasis. If you must underline your title, do not bold it.
Other things you should avoid include:
A title is an important part of an essay; how well you write it will determine whether readers will read it. A professor will read the essay title and the introduction and already tell the grade bracket to award for an essay or paper. Because of this, it is important to write your title after finishing your paper when you have a clear idea of the main points of your argument.
Review it once you have written an engaging essay title to ensure it is effective. You must choose the structure, words, and format when formulating an essay title to impress readers and earn good grades.
We have discussed the eight best steps to write a perfect title that will doubtlessly impress anyone reading your paper. If doing so is not your forte, you can hire our fast essay writers to write an entire essay and ensure that it comes with a strong and polished title.
Let us choose a good research topic, frame the essay title, and write an essay that will be memorable to your professor. We have pro writers who understand their craft well.
Disclaimer: As a custom research paper, essay, and assignment writing service, the model papers or products are meant for reference. Unless with proper referencing, clients cannot reproduce or copy the complete papers (term paper, essay, research paper, coursework, thesis, proposal, or dissertation). Check out our Terms and Conditions and Other legal pages for more details. Check laws governing writing services in your country.
