15 January,2021
Table of Contents
If you ever search anything on a search engine, which results do you pick the most? Usually, the first 2 to 3 results have the highest clicks. Does that mean no one bothers to open the rest of the results? Of course not!
However, which ones do you pick? Consciously or subconsciously, you will always prioritize the option that has a good title.
After all, an essay title is located in a privileged place in the content. Just think about it! The moment you’re about to go through a paper, do you check the essay structure first? Of course not! The title is what you notice first. In less than a millisecond, you form an impression about the content despite not checking more than two sentences of the essay.
So, read on if you want to understand the true significance of essay titles.
What role does an essay title play?
Is its sole purpose to make your paper stand out? Well, based on the discussion earlier, that is certainly the case. However, a strong essay title isn’t important just for the sake of capturing the reader’s attention. After all, if the topic has been assigned to you by your instructor, you don’t really have the element of surprise on your side.
So, what other role does this part of the content have? Let’s find out.
Usually, when discussing the role of essay titles, the focus lies on the readers. Let’s move away from that and think about the situation from the writer’s perspective. Naturally, as the writer, you would want readers to focus on the main idea of your work. In order to achieve that, you can make the most use of the privileged position of the essay’s title. Articulate your ideas in a manner that immediately makes the audience zoom in on your work.
Being passionate about your essay’s topic is great! However, the moment that passion overflows, there’s a high chance you might go off-track when writing your academic essay. A quick glance at the title should be enough to get you back on track.
A concise essay title that answers the academic question your instructor has posed proves that you’ve figured out the essence of the topic. The way that you frame your title should be enough to tell whether you’re winging it or not.
Ideally, you shouldn’t start writing a short essay unless you’ve truly understood the value that essay titles hold. So, let’s tick off all the important things you should know about how to title an essay.
Much thought goes into coming up with effective title ideas that will not only be catchy but also informative. On that note, here are some things you should seriously consider when finalizing your choice.
An exemplification essay provides an example of something. There’s no place for personal opinions or persuasive elements that give a sense of discussion. However, that’s not the case for a persuasive paper. For that matter, a glance at the essay title should be enough to let the reader know about your stance on the debatable topic.
Let’s check out an example of each type.
Example 1: The Influence of Artificial Intelligence in the Medical Field
Example 2: Wi-fi and its Effects on the Human Body: Enough Cause for Permanent Ban
Now, let’s compare the two. The first option leaves no room for persuasion since it is factual. AI has already been introduced in the medical field and you’re supposed to provide example cases of its uses.
However, in the case of the second option, there’s a persuasive element since wi-fi is an important part of communications. Despite its effects on the human body, it will be very challenging for a government to ban it completely. That’s where the persuasive element comes into play.
In both the APA and the MLA styles, the essay titles are written in the title case. In other words, capitalize all words except –
The only exception is when any of the words mentioned above appear at the beginning or end of the title. Additionally, the APA style is primarily followed in scientific or technical academic papers. So, when crafting the title, make sure you don’t go too far with creative words and figurative language.
Every essay writing guide you come across will keep harping on and on about coming up with a creative title. Sometimes, including a catchy hook within the title does the trick.
For example, in ‘An Eye for an Eye, A Life for a Life: Death Penalty for Murders,’ the main title is the hook, while the subtitle provides informative content for the reader.
So, it’s not like catchy titles cannot be informative. In fact, it’s best if you do a mixture of both. After all, if you had left the title to only the hook from the previous example, would the reader have been able to understand what you were trying to convey in the essay?
All good essay titles include two key elements –
Consider this title as an example –
An Analysis of the Job Market: Why College Students Struggle to Find Success in the World
Here, the phrase ‘an analysis of’ makes it clear that the essay will contain a detailed analysis. Meanwhile, the words ‘students,’ ‘college,’ ‘job market,’ and ‘success’ hint at the main subject of the essay.
Till now, you’ve been stuck on theoretical concepts. Now, it’s time to apply everything you’ve learned and apply them to come up with excellent title ideas.
Any good essay title would exhibit the following characteristics, regardless of whether the title is compelling or not –
Now comes the challenging part of making the essay title compelling enough to garner more interest surrounding the paper. In order to learn how to title an essay without making it too drab, just follow these suggestions –
Everyone loves wordplay! So, if you can successfully incorporate it in your essay title, you’ve got a winner in your hands. All you have to do is be very careful about your word choice.
Here’s an example –
The Ephemerality of Eternity: An Electrifying Revelation
This essay title uses alliteration to stand out from others.
Writing your paper on essay topics that force readers to get out of their comfort zone and question things they’ve set aside as common sense is a daring option. Not every student has the guts to opt for this. However, you’re no coward, are you?
You can take inspiration from these title ideas –
As you can see, these title ideas are quite uncommon. That’s why essays with such titles enjoy more engagement from readers.
Sometimes, a good essay title can tell an entire story in just a few words. Every word you choose matters if you want to evoke emotions in the reader. Take a look at these title ideas that might catch your fancy –
You can always find more essay title examples on MyAssignmentHelp if you need inspiration.
Essays can be of many kinds – persuasive, argumentative, comparative, and more. However, regardless of the type, every essay includes a thesis statement that clearly highlights the main idea of the entire paper. This is what you should refer to if you want to craft a good title.
The thesis statement is an important part of the essay format. Its entire role is to highlight the main subject that would be explored in the paper. Now, you already know that relevancy is an important factor for any essay title. Sometimes, when you write an essay, you can’t predict what the final result might be. The initial thesis statement that you wrote might need to be edited as well.
That’s why academic experts always recommend every student come up with a title once they’re done writing their paper.
These tips can certainly help you come up with some good first drafts of compelling essay titles. Now, the final step is to polish them to perfection.
Your essay title should be at the front and center of your paper. The basics have already been covered till now –
What else can you do to refine this section? Well, here are some tips that will come in handy:
If you were dealing with personal essays, then you wouldn’t have to bother with this part. However, for academic essays, you have to refine your presentation by including the cover or title page.
This section includes details like –
Some title pages even contain the name of the subject as well as a running head. However, the inclusions and formatting usually depend on whether you’re following the MLA or the APA format.
If you check out some essay title examples, you’ll notice immediately that the titles are very concise. Besides, no matter the type of essay you’re dealing with, your title should include the following –
Now, let’s present two examples, and you can decide which one is better.
Option 1: The College Life in a Nutshell: Balancing Academic Pressure with Personal Life Has Never Been More Challenging
Option 2: College Trials: Balancing Academic Pressure and Personal Life
Both options contain a hook, a keyword, as well as a source. However, the second option is more compact while preserving the essence of what the article will be about.
Want more essay title examples to draw inspiration from? Then, check out the next section.
In this section, you’re going to check out some title ideas that students have come up with for their essays and articles. However, that’s not where the discussion will end. Each essay title will be dissected carefully under the microscope so that you can figure out why it is considered an effective title for an essay.
Example 1: “Poetry as the Food of Love”: Allusion to William Shakespeare in Pride and Prejudice
If you check the title of this article carefully, you can divide it into three sections –
Poetry as the Food of Love – This direct quotation acts as the hook and drives the main theme of the essay.
Allusion to William Shakespeare – This section contains the keywords that inform the reader what the essay will engage in.
Pride and Prejudice – This is the source of the essay title, informing the readers that the essay is a study of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Being able to identify the source also makes it easier for anyone to locate the paper in any academic database.
Clearly, this essay title ticks all the right boxes.
Example 2: The Week I Was Scared of a Fishbowl
An essay title for a narrative or a personal essay doesn’t have to be lofty, like what you’d notice in any academic publication. You can choose to keep the subject of the essay under wraps. Just take this title as an example. Can you guess what each paragraph of the essay will explore from this essay title alone?
Absolutely not.
Well, that’s the charm of this title. Provocative title ideas like this are meant to make the audience curious about the subject. The absurdity of being scared of a fishbowl will immediately make you wonder about the history of the incident that might have provoked that feeling.
If you want more tips about how to title an essay, consider drawing inspiration from the essay title ideas available at MyAssignmentHelp.
Until now, you’ve learned what you should be doing when writing the title of an essay. However, mistakes can happen despite following all these tips. Here are some recurring issues that lower the quality of the essay title you come up with –
Argumentative essays will always take a particular stand on a topic. However, while designing the essay title, try to avoid adding terms or phrases that might be controversial. You don’t want to offend the reader. Instead, try to rephrase the title with positive or neutral words to avoid accusations of being too aggressive or biased.
If you decide on your essay title before even writing your essay, there’s a high chance the title might not match the content later. After all, when you write the essay, you can explore avenues you didn’t even think of before. The content might evolve without your notice. So, when you’re done writing the essay, check whether the essay title is still relevant to the subject. If not, you can revise it further.
Try to avoid using any type of acronym in your essay title unless it’s something known worldwide, like SOS, NASA, UNICEF, etc. Always use the full form in the title, as well as in the main essay, when mentioning it for the first time.
You’re almost done covering everything related to writing an error-free and impressive essay title. Now, all you have to remember is the ethical and legal issues related to essay titling.
When writing essays, you’d think that ethical or legal considerations only matter for the main body of the content. Who even considers essay titles in that equation?
Well, your professors do.
Hence, these tips –
Need some suggestions regarding toeing the ethical line? You’ll find several essay experts at MyAssignmentHelp ready to lend you a helping hand.
Assigning the title to an essay can be quite a hassle. Due to its unique position, the essay title has the power to grab the attention of the reader ASAP. That’s why you have to make sure to keep it interesting as well as informative. While this blog covers all the crucial details that can help you craft a wonderful essay title, you can also reach out to our experts for a one-on-one consultation. We’re happy to help you pick the best option for your paper.
Hi, I am Mark, a Literature writer by profession. Fueled by a lifelong passion for Literature, story, and creative expression, I went on to get a PhD in creative writing. Over all these years, my passion has helped me manage a publication of my write ups in prominent websites and e-magazines. I have also been working part-time as a writing expert for myassignmenthelp.com for 5+ years now. It’s fun to guide students on academic write ups and bag those top grades like a pro. Apart from my professional life, I am a big-time foodie and travel enthusiast in my personal life. So, when I am not working, I am probably travelling places to try regional delicacies and sharing my experiences with people through my blog.
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